Chapter 107

ON THE PERSONS.

§ 283. Compared with the Latin, the Greek, the Moeso-Gothic, and almost all the ancient languages, there is, in English, in respect to the persons of the verbs, but a very slight amount of inflection. This may be seen by comparing the English word _call_ with the Latin _voco_.

_Sing._ _Plur._ | _Sing._ _Plur._ 1. Voc-o Voc-amus. | Call Call. 2. Voc-as Voc-atis. | Call-est Call. 3. Voc-at Voc-ant. | [52]Call-eth Call.

Here the Latins have different forms for each different person, whilst the English have forms for two only; and even of these one (_callest_) is becoming obsolete. With the forms voc-o, voc-amus, voc-atis, voc-ant, there is, in the current English, nothing correspondent.

In the word _am_, as compared with _are_ and _art_, we find a sign of the first person singular.

In the old forms _tellen_, _weren_, &c., we have a sign of the plural number.

§ 284. In the Modern English, the Old English, and the Anglo-Saxon, the peculiarities of our personal inflections are very great. This may be seen from the following tables of comparison:--

_Present Tense, Indicative Mood._

_Moeso-Gothic._

_1st person._ _2nd person._ _3rd person._

_Singular._ Sôkja Sôkeis Sôkeiþ--_seek_. _Plural._ Sôkjam Sôkeiþ Sokjand.

_Old High German._

_Singular._ Prennu Prennîs Prennit--_burn_. _Plural._ Prennames Prennat Prennant.

_Icelandic._

_Singular._ Kalla Kallar Kallar--_call_. _Plural._ Kôllum Kalliþ Kalla.

_Old Saxon._

_Singular._ Sôkju Sôkîs Sôkîd--_seek_. _Plural._ Sôkjad Sôkjad Sôkjad.

_Anglo-Saxon._

_Singular._ Lufige Lufast Lufað. _Plural._ Lufiað Lufiað Lufiað.

_Old English._

_Singular._ Love Lovest Loveth. _Plural._ Loven Loven Loven.

_Modern English._

_Singular._ Love Lovest Loveth (or Loves). _Plural._ Love Love Love.

§ 285. Herein remark; 1. the Anglo-Saxon addition of t in the second person singular; 2. the identity in form of the three persons of the plural number; 3. the change of -að into -en in the Old English plural; 4. the total absence of plural forms in the Modern English; 5. the change of the th into s, in _loveth_ and _loves_. These are points bearing especially upon the history of the English persons. The following points indicate a more general question:

1. The full form _prennames_ in the newer Old High German, as compared with _sôkjam_ in the _old_ Moeso-Gothic.

2. The appearance of the r in Icelandic.

3. The difference between the Old Saxon and the Anglo-Saxon in the second person singular; the final t being absent in Old Saxon.

§ 286. _The person in -t._--The forms _art_, _wast_, _wert_, _shalt_, _wilt_, or _ar-t_, _was-t_, _wer-t_, _shal-t_, _wil-t_, are remarkable. Here the second person singular ends, not in -st, but in t. The reason for this is to be sought in the Moeso-Gothic and the Icelandic.

In those languages the form of the person changes with the tense, and the second singular of the præterite tense of one conjugation is, not -s, but -t; as Moeso-Gothic, _svôr_ = _I swore_, _svôrt_ = _thou swarest_, _gráip_ = _I griped_, _gráipt_ = _thou gripedst_; Icelandic, _brannt_ = _thou burnest_, _gaft_ = _thou gavest_. In the same languages ten verbs are conjugated like præterites. Of these, in each language, _skal_ is one.

_Moeso-Gothic._

_Singular._ _Dual._ _Plural._

1. Skal Skulu Skulum. 2. Skalt Skuluts Skuluþ. 3. Skall Skuluts Skulun.

_Icelandic._

_Singular._ _Plural._

1. Skall Skulum. 2. Skalt Skuluð. 3. Skal Skulu.

§ 287. _Thou spakest_, _thou brakest_, _thou sungest_.[53]--

In these forms there is a slight though natural anomaly. They belong to the class of verbs which form their præterite by changing the vowel of the present; as _sing_, _sang_, &c. Now, all words of this sort in Anglo-Saxon formed their second singular præterite, not in -st, but in -e; as _þú funde_ = _thou foundest_, _þú sunge_ = _thou sungest_. The English termination is derived from the present. Observe that this applies only to the præterites formed by changing the vowel. _Thou loved'st_ is Anglo-Saxon as well as English, viz., _þú lufodest_.

§ 288. In the northern dialects of the Anglo-Saxon the -ð of plurals like _lufiað_ = _we love_ becomes -s. In the Scottish this change was still more prevalent:

The Scottes come that to this day _Havys_ and Scotland haldyn ay.--Wintoun, 11, 9, 73.

James I. of England ends nearly all his plurals in -s.

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