The original e reappears in the participial stems. It was changed to i in the present stems on account of a former -jan in the infinitive (bid-jan, etc.). See [§ 61]. To the same cause is due the doubling of consonants in the infinitive. All simple consonants in O.E., with the exception of r, were doubled after a short vowel, when an original j followed.
[116.]
Class VI: The “Shake” Conjugation.
Succession of Vowels: a, ō, ō, a.
| scac-an, | scōc, | scōc-on, | gescac-en, | to shake. |
| far-an, | fōr, | fōr-on, | gefar-en, | to go [fare]. |
[117.]
Class VII: The “Fall” Conjugation.
| Vowel Succession: | ā ǣ | , ē, ē, | ā ǣ | ; or | ea ēa ō | , ēo, ēo, | ea ēa ō | . |
| (1) | hāt-an, | hēt, | hēt-on, | gehāt-en, | to call, name, command. | |
| lǣt-an, | lēt, | lēt-on, | gelǣt-en, | to let. | ||
| (2) | feall-an, | fēoll, | fēoll-on, | gefeall-en, | to fall. | |
| heald-an, | hēold, | hēold-on, | geheald-en, | to hold. | ||
| hēaw-an, | hēow, | hēow-on, | gehēaw-en, | to hew. | ||
| grōw-an, | grēow, | grēow-on, | gegrōw-en, | to grow. |
Note 1.—This class consists of the Reduplicating Verbs; that is, those verbs that originally formed their preterits not by internal vowel change (ablaut), but by prefixing to the present stem the initial consonant + e (cf. Gk. λέ-λοιπα and Lat. dĕ-di). Contraction then took place between the syllabic prefix and the root, the fusion resulting in ē or ēo: *he-hat > heht > hēt.