frequent use, also, is the perf. wende, went, from the regular verb wenden.

(c) don, d. inf. donne; pres. (1. do), 2. dest (B. O. dost), 3. dedh, dodh, pl. dodh (O. don); imp. do, pl. dodh h; perf. dede, dude (O. dide); p. act. donde, pass.

don.

§ 145. C. Several verbs vacillate between primary and secondary inflexion; as, perf. bæh or boyede, from buyen, to bow, perf. for or ferde, from faren, to fare; perf. pl. heo clumben, B. hii clomden, from climben, to climb.

The verbs fon, to take, hon, to hang, make present forms from these roots; as, underfodh, they undertake; but from fangen and hangen, the perfects feng, heng. The verb standen (0. stanndenn) makes perf. stod, pl. stoden, part. stonden (0. stanndenn).

§ 146. D. The following verbs of secondary inflexion are irregular: thenchen (O. thennkenn), to think, perf. thohte, part. thoht; thunchedh (O. thinnkethth), seemeth, perf. thuhte; wurchen (O. wirrkenn), to work, perf. wrohte, part. wroht (in A. also worhte, worht); buggen (O. biggenn), to buy, perf. bohte, part. boht; bringen, to bring, perf. brohte, part. broht.

EARLY ENGLISH INFLEXION.

§ 147. The periods in the history of our language which are known as the Old English and the Middle English, differ chiefly in the vocabulary: in grammatical points they are not so far unlike as to require a separate treatment. One can be briefer

here, as the inflexional system is now reduced more nearly to its modern proportions; and in the Ormulum, which stands at the close of the Semi-Saxon period, we have already seen much of what is most striking in early English inflexion. The object will be to represent especially the language of Chaucer in its characteristic features.

§ 148. It must be observed at the outset, that the unaccented final e, which is silent in modern English, was generally pronounced by Chaucer. A multitude of apparent exceptions are accounted for by noticing these two peculiarities in the poet's verse: 1. The unaccented final e generally unites in one syllable with a vowel at the beginning of the next word; and this union takes place, even when the next word is a pronoun or adverb with initial h, or a form of the verb to have. 2. An unaccented final er is often treated as a part of the preceding syllable, its e being suppressed, especially where a vowel or h follows in the next word; and sometimes an unaccented final en or eth is treated in the same way. Many of the exceptional cases are undoubtedly attributable to variations and corruptions introduced by the transcribers.

SUBSTANTIVES.

§ 149. Nominative Singular. Where the Anglo-Saxon had a final vowel (a, e, o, u) in the nom. sing., the early English (like the Semi-Saxon) has e; as, oxe, herte, eere, herde, lawe, elde (A-S. oxa, ox, heorte, heart, eáre, ear, hirde, (shep)herd, lagu, law,

H

yldo, age). Even where the Anglo-Saxon had a final consonant, most feminine words have an added e; as, dede, sorwe, youthe (A-S. dod, deed, sorh, sorrow, geógudh, youth); but the verbals in yng do not generally add e; as, connyng, less often connynge, cunning. In Chaucer this final e is not unfrequently suppressed in pronunciation, and occasionally, after two consonants, in writing: thus, herte is sometimes treated as one syllable, and sometimes written hert.

§ 150. Genitive Singular. The gen. sing. ends in es; as, kinges, names, from king, name. In Chaucer this final es is almost always a separate syllable. Genitives without es are sometimes found, in accordance with earlier modes of inflexion; as, myn herte blood, his lady grace, hir fader hous; but heven king, A-S. heofon-cyning, is properly a compound word.

§ 151. Dative and Accusative Singular. The acc. sing. is always like the nom.: the dat. sing. is usually so. But where the nom. ends in a consonant, a dative in e is often found with prepositions, especially at the end of a line in verse; as, to bedde, with golde, in house, out of his sleepe, from bed, gold, hous, sleep. By a confusion of forms, this dat. in e is occasionally used instead of the regular nom. or acc. ; as child, but also childe, in nom. and acc.

§ 152. Plural. The plur. has es in all the cases; as nom. gen. dat. acc. kinges, dedes, shippes, wyfes, names, hertes (A-S. nom. pl. cyningas, dada, scipu, wif, naman, heortan). In Chaucer the plural often ends in s alone (or es pronounced as 8), especially where two or more syllables precede; as, shoos, pilgryms, lovers, frankeleyns, servantes (pronounced servánts).

Some words still retain the plural of the old Ndeclension; as, oxen, eyen (eyes), ashen (also aishes), shoon (also shoos), etc.; while some others taken by mistaken analogy, as bretheren, sistren (also sustres), children (also childre or childer), kyn (kine), etc. Some words, which were of neuter gender in the AS., make the plur. like the sing.; as, pl. deer, good, sheep, swin (swine), folk (or folkes), hors (or horses), thing (or thinges), yer (or yeres). The plurals with change of vowel are feet, gees, men, teeth, etc., as in modern English.

§ 153. If the ending es (or s) is not used in the nom. pl., it is added to form the gen. pl.; as folkes wyves, mennes soules, wymmens counseiles.

ADJECTIVES.

$154. Adjectives are inflected as in the Ormulum : the pl. of the indefinite adjective and both numbers of the definite end in e; as, yong man, yonge men, the yonge man, the yonge men. In Chaucer this inflexion is confined to monosyllables; all adjectives of two or more syllables, and of course all adjectives that end in e, are uninflected. In occasional instances the indefinite adjective takes e in the sing., especially after prepositions or before names of persons. On the other hand, e of the indefinite plural is sometimes omitted, when the adjective is a predicate; as, they were glad: the predicate participle is almost always undeclined.

§ 155. Chaucer has a remnant of the old gen. pl.

indef. in aller or alther, of all; as, at your alther cost, alther best.

156. The comparative and superlative are formed as in modern English. Superlatives of one syllable are inflected; as, the beste man, his laste word. Change of vowel is seen in lenger, from long; strenger, strengest from strong; elder, eldest, from old.

§ 157. Adverbs are formed from adjectives as in the earlier language; either with the ending e; as, brighte, faire, harde, longe, from bright, fair, etc.; or with the ending ly (A-S. líce, Semi-Saxon liche, like) ; as, shortly, sothely, sikurly, specially, from short, soth, etc.

PRONOUNS.

§ 158. In the first person, Chaucer has I, rarely yk and ich (for A-S. ic, which is still found in Old Eng.). In the second person, he has thou, ye, you (which are found also in Old Eng.), for A-S. thu, ge, The dual forms are no longer met with. In

eow.

The forms hire and here were pronounced hir, her, and were sometimes written so. In the Old Eng. we still find heo in the nom. sing. fem., and heo or hi, hii, in the nom. plur.

§ 159. Reflexives are made in Chaucer by adding