[§ 463]. Now by assuming (which is only a fair assumption) the extension of the Middle High German omission of the inflection to the Anglo-Saxon; and by supposing it to affect the words in question in all positions (i.e., both before and
after their nouns), we explain these constructions by a process which, in the mind of the present writer, is involved in fewer difficulties than the opposite doctrine of a genitive case, in words where it is not wanted, and with a termination which is foreign to it elsewhere.
To suppose two adjectival forms, one inflected (min, minre, &c.), and one uninflected, or common to all genders and both numbers (min), is to suppose no more than is the case with the uninflected þe, as compared with the inflected þæt.—See pp. 251-253.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WEAK PRÆTERITE.
[§ 464]. The remote origin of the weak præterite in -d or -t, has been considered by Grimm, in the Deutsche Grammatik. He maintains that it is the d in d-d, the reduplicate præterite of do. In all the Gothic languages the termination of the past tense is either -da, -ta, -de, -ði, -d, -t, or -ed, for the singular, and -don, -ton, -tûmês, or -ðum, for the plural; in other words, d, or an allied sound, appears once, if not oftener. In the plural præterite of the Mœso-Gothic we have something more, viz. the termination -dêdum; as nas-idêdum, nas-idêduþ, nas-idêdum, from nas-ja; sôk-idêdum, sôk-idêduþ, sôk-idêdum from sôk-ja; salb-ôdêdum, salb-ôdêduþ, sâlb-ôdêdun, from salbô. Here there is a second d. The same takes place with the dual form salb-ôdêduts; and with the subjunctive forms, salb-ôdêdjan, salb-ôdêduts, salb-ôdêdi, salb-ôdêdeits, salb-ôdêdeima, salb-ôdêdeiþ, salb-ôdêdeina. The English phrase, we did salve, as compared with salb-ôdêdum, is confirmatory of this.—Deutsche Grammatik, i. 1042.
[§ 465]. Some remarks of Dr. Trithen's on the Slavonic præterite, in the Transactions of the Philological Society, induce me to identify the d- in words like moved, &c., with the -t of the passive participles of the Latin language; as found in mon-it-us, voc-at-us, rap-t-us, and probably in Greek forms like τυφ-θ-είς.
l. The Slavonic præterite is commonly said to possess genders: in other words, there is one form for speaking of a past action when done by a male, and another for speaking of a past action when done by a female.