Chapter 117

THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE.

§ 344. The present participle, called also the active participle and the participle in -ing, is formed from the original word by adding -ing; as, _move_, _moving_. In the older languages the termination was more marked, being -nd. Like the Latin participle in -ns, it was originally declined. The Moeso-Gothic and Old High German forms are _habands_ and _hapêntér_ = _having_, respectively. The -s in the one language, and the -êr in the other, are the signs of the case and gender. In the Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon the forms are -and and -ande; as _bindand_, _bindande_ = _binding_. In all the Norse languages, ancient and modern, the -d is preserved. So it is in the Old Lowland Scotch, and in many of the modern provincial dialects of England, where _strikand_, _goand_, is said for _striking_, _going_. In Staffordshire, where the -ing is pronounced -ingg, there is a fuller sound than that of the current English. In Old English the form in -nd is predominant, in Middle English the use fluctuates, and in New English the termination -ing is universal. In the Scotch of the modern writers we find the form -in.

The rising sun o'er Galston muirs Wi' glorious light was glintin'; The hares were hirplin' down the furs, The lav'rocks they were chantin'.--BURNS' _Holy Fair_.

§ 345. It has often been remarked that the participle is used in many languages as a substantive. This is true in Greek,

[Greek: Ho prassôn] = _the actor_, when a male. [Greek: Hê prassousa] = _the actor_, when a female. [Greek: To prattou] = _the active principle of a thing_.

But it is also stated, that, in the English language, the participle is used as a substantive in a greater degree than elsewhere, and that it is used in several cases and in both numbers, e.g.,

_Rising_ early is healthy, There is health _in rising_ early. This is the advantage _of rising_ early. The _risings_ in the North, &c.

Some acute remarks of Mr. R. Taylor, in the Introduction to his edition of Tooke's "Diversions of Purley," modify this view. According to these, the -ing in words like _rising_ is not the -ing of the present participle; neither has it originated in the Anglo-Saxon -end. It is rather the -ing in words like _morning_; which is anything but a participle of the non-existent verb _morn_, and which has originated in the Anglo-Saxon substantival termination -ung. Upon this Rask writes as follows:--"_Gitsung_, _gewilnung_ = _desire_; _swutelung_ = _manifestation_; _clænsung_ = _a cleansing_; _sceawung_ = _view_, _contemplation_; _eorð-beofung_ = _an earthquake_; _gesomnung_ = _an assembly_. This termination is chiefly used in forming substantives from verbs of the first class in -ian; as _hálgung_ = _consecration_, from _hálgian_ = _to consecrate_. These verbs are all feminine."--"Anglo-Saxon Grammar," p. 107.

Now, whatever may be the theory of the origin of the termination -ing in old phrases like _rising early is healthy_, it cannot apply to expressions of recent introduction. Here the direct origin in -ung is out of the question.

The view, then, that remains to be taken of the forms in question is this:

1. That the older forms in -ing are substantival in origin, and = the Anglo-Saxon -ung.

2. That the latter ones are _irregularly_ participial, and have been formed on a false analogy.

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