A Handbook of the English Language by Robert Gordon Latham (books for men to read .txt) 📖

"To err is human, to forgive divine,"

are very remarkable. They exhibit the phenomena of a nominative case having grown not only out of a dative but out of a dative plus its governing preposition.

CHAPTER XVIII.

ON DERIVED VERBS.

§ 282. Of the divisions of verbs into active and passive, transitive and intransitive, unless there be an accompanying change of form, etymology takes no cognisance. The forces of the auxiliary verbs, and the tenses to which they are equivalent, are also points of syntax rather than of etymology.

Four classes, however, of derived verbs, as opposed to simple, especially deserve notice.

I. Those ending in -en; as soften, whiten, strengthen, &c. Here the -en is a derivational affix; and not a representative of the Anglo-Saxon infinitive form -an (as lufian, bærnan = to love, to burn), and the Old English -en (as tellen, loven).

II. Transitive verbs derived from intransitives by a change of the vowel of the root.

Primitive Intransitive Form. Derived Transitive Form.                     Rise           Raise.                     Lie           Lay.                     Sit           Set.                     Fall           Fell.                     Drink           Drench.

In Anglo-Saxon these words were more numerous than they are at present.

Intrans. Infinitive. Trans. Infinitive. Yrnan, to run Ærnan, to make to run. Byrnan, to burn Bærnan, to make to burn. Drincan, to drink Drencan, to drench. Sincan, to sink Sencan, to make to sink. Liegan, to lie Lecgan, to lay. Sittan, to sit Settan, to set. Drífan, to drift Dræfan, to drive. Fëallan, to fall Fyllan, to fell. Wëallan, to boil Wyllan, to make to boil. Flëogan, to fly A-fligan, to put to flight. Bëogan, to bow Bígan, to bend. Faran, to go Feran, to convey. Wacan, to wake Weccan, to waken.

All these intransitives form their præterite by a change of vowel; as sink, sank; all the transitives by the addition of d or t, as sell, sell'd.

III. Verbs derived from nouns by a change of accent; as to survéy, from a súrvey.

Nouns. Verbs. Nouns. Verbs. Ábsent absént. Éxtract extráct. Ábstract abstráct. Férment fermént. Áccent accént. Fréquent frequént. Áffix affíx. Ímport impórt. Aúgment augmént. Íncense incénse. Cólleague colléague. Ínsult insúlt. Cómpact compáct. Óbject objéct. Cómpound compóund. Pérfume perfúme. Cómpress compréss. Pérmit permít. Cóncert concért. Préfix prefíx. Cóncrete concréte. Prémise premíse. Cónduct condúct. Présage preságe. Cónfine confíne. Présent presént. Cónflict conflíct. Próduce prodúce. Cónserve consérve. Próject projéct. Cónsort consórt. Prótest protést. Cóntract contráct. Rébel rebél. Cóntrast contrást. Récord recórd. Cónverse convérse. Réfuse refúse. Cónvert convért. Súbject subjéct. Déscant descánt. Súrvey survéy. Désert desért. Tórment tormént. Dígest digést. Tránsfer transfér. Éssay essáy. Tránsport transpórt.

Walker attributes the change of accent to the influence of the participial termination -ing. All words thus affected are of foreign origin.

IV. Verbs formed from nouns by changing a final sharp consonant into its corresponding flat one; as,

The use to use, pronounced uze. The breath to breathe — breadhe. The cloth to clothe — clodhe.

CHAPTER XIX.

ON THE PERSONS.

§ 283. Compared with the Latin, the Greek, the Mœso-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. Call-eth[52] 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. Mœso-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 Mœso-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 Mœso-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 Mœso-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.

Mœso-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: