A Handbook of the English Language Part 34

-- 283. Compared with the Latin, the Greek, the Mso-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._

_Mso-Gothic._

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

_Singular._ Sokja Sokeis Sokei--_seek_.

_Plural._ Sokjam Sokei Sokjand.

_Old High German._

_Singular._ Prennu Prennis Prennit--_burn_.

_Plural._ Prennames Prennat Prennant.

_Icelandic._

_Singular._ Kalla Kallar Kallar--_call_.

_Plural._ Kollum Kalli Kalla.

_Old Saxon._

_Singular._ Sokju Sokis Sokid--_seek_.

_Plural._ Sokjad Sokjad Sokjad.

_Anglo-Saxon._

_Singular._ Lufige Lufast Lufa.

_Plural._ Lufia Lufia Lufia.

_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 ident.i.ty in form of the three persons of the plural number; 3. the change of -a 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 _sokjam_ in the _old_ Mso-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 Mso-Gothic and the Icelandic.

In those languages the form of the person changes with the tense, and the second singular of the praeterite tense of one conjugation is, not -s, but -t; as Mso-Gothic, _svor_ = _I swore_, _svort_ = _thou swarest_, _graip_ = _I griped_, _graipt_ = _thou gripedst_; Icelandic, _brannt_ = _thou burnest_, _gaft_ = _thou gavest_. In the same languages ten verbs are conjugated like praeterites. Of these, in each language, _skal_ is one.

_Mso-Gothic._

_Singular._ _Dual._ _Plural._

1. Skal Skulu Skulum.

2. Skalt Skuluts Skulu.

3. Skall Skuluts Skulun.

_Icelandic._

_Singular._ _Plural._

1. Skall Skulum.

2. Skalt Skulu.

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 cla.s.s of verbs which form their praeterite by changing the vowel of the present; as _sing_, _sang_, &c. Now, all words of this sort in Anglo-Saxon formed their second singular praeterite, not in -st, but in -e; as _u funde_ = _thou foundest_, _u sunge_ = _thou sungest_. The English termination is derived from the present. Observe that this applies only to the praeterites formed by changing the vowel. _Thou loved'st_ is Anglo-Saxon as well as English, viz., _u lufodest_.

-- 288. In the northern dialects of the Anglo-Saxon the - of plurals like _lufia_ = _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.

CHAPTER XX.

ON THE NUMBERS OF VERBS.

-- 289. As compared with the present plural forms, _we love_, _ye love_, _they love_, the Anglo-Saxons had the truly plural forms, _we lufia_, _ge lufia_, _hi lufia_. The Old English also had a true plural inflection _we loven_, _ye loven_, _they loven_. The present English wants both the form in -en, and the form in -a. In other words, the Anglo-Saxon and the Old English have a plural _personal_ characteristic, whilst the Modern English has nothing to correspond with it.