[§ 384]. Such is the arrangement of the strong verbs in Mœso-Gothic, with which the arrangement of the strong verbs in the other Gothic languages may or may not coincide.
For a full and perfect coincidence three things are necessary:—1. the coincidence of form; 2. the coincidence of distribution; 3. the coincidence of order.
1. Coincidence of form..—Compared with the Mœso-Gothic rinna, rann, runnum, runnans, the Old High German inflection coincides most rigidly; e.g., rinnu, ran, runnumês, runnanê. The vowel is the same in the two languages, and it is similarly changed in each. It is very evident that this might be otherwise. The Mœso-Gothic i might have become e, or the u might have become o. In this case, the formula for the two languages would not have been the same. Instead of i, a, u, u (see the tabular arrangement), serving for the Old High German as well as the Mœso-Gothic, the formula would have been, for the Mœso-Gothic, i, a, u, u, and for the Old High German e, a, u, u, or i, a, o, o. The forms in this latter case would have been equivalent, but not the same.
2. Coincidence of distribution.—A given number of words in the Mœso-Gothic form their præterites by changing i into a; in other words, a given number of verbs in Mœso-Gothic are inflected like rinna and rann. The same is the case with the Old High German. Now if these words are the same in the two languages, the Mœso-Gothic and the Old High German (as far as the agreement extends) coincide in the distribution of their verbs; that is, the same words are arranged in the same class, or (changing the phrase) are distributed alike.
3. Coincidence of order.—The conjugation to which the Mœso-Gothic words rinna and rann belong is the twelfth. The same is the case in Old High German. It might,
however, have been the case that in Old High German the class corresponding with the twelfth in Mœso-Gothic was the first, second, third, or any other.
Now a coincidence of form, a coincidence of distribution, and a coincidence of order, in all the classes of all the Gothic languages, is more than can be expected. If such were the case, the tenses would be identical throughout.
Coincidence of form is infringed upon by the simple tendency of sounds to change. Hilpa in Mœso-Gothic is helpe in Anglo-Saxon: hulpans in Mœso-Gothic is holfanêr in Old High German, and holpen in Anglo-Saxon. A change, however, of this sort is insufficient to affect the arrangement. Helpan, in Anglo-Saxon, is placed in the same class with spinnan; and all that can be said is, that the Mœso-Gothic i is, in Anglo-Saxon, represented not by i exclusively, but sometimes by i and sometimes by ĕ.
Coincidence of distribution is of great etymological importance. A word may in one stage of a language take the form of one conjugation, and in another that of another. The word climban is, in Anglo-Saxon, placed in the same conjugation with drincan, &c. For this there was a reason; viz., the fact of the i being short. For the i being short there was a reason also. The b preceded the vowel a, and consequently was sounded. This was the case whether the word was divided clim-ban or climb-an. An, however, was no part of the original word, but only the sign of the infinitive mood. As such it became ejected. The letter b then came at the end of the word; but as the combination mb, followed by nothing was unstable, b was soon lost in pronunciation. Now b being lost, the vowel which was once short became lengthened, or rather it became the sound of the diphthong ei; so that the word was no longer called clĭmb, but clime. Now the words that follow the analogy of spin, span ,&c. (and consequently constitute the twelfth class), do so, not because the vowel is i, but because it is a short i; and when the i is sounded like a diphthong, the præterite is formed differently. The Anglo-Saxon præterite of climban was sounded clŏmm, and rhymed to from; the English præterite (when strong) of
climb is sounded clōmbe, rhyming to roam. The word climb, which was once classed with spin and sing, is now to be classed with arise and smite; in other words, it is distributed differently.