§ 102. The ending -ed, in the North -id, -it (past part. of weak verbs), is, as a rule, syllabic in Middle English: e.g. Min Dríhhtin háfeþþ lénedd Orm. 16; Annd ícc itt háfe fórþedd té ib. 25; Annd tǽrfore háfe icc túrrnedd ítt ib. 129; ipróved ófte síthes Chauc. Prol. 485; hadde swówned wíth a dédly chére ib. Kn. T. 55; Nóu is Álex dwélled þóre Alexius, i. 121; Lóverd, iþánked bé þou áy ib. 157; A wéile gret quhíle thar duellyt hé Barbour, Bruce, i. 359.
But slurring and syncopation likewise are of frequent occurrence: þatt háffdenn cwémmd himm í þiss líf ib. 211; þet scúlle béo to déþe idémd Moral Ode, 106; His lónge héer was kémbd behýnde his bák Chauc. Kn. T. 1285; Fulfíld of íre ib. 82; especially in words with the accent on the antepenultima, e.g. Ybúried nór ibrént ib. 88; and hán hem cáried sófte ib. 153; And ben yhónowrid ás a kýng Alexius, i. 5, 12 (MS. N).
In this ending, too, syncopation (-ed, ’d, t) is the rule already in the earliest Modern English poets: offer’d Sur. 6; transgrést ib. 11; that prómised wás to thée ib. 35. The use of it as a full syllable, however, is very frequently to be met with, chiefly in participles used as adjectives: the párchëd gréen restórëd ís with sháde Sur. 1; by wéll assúrëd móan Wyatt, 4; but ármëd síghs ib. 4; false féignëd gráce ib. 4. The dramatists of the Elizabethan time (cf. Engl. Metrik, ii. 336) similarly often use the full ending; and even in modern poets it is not uncommon: where wé’ve involvëd óthers Burns, Remorse, l. 11 ; The chármëd Goad begán Keats, Lamia, p. 185, &c.
§ 103. The ending -ed (-od, -ud) of the 1st and 3rd pers. sing. pret. and the whole plur. pret. of weak verbs, which is shortened from -ede, -ode, -ude, -eden, -oden, -uden (cf. § [96]), is in Middle English usually syllabic: e.g. Mést al þét me líked(e) þó Moral Ode, 7 ; Oure lóverd þát al máked(e) iwís Pop. Science, 2; He énded(e) and cléped(e) yt Léicestre Rob. of Glouc., p. 29; The fáder hem lóued(e) álle ynóȝ ib.; Híre overlíppe wýpud(e) sché so cléne Chauc. Prol. 107; An óutridére þat lóved(e) vénerýe ib. 165; Ne máked hím a spíced cónsciénce ib. 526; þei préced évere nére and nére Alexius, i. 583 (MS. V).
As several of these examples show, slurring occasionally takes place, so that the ending forms part of a disyllabic thesis, but real syncopation never occurs; cf. further: Ánd asségit it rýgorouslý Barbour, Bruce, i. 88; and évere I hóped(e) of be to hére Alexius, ii. 482.
With regard to these endings from the beginning of the Modern English epoch onward syncopation ([e]d, ’d, t) is the rule; defied Sur. 10; sustain’d ib. 15; opprest Wyatt, 107. But the full syllable not infrequently occurs: I lóokëd báck Sur. 4; I néver próvëd nóne Wyatt, 39. It is characteristic of Spenser’s archaistic style, and is often met with in the Elizabethan dramatists; Shakespeare, however, uses it much more frequently in his earlier than in his later plays. The more recent poets admit it in single cases: said: vánishéd Keats, Lamia, p. 202.
§ 104. The final -e is treated in Modern English poetry in the same manner as in Modern High German: it may be either used as a thesis, or be slurred over, or become quite silent. In Middle English, however, the treatment of the final -e depends much more on the following word than on the etymological origin of the -e. It becomes mute, of course, mostly before h or a vowel, but is generally preserved (as a thesis) or slurred before a consonant. This rule has, however, many exceptions.
Orm and other poets of the beginning of the thirteenth century give the final e its full syllabic value in certain classes of words in which Chaucer[134] in the second half of the fourteenth century generally slurs it.