071 English Prceterites. 385 of the praeterite singular has been put out of its place by that of the praeterite plural, the rule still holds even to our day ; and even this does not always occvu', e. g, we say sing, sang or sung; but sung always in the participle (l2th conj.) However the distinction between the singular and plural has perished entirely. So much for the first or strong conjuga- tion of verbs. Returning now to the second division of the subject, namely, such verbs as form their praeterite by the addition of a syllable, and waiving all discussion as to the meaning of the same syllable, all that requires remark is this; that such verbs form a separate, an independent, and as it appears, a younger class. This we assert in spite of Pro- fessor Rask^s opinion (Gram, by B. Thorpe, lvii.) who calls against us the Arabic verbs. Now in reply we say that by younger we do not intend a question of time, for as we are informed, the Sanskrita itself possesses a preponderating num- ber of such verbs, and as we know, the Gothic abounds in them ; but we mean a form of a derivative nature. And this we say, 1. Because the scheme of Teutonic roots is com- mon to the strong verbs, and to the oldest forms of the nouns ; 2. Because no iveak verb ever in process of time became strongs while strong verbs do become weak ; 3. Because foreign words taken into the language are inflected weak ; 4. Because the verbs formed from adjectives or nouns follow- ing the strong form are inflected weak ; and, 5. Because the active verbs formed upon the praeterites of the strong verbs, and having a modified meaning, are likewise so conjugated. Of these matters more anon. Before treating of them I shall give the Gothic weak paradigms, tracing their descent as above. In all the three Gothic weak conjugations the consonant d appears ; the conjugations are distinguished by the vowel which precedes it. The first has i ; e. g, far-jan (navigare). Praet. sing, far-ida. the second has 6 ; e. g. salb-6n (ungere). salb-oda. the third is distinguished by ai ; e. g. hab-an (habere), hab-aida. The Anglo-Saxon compresses these into two, one taking -e^ the other -6 for its distinctive vowel ; to wit,
