Chapter 112

Chapter 1122,056 wordsPublic domain

THE WEAK TENSES.

§ 304. The præterite tense of the weak verbs is formed by the addition of -d or -t.

If necessary, the syllable -ed is substituted for -d.

The current statement that the syllable -ed, rather than the letter -d is the sign of the præterite tense, is true only in regard to the written language. In _stabbed_, _moved_, _bragged_, _whizzed_, _judged_, _filled_, _slurred_, _slammed_, _shunned_, _barred_, _strewed_, the e is a point of spelling only. In _language_, except in declamation, there is no second vowel sound. The -d comes in immediate contact with the final letter of the original word, and the number of syllables remains the same as it was before. We say _stabd_, _môved_, _bragd_, &c.

§ 305. When, however, the original word ends in -d or -t, as _slight_ or _brand_, then, and then only is there the real addition of the syllable -ed; as in _slighted_, _branded_.

This is necessary, since the combinations _slightt_ and _brandd_ are unpronounceable.

Whether the addition be -d or -t depends upon the flatness or sharpness of the preceding letter.

After b, v, th (as in _clothe_), g, or z, the addition is -d. This is a matter of necessity. We say _stabd_, _môvd_, _clôthd_, _braggd_, _whizzd_, because _stabt_, _môvt_, _clotht_, _braggt_, _whizzt_, are unpronounceable.

After l, m, n, r, w, y, or a vowel, the addition is also -d. This is the _habit_ of the English language. _Filt_, _slurt_, _strayt_, &c., are as pronounceable as _filld_, _slurrd_, _strayd_, &c. It is the habit, however, of the English language to prefer the latter forms.

All this, as the reader has probably observed, is merely the reasoning concerning the s, in words like _father's_, &c., applied to another letter and to another part of speech.

§ 306. The verbs of the weak conjugation fall into three classes.

I. In the first there is the simple addition of -d, -t, or -ed.

To this class belong the greater part of the weak verbs and all verbs of foreign origin.

§ 307. II. In the second class, besides the addition of -t or -d, the vowel is _shortened_,

_Present._ _Præterite._

Creep Crept. Keep Kept. Sleep Slept. Sweep Swept. Weep Wept. Lose Lost. Mean [57]Meant.

Here the final consonant is -t.

_Present_ _Præterite_

Flee Fled. Hear [58]Heard. Shoe Shod. Say [59]Said.

Here the final consonant is -d.

§ 308. III. In the second class the vowel of the present tense was _shortened_ in the præterite. In the third class it is _changed_.

Tell, told. Will, would. Sell, sold. Shall, should.

To this class belong the remarkable præterites of the verbs _seek_, _beseech_, _catch_, _teach_, _bring_, _think_, and _buy_, viz., _sought_, _besought_, _caught_, _taught_, _brought_, _thought_, and _bought_. In all these, the final consonant is either g or k, or else a sound allied to those mutes. When the tendency of these sounds to become h and y, as well as to undergo farther changes, is remembered, the forms in point cease to seem anomalous. In _wrought_, from _work_, there is a transposition. In _laid_ and _said_ the present forms make a show of regularity which they have not. The true original forms should be _legde_ and _sægde_, the infinitives being _lecgan_, _secgan_. In these words the i represents the semivowel y, into which the original g was changed. The Anglo-Saxon forms of the other words are as follows:--

Bycan, bóhte. Sêcan, sóhte. Bringan, bróhte. Þencan, þóhte. Wyrcan, wórhte.

§ 309. Out of the three classes into which the weak verbs in Anglo-Saxon are divided, only one takes a vowel before the d or t. The other two add the syllables -te or -de, to the last letter of the original word. The vowel that, in one out of the three Anglo-Saxon classes, precedes d is o. Thus we have _lufian_, _lufode_; _clypian_, _clypode_. In the other two classes the forms are respectively _bærnan_, _bærnde_; and _tellan_, _tealde_, no vowel being found. The _participle_, however, as stated above, ended, not in -de or -te, but in -d or -t; and in two out of the three classes it was preceded by a vowel; the vowel being e,--_gelufod_, _bærned_, _geteald_. Now in those conjugations where no vowel preceded the d of the præterite, and where the original word ended in -d or -t, a difficulty, which has already been indicated, arose. To add the sign of the præterite to a word like _eard-ian_ (_to dwell_) was an easy matter, inasmuch as _eardian_ was a word belonging to the first class, and in the first class the præterite was formed in -ode. Here the vowel o kept the two d's from coming in contact. With words, however, like _métan_ and _sendan_, this was not the case. Here no vowel intervened; so that the natural præterite forms were _met-te_, _send-de_, combinations wherein one of the letters ran every chance of being dropped in the pronunciation. Hence, with the exception of the verbs in the first class, words ending in -d or -t in the root admitted no additional d or t in the præterite. This difficulty, existing in the present English as it existed in the Anglo-Saxon, modifies the præterites of most words ending in -t or -d.

§ 310. In several words there is the actual addition of the syllable -ed; in other words d is separated from the last letter of the original word by the addition of a vowel; as _ended_, _instructed_, &c.

§ 311. In several words the final -d is changed into -t, as _bend_, _bent_; _rend_, _rent_; _send_, _sent_; _gild_, _gilt_; _build_, _built_; _spend_, _spent_, &c.

§ 312. In several words the vowel of the root is changed; as _feed_, _fed_; _bleed_, _bled_; _breed_, _bred_; _meet_, _met_; _speed_, _sped_; _r[=e]ad_, _r[)e]ad_, &c. Words of this last-named class cause occasional difficulty to the grammarian. No addition is made to the root, and, in this circumstance, they agree with the strong verbs. Moreover, there is a change of the vowel. In this circumstance also they agree with the strong verbs. Hence with forms like _fed_ and _led_ we are in doubt as to the conjugation. This doubt we have three means of settling, as may be shown by the word _beat_.

a. _By the form of the participle._--The -en in _beaten_ shows that the word _beat_ is strong.

b. _By the nature of the vowel._--The weak form of _to beat_ would be _bet_, or _be[)a]t_, after the analogy of _feed_ and _read_. By some persons the word is pronounced _bet_, and with those who do so the word is weak.

c. _By a knowledge of the older forms._--The Anglo-Saxon form is _beáte_, _beot_. There is no such a weak form as _beáte_, _bætte_. The præterite of _sendan_ is _sende_ weak. There is in Anglo-Saxon no such form as _sand_, strong.

In all this we see a series of expedients for distinguishing the præterite form from the present, when the root ends with the same sound with which the affix begins.

The change from a long vowel to a short one, as in _feed_, _fed_, &c., can only take place where there is a long vowel to be changed.

Where the vowels are short, and, at the same time, the word ends in -d, the -d of the present may become -t in the præterite. Such is the case with _bend_, _bent_.

When there is no long vowel to shorten, and no -d to change into -t, the two tenses, of necessity, remain alike; such is the case with _cut_, _cost_, &c.

§ 313. The following verbs form their præterite in -t:--

_Present._ _Præterite._

Leave [60]Lef_t_ not [61]Leav_ed_. Cleave Clef_t_ -- Cleav_ed_. Bereave Beref_t_ -- Bereav_ed_. Deal [62]Deal_t_ -- Deal_ed_. Feel Fel_t_ -- Feel_ed_. Dream [60]Drem_t_ -- Dream_ed_. Learn [60]Lern_t_ -- Learn_ed_.

§ 314. Certain _so-called_ irregularities may now be noticed.--_Made_, _had_.--In these words there is nothing remarkable but the ejection of a consonant. The Anglo-Saxon forms are _macode_ and _hæfde_, respectively. The words, however, in regard to the amount of change, are not upon a _par_. The f in _hæfde_ was probably sounded as v. Now v is a letter excessively liable to be ejected, which k is not. K, before it is ejected, is generally changed into either g or y.

_Would_, _should_, _could_.--It must not be imagined that _could_ is in the same predicament with these words. In _will_ and _shall_ the -l is part of the original word. This is not the case with _can_. For the form _could_, see § 331.

§ 315. _Aught_.--In Anglo-Saxon _áhte_, the præterite of the present form _áh_, plural _ágon_.--As late as the time of Elizabeth we find _owe_ used for _own_. The present form _own_ seems to have arisen from the plural _ágon_. _Aught_ is the præterite of the Anglo-Saxon _áh_; _owed_ of the English _owe_ = _debeo_; _owned_ of the English _own_ = _possideo_. The word _own_, in the expression _to own to a thing_, has a totally different origin. It comes from the Anglo-Saxon _an_ (plural, _unnon_) = _I give_, or _grant_ = _concedo_.

§ 316. _Durst_.--The verb _dare_ is both transitive and intransitive. We can say either _I dare do such a thing_, or _I dare (challenge) such a man to do it_. This, in the present tense, is unequivocally correct. In the past the double power of the word _dare_ is ambiguous; still it is, to my mind at least, allowable. We can certainly say _I dared him to accept my challenge_; and we can, perhaps, say _I dared venture on the expedition_. In this last sentence, however, _durst_ is the preferable expression.

Now, although _dare_ is both transitive and intransitive, _durst_ is only intransitive. It never agrees with the Latin word _provoco_; only with the Latin word _audeo_. Moreover, the word _durst_ has both a present and a past sense. The difficulty which it presents consists in the presence of the -st, letters characteristic of the second person singular, but here found in all the persons alike; as _I durst_, _they durst_, &c.

This has still to be satisfactorily accounted for.

_Must_.--A form common to all persons, numbers, and tenses. That neither the -s nor the -t are part of the original root, is indicated by the Scandinavian form _maae_ (Danish), pronounced _moh_; præterite _maatt_.

This form has still to be satisfactorily accounted for.

_Wist_.--In its present form a regular præterite from _wiss_ = _know_. The difficulties of this word arise from the parallel forms _wit_ (as in _to wit_), and _wot_ = _knew_. The following are the forms of this peculiar word:--

In Moeso-Gothic, 1 sing. pres. ind. _váit_; 2. do., _váist_; 1 pl. _vitum_; præterite 1 s. _vissa_; 2 _vissêss_; 1 pl. _vissêdum_. From the form _váist_ we see that the second singular is formed after the manner of _must_; that is, _váist_ stands instead of _váit-t_. From the form _vissêdum_ we see that the præterite is not strong, but weak; therefore that _vissa_ is euphonic for _vista_.

In Anglo-Saxon.--_Wât_, _wást_, _witon_, _wiste_, and _wisse_, _wiston_.--Hence the double forms, _wiste_, and _wisse_, verify the statement concerning the Moeso-Gothic _vissa_.

In Icelandic.--_Veit_, _veizt_, _vitum_, _vissi_. Danish _ved_, _vide_, _vidste_. Observe the form _vidste_; since, in it, the d of the root (in spelling, at least) is preserved. The t of the Anglo-Saxon _wiste_ is the t, not of the root, but of the inflection.

In respect to the four forms in question, viz., _wit_, _wot_, _wiss_, _wisst_, the first seems to be the root; the second a strong præterite regularly formed, but used (like [Greek: oida] in Greek) with a present sense; the third a weak præterite, of which the -t has been ejected by a euphonic process, used also with a present sense; the fourth is a second singular from _wiss_ after the manner of _wert_ from _were_, a second singular from _wit_ after the manner of _must_, a secondary præterite from _wiss_, or finally, the form _wisse_, anterior to the operation of the euphonic process that ejected the -t.

§ 317. In the phrase _this will do_ = _this will answer the purpose_, the word _do_ is wholly different from the word _do_, meaning _to act_. In the first case it is equivalent to the Latin _valere_; in the second to the Latin _facere_. Of the first the Anglo-Saxon inflection is _deáh_, _dugon_, _dohte_, _dohtest_, &c. Of the second it is _dó_, _doð_, _dyde_, &c. I doubt whether the præterite _did_, as equivalent to _valebat_ = _was good for_, is correct. In the phrase _it did for him_ = _it finished him_, either meaning may be allowed.

In the present Danish they write _duger_, but say _duer_: as _duger et noget?_ = _Is it worth anything?_ pronounced _dooer deh note?_ This accounts for the ejection of the g. The Anglo-Saxon form _deáh_ does the same.

§ 318. _Mind--mind and do so and so_.--In this sentence the word _mind_ is wholly different from the noun _mind_. The Anglo-Saxon forms are _geman_, _gemanst_, _gemunon_, without the -d; this letter occurring only in the præterite tense (_gemunde_, _gemundon_), of which it is the sign. _Mind_ is, then, a præterite form with a present sense; whilst _minded_ (as in _he minded his business_) is an instance of excess of inflection; in other words, it is a præterite formed from a præterite.

§ 319. _Yode_.--The obsolete præterite of _go_, now replaced by _went_, the præterite of _wend_. Regular, except that the initial g has become y.

§ 320. _Did_.--See § 317.

_Did_, from _do_ = _facio_, is a _strong_ verb. This we infer from the form of its participle _done_.

If so the final -d is not the same as the -d in _moved_. What is it? There are good grounds for believing that in the word _did_ we have a single instance of the old _reduplicate præterite_. If so, it is the latter d which is radical, and the former which is inflectional.

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