§ 391. The following double præterites are differently explained. The one often (but not always) is from the AngloSaxon participle, the other from the Anglo-Saxon præterite.

This is as much as need, at present, be said respecting the so-called Strong Præterites.

Whatever they are, they are anything but Irregular, as may be seen in chapter xxxiii., a chapter which, for the sake of convenience, finds its place after those on the Weak Præterites and the Participles.

* Obsolete.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE SO-CALLED WEAK PRÆTERITES.

§ 392. THE præterite tense of the so-called 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.

When, however, the original word ends in -d or -t, as slight or brand, then, and then only (and that not always), is there the 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, móvd, clóthd, braggd, whizzd, because stabt, móvt, clotht, braggt, whizzt, are unpronounceable.

After l, m, n, r, w, y, or a vowel, the addition is also -d. This is no matter of necessity, but simply 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.

§ 393. The verbs of the Weak conjugation fall into three classes. 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.

In the second class, besides the addition of -t or -d, the vowel is shortened. It also contains those words which end in -d or -t, and at the same time have a short vowel in the præterite. Such, amongst others, are cut, cost, &c., where the two tenses are alike, and bend, rend, &c., where the præterite is formed from the present by changing -d into -t, as bent, rent, &c.

In the following list, the words ending in -p are remarkable; since, in Anglo-Saxon, each of them had, instead of a Weak, a Strong præterite.

In this class we sometimes find -t where the -d is expected; the forms being left and dealt, instead of leaved and dealed.

Third class.-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 further 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 sagde, the infinitives being lecgan, secgan. In these words the i represents the semi-vowel y, into which the original g was changed. The Anglo-Saxon forms of the other words are as follows:

:

Byegan, bóhte.
Sêcan, sóhte.

Bringan, bróhte.
pencan, þóhte.

Wyrcan, wórhte.

§ 394. 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 three classes it was preceded by a vowel, gelufod, barned, 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, To add the sign of the præterite to a word like eard-ian (to dwell) was an easy matter, inasmuch as eard-ian was a word

arose.