ON THE PERSONS.
s. 348. Compared with the Latin, the Greek, the Moeso-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_. [44]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 of _voco_ marked in italics 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.
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._
_Moeso-Gothic._
_1st person._ _2nd person._ _3rd person._
_Singular._ S[^o]kja. S[^o]keis. S[^o]keith--_seek._
_Plural._ S[^o]kjam. S[^o]keith. S[^o]kjand.
{295}
_Old High German._
_Singular._ Prennu. Prenn[^i]s. Prennit--_burn._
_Plural._ Prennames. Prennat. Prennant.
_Icelandic._
_Singular._ Kalla. Kallar. Kallar--_call._
_Plural._ Koellum. Kallith. Kalla.
_Old Saxon._
_Singular._ S[^o]kju. S[^o]k[^i]s. S[^o]k[^i]d--_seek._
_Plural._ S[^o]kjad. S[^o]kjad. S[^o]kjad.
_Anglo-Saxon._
_Singular._ Lufige. Lufast. Lufadh.
_Plural._ Lufiadh. Lufiadh. Lufiadh.
_Old English._
_Singular._ Love. Lovest. Loveth.
_Plural._ Loven. Loven. Loven.
_Modern English._
_Singular._ Love. Lovest. Loveth (or Loves).
_Plural._ Love. Love. Love.
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 _-adh_ 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
_s['o]kjam_ in the _old_ Moeso-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.
4. The respective powers of M in the first, of S in the second, and of T
(or its allied sounds) in the third persons singular; {296} of MES in the
first, of T (or its allied sounds) in the second, and of ND in the third
persons plural. In this we have a regular expression of the persons by
means of regular signs; and this the history of the personal terminations
verifies.
s. 349. _First person singular._--That the original sign of this person was
M we learn from the following forms: _dad[^a]mi_, Sanskrit; _dadh[^a]mi_,
Zend; _[Greek: didomi]_, Greek; _dumi_, Lithuanic; _damy_, Slavonic=_I
give_. The Latin language preserves it in _sum_ and _inquam_, and in the
first persons of tenses, like _legam_, _legebam_, _legerem_, _legissem_.
The form _im_=_I am_ occurs in Moeso-Gothic; and the words _stom_=_I
stand_, _lirnem_=_I shall learn_, in Old High German. The word _am_ is a
fragmentary specimen of it in our own language.
_Plural._--The original sign MES. _Dadmas_, Sanskrit; _[Greek: didomes]_,
afterwards _[Greek: didomen]_, Greek; _damus_, Latin=_we give_. The current
form in Old High German.
These forms in M may or may not be derived from the pronoun of the first
person; _m[^a]_, Sanskrit; _me_, Latin, English, &c.
_Second person singular._--The original sign S. _Dadasi_, Sanskrit; [Greek:
didos], Greek; _das_, Latin; _dasi_, Slavonic. Preserved in the Gothic
languages.
_Plural._--The original sign T, or an allied sound. _Dadyata_, Sanskrit;
_daidhy[^a]ta_, Zend; [Greek: didote], Greek; _datis_, Latin; _d[ou]kite_,
Lithuanic; _dashdite_, Slavonic=_ye give_. Current in the Gothic languages.
These forms in T and S may or may not be derived from the pronoun of the
second person; _tva_, Sanskrit; [Greek: su], Greek; _thou_, English.
_Third person singular._---The original sign T. _Dadati_, Sanskrit;
_dadh[^a]iti_, Zend; [Greek: didoti], Old Greek; _dat_, Latin; _d[ou]sti_,
Lithuanic; _dasty_, Slavonic=_he gives_. Preserved in the Gothic languages.
_Plural._--The original sign NT. _Dadenti_, Zend; [Greek: didonti],
afterwards [Greek: didousi], Greek; _dant_, Latin=_they give_. In
Moeso-Gothic and Old High German.
The preceding examples are from Grimm and Bopp. To them add the Welsh form
_carant_=_they love_, and the Persian _budend_=_they are_. {297}
The forms in T and NT may or may not be derived from the demonstrative
pronoun _ta_, Saxon; [Greek: to], Greek; _that_, English, &c.
s. 350. The present state of the personal inflection in English, so
different from that of the older languages, has been brought about by two
processes.
I. _Change of form._--^a) The ejection of _-es_ in _-mes_, as in
_s[^o]kjam_ and _koellum_, compared with _prennames_; ^b) the ejection of
_-m_, as in the first person singular, almost throughout; ^c) the change of
_-s_ into _-r_, as in the Norse _kallar_, compared with the Germanic
_s[^o]keis_; ^d) the ejection of _-d_ from _-nd_, as in _loven_ (if this be
the true explanation of that form) compared with _prennant_; ^e) the
ejection of _-nd_, as in _kalla_; ^f) the addition of _-t_, as in _lufast_
and _lovest_. In all these cases we have a change of form.
II. _Confusion or extension._--In vulgarisms like _I goes_, _I is_, one
person is used instead of another. In vulgarisms like _I are_, _we goes_,
one number is used instead of another. In vulgarisms like _I be tired_, or
_if I am tired_, one mood is used instead of another. In vulgarisms like _I
give_ for _I gave_, one tense is used for another. In all this there is
confusion. There is also extension: since, in the phrase _I is_, the third
person is used instead of the first; in other words, it is used with an
extension of its natural meaning. It has the power of the third person +
that of the first. In the course of time one person may entirely supplant,
supersede, or replace another. The application of this is as follows:--
The only person of the plural number originally ending in dh is the second;
as _s['o]keith_, _prennat_, _kallith_, _lufiadh_; the original ending of
the first person being _-mes_, or _-m_, as _prennames_, _s[^o]kjam_,
_koellum_. Now, in Anglo-Saxon, the _first_ person ends in dh, as
_lufiadh_. Has _-m_, or _-mes_, changed to dh, or has the second person
superseded the first? The latter alternative seems the likelier.
s. 351. The detail of the persons seems to be as follows:--
_I call_, first person singular.--The word _call_ is not one person more
than another. It is the simple verb, wholly uninflected. It is very
probable that the first person was the {298} one where the characteristic
termination was first lost. In the Modern Norse language it is replaced by
the second: _Jeg taler_=_I speak_, Danish.
_Thou callest_, second person singular.--The final _-t_ appears throughout
the Anglo-Saxon, although wanting in Old Saxon. In Old High German it
begins to appear in Otfrid, and is general in Notker. In Middle High German
and New High German it is universal.--Deutsche Grammatik, i. 1041. 857.
_He calleth_, or _he calls_, third person singular.--The _-s_ in _calls_ is
the _-th_ in _calleth_, changed. The Norse form _kallar_ either derives its
_-r_ from the _-th_ by way of change, or else the form is that of the
second person replacing the first.
_Lufiadh_, Anglo-Saxon, first person plural.--The second person in the
place of the first. The same in Old Saxon.
_Lufiadh_, Anglo-Saxon, third person plural.--Possibly changed from -ND, as
in _s[^o]kjand_. More probably the second person.
_Loven_, Old English.--For all the persons of the plural. This form may be
accounted for in three ways: 1. The _-m_ of the Moeso-Gothic and High Old
German became _-n_; as it is in the Middle and Modern German, where all
traces of the original _-m_ are lost. In this case the first person has
replaced the other two. 2. The _-nd_ may have become _-n_; in which case it
is the third person that replaces the others. 3. The indicative form
_loven_ may have arisen out of a subjunctive one; since there was in
Anglo-Saxon the form _lufion_, or _lufian_, subjunctive. In the Modern
Norse languages the third person replaces the other two: _Vi tale_, _I
tale_, _de tale_=_we talk_, _ye talk_, _they talk_.
s. 352. _The person in_ -T.--_Art_, _wast_, _wert_, _shalt_, _wilt_. Here
the second person singular ends, not in _-st_, but in _-t_. A reason for
this (though not wholly satisfactory) we find in the Moeso-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 Moeso-Gothic, _sv[^o]r_=_I swore_, _sv[^o]rt_=_thou swarest_,
_gr['a]ip_=_I griped_, _gr['a]ipt_=_thou gripedst_; Icelandic,
_brannt_=_thou burnest_, _gaft_=_thou_ {299} _gavest_. In the same
languages ten verbs are conjugated like praeterites. Of these, in each
language, _skal_ is one.
_Moeso-Gothic._
_Singular._ _Dual._ _Plural._
1. Skal. Skulu. Skulum.
2. Skalt. Skuluts. Skuluth.
3. Skall. Skuluts. Skulun.
_Icelandic._
_Singular._ _Plural._
1. Skall. Skulum.
2. Skalt. Skuludh.
3. Skal. Skulu.
s. 353. _Thou spakest, thou brakest, thou sungest._[45]--In these forms
there is a slight though natural anomaly. They belong to the class 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 _th['u]
funde_=_thou foundest_, _th['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._, _th['u] lufodest_.
s. 354. In the northern dialects of the Anglo-Saxon the -dh of plurals like
_lufiadh_=_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_.
* * * * *
{300}