ON THE PERSONS.
§ 283. 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. | [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._
_Moeso-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_ 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.
§ 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 Moeso-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 Moeso-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.
_Moeso-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:
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.
* * * * *