As the ejection of the e (in one case final in the other not) reduces words like bærned and bærnde to the same form, it is easy to account for the present identity of form between the weak præterites and the participles in -d: e.g., I moved, I have moved, &c.
[§ 351]. The prefix Y.—In the older writers, and in works written, like Thomson's "Castle of Indolence," in imitation of them, we find prefixed to the præterite participle the letter y-, as, yclept = called: yclad = clothed: ydrad = dreaded.
The following are the chief facts and the current opinion concerning this prefix:—
1. It has grown out of the fuller forms ge-: Anglo-Saxon, ge-: Old Saxon, gi-: Mœso-Gothic, ga-: Old High German, ka-, cha-, ga-, ki-, gi-.
2. It occurs in each and all of the Germanic languages of the Gothic stock.
3. It occurs, with a few fragmentary exceptions, in none of the Scandinavian languages of the Gothic stock.
4. In Anglo-Saxon it occasionally indicates a difference of sense; as, hâten = called, ge-hâten = promised; boren = borne, ge-boren = born.
5. It occurs in nouns as well as verbs.
6. Its power, in the case of nouns, is generally some idea of association, or collection.—Mœso-Gothic, sinþs = a journey, ga-sinþa = a companion; Old High German, perc = hill; ki-perki (gebirge) = a range of hills.
7. But it has also a frequentative power; a frequentative power, which is, in all probability, secondary to its collective power; since things which recur frequently recur