Chapter 22

STRONG VERBS: CLASS I. (See § 17.)

#Syntax of Moods.#

101. Of the three hundred simple verbs belonging to the O.E. Strong Conjugation, it is estimated[1] that seventy-eight have preserved their strong inflections in Mn.E., that eighty-eight have become weak, and that the remaining one hundred and thirty-four have entirely disappeared, their places being taken in most cases by verbs of Latin origin introduced through the Norman-French.

NOTE.--Only the simple or primitive verbs, not the compound forms, are here taken into consideration. The proportionate loss, therefore, is really much greater. O.E. abounded in formative prefixes. “Thus from the Anglo-Saxon #flōwan#, _to flow_, ten new compounds were formed by the addition of various prefixes, of which ten, only one, #oferflōwan#, _to overflow_, survives with us. In a similar manner, from the verb #sittan#, _to sit_, thirteen new verbs were formed, of which not a single one is to be found to-day.” Lounsbury, _ib._ Part I, p. 107.

[Footnote 1: Lounsbury, _English Language_, Part II, § 241.]

102. #Class I: The “Drive” Conjugation.#

Vowel Succession: ī, ā, i, i.

INFINITIVE. PRETERIT SING. PRETERIT PLUR. PAST PART.

Drīf-an drāf drif-on gedrif-en, _to drive_.

#Indicative.# #Subjunctive.#

PRESENT. PRESENT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic drīf-e _Sing._ 1. Ic } 2. ðū drīf-st (drīf-est) 2. ðū } drīf-e 3. hē drīf-ð (drīf-eð) 3. hē }

_Plur._ 1. wē } _Plur._ 1. wē } 2. gē } (drīf-að) 2. gē } drīf-en 3. hīe } 3. hīe }

PRETERIT. PRETERIT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic drāf _Sing._ 1. Ic } 2. ðū drif-e 2. ðū } drif-e 3. hē drāf 3. hē }

_Plur._ 1. wē } _Plur._ 1. wē } 2. gē } drif-on 2. gē } drif-en 3. hīe } 3. hīe }

#Imperative.# #Infinitive.# #Present Participle.#

_Sing._ 2. drīf drīf-an drīf-ende _Plur._ 1. drīf-an 2. drīf-að

#Gerund.# #Past Participle.#

tō drīf-anne (-enne) gedrif-en

#Tense Formation of Strong Verbs.#

103. (1) It will be seen from the conjugation of #drīfan# that the _present stem_ in all strong verbs is used throughout the present indicative, the present subjunctive, the imperative, the infinitive, the gerund, and the present participle. More than half of the endings, therefore, of the Strong Conjugation are added directly to the present stem.

(2) That the _preterit singular stem_ is used in only two forms of the verb, the 1st and 3d persons singular of the preterit indicative: #Ic drāf#, #hē drāf#.

(3) That the _preterit plural stem_ is used in the preterit plural indicative, in the second person of the preterit singular indicative, and in the singular and plural of the preterit subjunctive.

(4) That the _stem of the past participle_ (#gedrif-#) is used for no other form.

#Syntax of the Verb.#

104. The Indicative Mood[2] represents the predicate _as a reality_. It is used both in independent and in dependent clauses, its function in O.E. corresponding with its function in Mn.E.

[Footnote 2: Usage sanctions _mood_, but the better spelling would be _mode_. It is from the Lat. _modus_, whereas _mood_ (= _temper_) is O.E. _mōd_.]

105. The Subjunctive Mood represents the predicate _as an idea_.[3] It is of far more frequent occurrence in O.E. than in Mn.E.

1. When used in independent clauses it denotes desire, command, or entreaty, and usually precedes its subject: #Sīe ðīn nama gehālgod#, _Hallowed be Thy name_; #Ne swęrigen gē#, _Do not swear_.

2. In dependent clauses it denotes uncertainty, possibility, or mere futurity.[4] (_a_) Concessive clauses (introduced by #ðēah#, _though_) and (_b_) temporal clauses (introduced by #ǣr#, #ǣr ðǣm ðe#, _before_) are rarely found with any other mood than the subjunctive. The subjunctive is also regularly used in Alfredian prose (_c_) after verbs of saying, even when no suggestion of doubt or discredit attaches to the narration.[5] “Whether the statement refer to a fact or not, whether the subject-matter be vouched for by the reporter, as regards its objective reality and truth, the subjunctive does not tell. It simply represents a statement as reported”[6]: #ðēah man āsętte twēgen fǣtels full ealað oððe wæteres#, _though one set two vessels full of ale or water_; #ǣr ðǣm ðe hit eall forhęrgod wǣre#, _before it was all ravaged_; #Hē sǣde ðæt Norðmanna land wǣre swȳðe lang and swȳðe smæl#, _He said that the Norwegians’ land was very long and very narrow_.

[Footnote 3: Gildersleeve’s _Latin Grammar_, § 255.]

[Footnote 4: Thus when Alfred writes that an event took place _before_ the founding of Rome, he uses the subjunctive: #ǣr ðǣm ðe Rōmeburh getimbrod wǣre# = _before Rome were founded_; but, #æfter ðǣm ðe Rōmeburh getimbrod wæs# = _after Rome was founded_.]

[Footnote 5: “By the time of Ælfric, however, the levelling influence of the indicative [after verbs of saying] has made considerable progress.”--Gorrell, _Indirect Discourse in Anglo-Saxon_ (Dissertation, 1895), p. 101.]

[Footnote 6: Hotz, _On the Use of the Subjunctive Mood in Anglo-Saxon_ (Zürich, 1882).]

106. The Imperative is the mood of command or intercession: #Iōhannes, cum tō mē#, _John, come to me_; #And forgyf ūs ūre gyltas#, _And forgive us our trespasses_; #Ne drīf ūs fram ðē#, _Do not drive us from thee_.

107. (1) The Infinitive and Participles are used chiefly in verb-phrases (§§ 138-141); but apart from this function, the Infinitive, being a neuter noun, may serve as the subject or direct object of a verb. #Hātan# (_to command, bid_), #lǣtan# (_to let, permit_), and onginnan (_to begin_) are regularly followed by the Infinitive: #Hine rīdan lyste#, _To ride pleased him_; #Hēt ðā bǣre sęttan#, _He bade set down the bier_;[7] #Lǣtað ðā lȳtlingas tō mē cuman#, _Let the little ones come to me_; #ðā ongann hē sprecan#, _then began he to speak_.

(2) The Participles may be used independently in the dative absolute construction (an imitation of the Latin ablative absolute), usually for the expression of time:[8] #Him ðā gȳt sprecendum#, _While he was yet speaking_; #gefylledum dagum#, _the days having been fulfilled_.

[Footnote 7: Not, _He commanded the bier to be set down._ The Mn.E. passive in such sentences is a loss both in force and directness.]

[Footnote 8: Callaway, _The Absolute Participle in Anglo-Saxon_ (Dissertation, 1889), p. 19.]

108. The Gerund, or Gerundial Infinitive, is used:

(1) To express purpose: #Ūt ēode sē sāwere his sǣd tō sāwenne#, _Out went the sower his seed to sow_.

(2) To expand or determine the meaning of a noun or adjective: #Sȳmōn, ic hæbbe ðē tō sęcgenne sum ðing#, _Simon, I have something to say to thee_; #Hit is scǫndlīc ymb swelc tō sprecanne#, _It is shameful to speak about such things_.

(3) After #bēon# (#wesan#) to denote duty or necessity: #Hwæt is nū mā ymbe ðis tō sprecanne#, _What more is there now to say about this_? #ðonne is tō geðęncenne hwaet Crīst self cwæð#, _then it behooves to bethink what Christ himself said_.

NOTE.--The Gerund is simply the dative case of the Infinitive after #tō#. It began very early to supplant the simple Infinitive; hence the use of _to_ with the Infinitive in Mn.E. As late as the Elizabethan age the Gerund sometimes replaced the Infinitive even after the auxiliary verbs:

“Some pagan shore, Where these two Christian armies _might combine_ The blood of malice in a vein of league, And not _to spend_ it so unneighbourly.” _--King John_, V, ii, 39.

When _to_ lost the meaning of purpose and came to be considered as a merely formal prefix, _for_ was used to supplement the purpose element: _What went ye out for to see_?[9]

[Footnote 9: This is not the place to discuss the Gerund in Mn.E., the so-called “infinitive in _-ing_.” The whole subject has been befogged for the lack of an accepted nomenclature, one that shall do violence neither to grammar nor to history.]