gild; gilt; gilt. Anglosaxon gyldan; gyldele, gylded, deaurare. Old-English gilden; gilte; gilt.

According to Smart gilded is the more usual form Palsgrave cites gylted for gilt; gilted stands also in Baruch VI. 7. forgulten (HARROWING OF HELL p. 25.) is the strong participle from the Anglosaxon gildan retribuere (Anglosaxon golden).

geld; gelt; gelt. Old-norse gilda. Danish gilde, castrare. OldEnglish gelden; gelte; gelt.

gird; girt; girt. Anglosaxon gyrdan; gyrde; gyrded. OldEnglish girden; girte; girt, ygurd (ROB. OF GLOUCESTER).

The meaning to strike (gyrd of in the Towneley Myst.), in Shakspeare to goad, which belongs to this word (in Spenser metathetically gride, gryde) especially in Old-English, seems to point to another stem; compare the Anglosaxon gyrd-vîte, virgae poena

e) A considerable number of verbs with a final t in the stem have in Modern-English thrown off all inflection in the preterite and participle, so that now the infinitive, present, preterite and perfect participle are alike. They rest upon the Anglosaxon forms, in which the suffix of the preterit de after a t of the stem was likewise changed into te, when two t stood beside each other, the one of which, however, often was cast out with a preceding third consonant; compare the Anglosaxon grêtan, grêtte; cnyttan, cnytte; hentan, hente; blæstan, blæste. The participial form took ed, but was early assimilated, even in OldEnglish, to the preterite, with regard to t instead of d, to which the Anglosaxon gave support by contractions, as sett instead of seted &c. The verbs belonging here mostly have a short vowel in the stem; the few with a long vowel usually shorten it in the preterite and participle. Old-English distinguishes the inflective forms of the preterite and of the participle by te and t. In Modern-English many have the suffixes ed, ed alongside of the verbal form, which has suffered apocope; others have wholly abandoned the latter. But some strong and Romance verbs have come over to these.

slit; Anglosaxon strong verb slitan; sing. slât, plur. sliton; sliten, findere; beside it is found a weak verbal form: slætan; slætte; slætted, scindere, Old-English slytte, infinitive in Chaucer 11572.; we often meet the strong participle slitten.

The inflective form slitted occurs, but is little used.

spit; Anglosaxon spittan; spitte; spitted. Old-English spitten; spitte; spit, speat.

This verb was apparently early treated as a strong verb: preterite spat, participle spitten. Both are still in use, but seldom; Wycliffe has bespat. Perhaps a mixture with spâtan; spâtte; spâted lies at

the bottom.

split; Danish splitte, Hollandish splyten. In Old-English splitten has not crossed me; splatt stands as an infinitive (SIR EGLAMOUR OF ARTOIS 490.).

Splitted rarely occurs; Smart does not cite the form at all

knit; Anglosaxon cnyttan; cnytte; cnyted (or cnytan, com

pare Old-norse knŷta, Danish knytte). Old-English knitten; knitte; knit, knet knyt (SKELTON I. 144.).

Í.

knitted is likewise in use in the preterite and participle.

quit; Old-French quiter, cuitier. Old-English quiten, quyten; quitte; quit.

The form quitted is now the more common. Formerly acquit was used without a suffix (SHAKSPEARE Merry Wiv. 1, 3. Rich III. 5, 4.). In Shakspeare there is also requit: Which hath requit it (Temp. 3, 3.), which without reason is assigned, not to the verb requîte, but to requit, both in point of fact going back to the same Old-English form.

hit. Old norse hitta. Danish hitte. Old-English hitten; hitte; hit.

let. Anglosaxon a strong verb: 1ætan; leót, lét; læten. Oldnorse lata. In Old-English it still follows the strong conjugation: laten, leten; sing. leet, plur. leten (PIERS PLOUGHM.); leten, letten. Yet the weak form of the preterite is also found lette.

In the weak Old-English form this verb partly coincides with the quite different let, Anglosaxon letjan, lettan, tardare, which however is commonly letten; letted, letted in Old-English, but also occurs with the preterite lette, Anglosaxon lettede and lette.

wet. Anglosaxon vætan; vætte; væted. Old-English weten; wette: wet.

The preterite and participle are also still wetted.

whet. Anglosaxon hvettan; hvette; hvetted. Old-English whetten; whette; whet.

Preterite and participle whetted are now preferred; Smart no longer cites whet for these.

set. Anglosaxon settan; sette; seted and sett. Old-English setten; sette; sett, set.

The participle setten, seten is erroneously given to the Old-English verb, since that belongs to the strong verb sitten.

sweat; the preterite and participle is also spelt swet. Anglosaxon svætan; svætte; svæted. Old-English sweten; swette, swatte, swotte; swet (swete).

Preterite and participle also have the form sweated. The forms with an obscure vowel are still found in Modern-English, swate in Thomson, swat in the popular dialects of England and Scotland. They seem to have been the occasion of the formation of a strong participle, which is represented as sweaten in Shakspeare Macb. 4, 1. put. Danish putte, to stand still, compare Cymric pwtian = to poke. Old-English putten, puten; putte; put.

Old-Scotch also has a strong participle putten (PERCY Rel. p. 30. II.). Compare Dial. of Craven II. p. 62.

shut. Anglosaxon seyttan; scytte; scytted, obserare. OldEnglish shetten; shette; shet (shette).

cut. Old-norse kuta, cultellis (kuti) pungere, compare ModernHighdutch küterei. Old-English kuten (kutten, kyten?); kitte (PIERS PLOUGHм. and CHAUCER); kut, cut.

In Old-English forms in ed are sometimes found; Preterite kottede Lydgate in Halliwell, who quotes cutted as a form, as it seems, still familiar. In Northern dialects there is the strong participle cutten. hent, to take, see p. 348. The verb is obsolete.

wont; belongs to the Anglosaxon vunjan, -ôde, -ôd, manere, habitare, whence the Old-English wonen, wonnen; wonede; woned, wont; still in Milton: He wons.

Wont as an infinitive, has proceeded from the substantive participle wont, which now is wonted; in the sixteenth century we find the preterite wonted (JOCASTA 1566. p. 143. in Four Old Plays Cambr. 1848.). The participle wonted, stands also, amongst others, in Shakspeare for accustomed, as also wont and woned (MAUNDEV. p. 105. PIERS PLOUGHMм. p. 306.), уwoned (ROB OF GLOUCESTER II. 377.). The old verb is still in use in the north of England in the form

wun, wunne.

hurt. Old-French hurter. Cymric hyrddio, hyrddu, hyrthu to push. Old-English hurten; hurte; hurt. Compare also hurtelen. Modern-English hurtle.

=

lift, in Highdutch liften instead of lichten, with interchange of the guttural and labial; Old-norse lypta, Swedish lyfta, Danish löfte, on the other hand Anglosaxon lihtan; lîhte; lihted, levare; whence the English light, to step down. But compare also the Anglosaxon lyft, aer; lyften, excelsus, Old-norse lopt.

In Old-English, as in many dialects lift is used in the sense of to aid, assist The modern language has lifted in the preterite and participle. In Shakspeare there stands the preterite lift, alongside of lifted.

cast, Old-norse kasta, Danish kaste. Old-English casten; caste;

cast.

The participle casted stands alongside of cast in Shakspeare; the northern dialects have a strong participle, as in Scotch: By the divills means, can never the divill be casten out (KING JAMES Daemonologie); popular cassen, costen in Langtoft p. 106.

cost. Old-French coster (constare). Old-English costen; costed; costed.

The participle costned (costened) in Piers Ploughman p. 13. points to a verb costenen, resting perhaps upon interchange. The verb coste to tempt and the substantive costning = temptation in Verstegan points on the other hand to the Anglosaxon costjan, costnjan, tentare; costnung, tentatio

=

thrust. Anglosaxon prîstjan, -ôde, -ôd, audere. Old-norse prîsta, cogere, urgere, trudere. Old-English thresten; thraste; northern dialects have the strong participle throssen.

burst. Anglosaxon strong verb berstan; sing. bearst, plur. burston; borsten. Old-English bersten, frequently bresten. Scottish brist; sing. berst, barst, brast (brost); plur. brosten, borsten; brosten, borsen (CHEST. PLAYS II. 123.); in Northern dialects still brosten, brussen, bursen.

The verb has completely passed from the strong into the weak conjugation Modern-English still knows the participle bursten, but which is now almost wholly obsolete. Moderns have even formed

the preterite and participle bursted See Wagner's Gr from Herrig

p. 162.

There are but few verbs to be cited which have preserved a long vowel in the fundamental form, but to these some strong verbs which have passed over are to be reckoned. meet; met; met. Anglosaxon mêtan; mêtte; mêted. lish meten; mette; mett, met.

Old-En

fleet, has an obsolete participle flet. Anglosaxon fleotan; sing. fleát, plur. fluton; floten, compare flêt, flos lactis; Old-English, as a strong verb fleten; flette; flett, Old-norse fleyta, supernatantem liquorem demere. Old-Scottish fleit to float, to flow, to abound.

=

shoot; shot; shot. Anglosaxon strong verb sceótan; sing. sceát, plur. scuton; scoten, beside which a weak verb scotjan, -ôde, -ôd, jaculari occurs, which partly explains the weak forms. OldEnglish scheten; sing. schet (but also schette), plur. shete; schoten (yssote) (ROB. OF GLOUCESTER), the preterite plur. also shotten (PIERS PLOUGHM.). Beside sheten there occurs in OldEnglish shoten.

The strong participle shotten is in modern times, obsolete, except used as an adjective, and is not found of the compounds overshoot, outshoot

light (compare alight); lit; lit for which light is also found, is now inflected regularly. Anglosaxon lîhtan; lîhte; lihted, levare, alîhtan, desilire (ab equo); Old-English lighten; lighte; light, beside which liten, lyten; lit; lit (also li3th in Halliwell s. v.) to light on, to fall on occurs. The infinitive lite is still in use dialectically. The participle lit in Shakspeare: You are lit into my hands (PERICL. 4. 3.).

light, likewise formerly offered the forms lit; lit Anglosaxon lyhtan; lŷhte; lŷhted. They are obsolete.

There occur a few more verbs in ight, which must be assigned to this class, but retain the long vowel in the preterite and participle.

hight, intransitive, hight; hight obsolete, but still in use in poets; Anglosaxon strong verb hâtan; hêht, hêt; hâten, vocare (the English present and participle have arisen from the old preterite). Danish hedde, Swedish heta. In Old-English transitive and intransitive: haten, hoten, heten: highte, hatte (ROB. of GLOUCESTER), hate, also heet, het; hoten, hot, in Scotland preterite and participle also hecht: Of the compound with be, cited as obsolete in the forms behight; behot; behight, there occur in Old-English behighte, behote, behett; behighten, behoten. Anglosaxon behâtan, vovere.

Examples of hight are: This grisly beast, which lion hight by name (SHAKSPEARE Mids. N. Dr. 5, 1.) Father he hight and he was in the parish (LONGFELLOW). Childe Harold was he hight (L. BYRON), dight and bedight; dight; dight; still occurs in ModernEnglish, particularly in the participle. Anglosaxon dihtan; dihte; dihted, disponere. Old-English dighten; dighte, dizte; dight.

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Examples in Modern-English: The clouds in thousand liveries dight (MILTON). Storied windows richly dight (ID.). Three modest maidens have me bedight (LONGFELLOW). The Old-English plighten; plighte; plight, Modern-English plight to pledge, Anglosaxon plihtan; plihte; plihted, pliht is now conjugated regularly: plighted.

=

English dictionaries give to the verb freight, the preterite freighted and the participles freighted and fraught, Danish fragte; compare the Old-Highdutch freht. In fact two forms run parallel to each other here; that in au, which seems the older, and that in ei, which seems to be the younger. Both meet each other in the contracted participle fret (from fraghted), Old-English fraughten (fraghten); fraughte; fraught, fret.

Examples: These marchants have don fraught here schippes (CHAUCER 4591.). Ne jewell fret full of rich stones (CHAUCER Legend of Good women 1115.). Fraghted with pleasure (SKELTON I. 32.). All with fauour fret (p. 83.). Another verb has been erroneously sought in fret in this connection (see the strong verb eat); compare also the form in ai: Oedipus, fraight ful of chilling feare (JoCASTA p. 137.). The verbal form in au in Shakspeare (who has also the participle fraught). The good ship.. and The fraughting souls within her (TEMP. 1. 2.) is wrongly assailed.

In the adjective tight, dialectical taught, tought, which seems to have naught to do with the Highdutch dicht, although the Swedish tät, tätt agrees with it in meaning, is primarily a participle, to be sought in the Anglosaxon tyhtan; tyhte; tyhted, tyht, trahere (compare ontyhtan, excitare, impellere), which may mix with the allied: tŷgan; tŷgde; tŷged, vincire; English tie.

Old-English had a considerable number of justifiable forms in t, which have been lost in Modern-English, as grette; gret (greeted), Anglosaxon grêtan; hette; het (heated, whence in Shakspeare and Ben Jonson the participle heat), Anglosaxon hætan; liste, leste, luste, Anglosaxon lystan; laste (lasted), Anglos. (ge)læstan; truste (trusted), Anglosaxon treóvsjan, or rather Old-norse traust, fiducia; reste; rest (rested), Anglosaxon restan; stente; stent and stenten (stinted), Anglosaxon stintan; sing. stant, plur. stanton; stanten; beside it the weak verb ätstentan, retundere; grunte (grunted), compare the Anglosaxon grunjan; sterte, starte, sturte; stert (started), Danish styrte, Swedish störta: Up she stert (preter.) still in Skelton I. 111.; swelte; swelt (= swooned), Anglosaxon sveltan, strong verb, sing. svealt, plur. svulton; svolten, mori, and many more.

The Strong Conjugation.

The verbs of the English strong conjugation rest upon Anglosaxon verbs of this conjugation, some whereof are indeed no longer to be pointed out in Anglosaxon, but may be inferred from cognate tongues. Hardly a weak verb is inflected weakly in the written language, and it is probable that strong forms lie originally at the foundation of all verbs universally strong, although the transformation of weak into strong forms is not uncommon in popular dialects, and a few, as is clear from some instances cited above, have also penetrated into the written tongue.

Mätzner. engl. Gr. I.

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