THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE.
§ 344. The present participle, called also the active participle and the
participle in -ing, is formed from the original word by adding -ing; as,
_move_, _moving_. In the older languages the termination was more marked,
being -nd. Like the Latin participle in -ns, it was originally declined.
The Moeso-Gothic and Old High German forms are _habands_ and _hapêntér_ =
_having_, respectively. The -s in the one language, and the -êr in the
other, are the signs of the case and gender. In the Old Saxon and
Anglo-Saxon the forms are -and and -ande; as _bindand_, _bindande_ =
_binding_. In all the Norse languages, ancient and modern, the -d is
preserved. So it is in the Old Lowland Scotch, and in many of the modern
provincial dialects of England, where _strikand_, _goand_, is said for
_striking_, _going_. In Staffordshire, where the -ing is pronounced -ingg,
there is a fuller sound than that of the current English. In Old English
the form in -nd is predominant, in Middle English the use fluctuates, and
in New English the termination -ing is universal. In the Scotch of the
modern writers we find the form -in.
The rising sun o'er Galston muirs
Wi' glorious light was glintin';
The hares were hirplin' down the furs,
The lav'rocks they were chantin'.--BURNS' _Holy Fair_.
§ 345. It has often been remarked that the participle is used in many
languages as a substantive. This is true in Greek,
[Greek: Ho prassôn] = _the actor_, when a male.
[Greek: Hê prassousa] = _the actor_, when a female.
[Greek: To prattou] = _the active principle of a thing_.
But it is also stated, that, in the English language, the participle is
used as a substantive in a greater degree than elsewhere, and that it is
used in several cases and in both numbers, e.g.,
_Rising_ early is healthy,
There is health _in rising_ early.
This is the advantage _of rising_ early.
The _risings_ in the North, &c.
Some acute remarks of Mr. R. Taylor, in the Introduction to his edition of
Tooke's "Diversions of Purley," modify this view. According to these, the
-ing in words like _rising_ is not the -ing of the present participle;
neither has it originated in the Anglo-Saxon -end. It is rather the -ing in
words like _morning_; which is anything but a participle of the
non-existent verb _morn_, and which has originated in the Anglo-Saxon
substantival termination -ung. Upon this Rask writes as
follows:--"_Gitsung_, _gewilnung_ = _desire_; _swutelung_ =
_manifestation_; _clænsung_ = _a cleansing_; _sceawung_ = _view_,
_contemplation_; _eorð-beofung_ = _an earthquake_; _gesomnung_ = _an
assembly_. This termination is chiefly used in forming substantives from
verbs of the first class in -ian; as _hálgung_ = _consecration_, from
_hálgian_ = _to consecrate_. These verbs are all feminine."--"Anglo-Saxon
Grammar," p. 107.
Now, whatever may be the theory of the origin of the termination -ing in
old phrases like _rising early is healthy_, it cannot apply to expressions
of recent introduction. Here the direct origin in -ung is out of the
question.
The view, then, that remains to be taken of the forms in question is this:
1. That the older forms in -ing are substantival in origin, and = the
Anglo-Saxon -ung.
2. That the latter ones are _irregularly_ participial, and have been formed
on a false analogy.
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