OUTLINES OF GRAMMAR.

XXV

STRONG VERBS.

A List of the Strong Verbs: I. to the 1st class belong
about fifty words, finna (fann, fundu, fundit), spinna, spirna, sviinma
(obsolete), vinna (vann, unnu, unnit), binda (batt, bundu), hrinda
(hratt, hrundu), vinda (vatt, undu), springa (sprakk, sprungu), stinga
(stakk, stungu), brenna, renna, drekka, bregða (brá, brugðu), bresta,
bella, gnella, smella, skreppa, sleppa, serða, snerta, gnesta, delta,
spretta, svella, vella, svelta, velta, hverfa, sverfa, þverra, verpa, verða:
with the root vowel e resolved into ja, gjalda (gait, guldu), gjalla,
skjalla, bjarga, skjálfa, hjálpa (halp, hulpu, hólpinn): with characteristic
; or v, hrokkva (hrökk, hrukku), klökkva, stó'kkva, sokkva, slöngva,
þröngva, svelgja, tyggja, hnöggva (defect.), syngja. f*j- All those with
n, g, k for final have u in part, pass., fundit, bundit, stungit, brunnit,
drukkit, brugðit, þrungit, tuggit, sungit; they have also i for root
vowel in infin., finna, etc., which is weakened into e in bregða, drekka,
brenna, renna,—brigða, drikka, brinna, rinna are the older forms, which
even occur in old poets: the rest have o in part., oltinn, sloppinn,
snortinn, brostinn, dottinn, goldinn, hólpinn,... hrokkinn, stokkinn,
sokkinn, sólginn: those with initial v drop it before u, o, y, svella,
sullu, sylli, sollinn ; . . . verða, urðu, yrði, orðinn ; vinna, unnu, yrini,
unninn. II. to the 2nd class belong about forty words, bíða,
kvíða, líða (pati), líða (labi), ríða (eqititare), ríða (vngere), ríða (qs.
vríða, necíere),síða, skn'ða, sniða, svíða, drífa, hnfa, klífa, rífa, svífa, þrífa,
dvína (defect.), gína, hrína, hvína, skína, grípa, svipa (defect.), fisa, risa,
bita, dr^a, hníta (defect.), líta, ríta, rista, skíta, slíta, hníga, míga, síga,
stíga : with characteristic_;, blík-ja, svík-ja, vík-ja. $&- Those with
final g have also é in pret., e. g. hneig and hné ; steig and ste ; also
vék and veik from vikja, but these forms are later. III. to the
3rd class belong about thirty-six words, bjóða,hnjóða,hrjóða((íe.soZarí),
rjóða, sjóða, frjósa, gjósa, hnjósa (defect.), hrjósa (defect.), kjósa, Ijósta,
brjóta,fljóta, gjóta, hljóta, hrjóta (cadere), hrjóta (stertere), njóta,skjóta,
þjóta, þrjóta :—those with final/, p, g, k, have^í in infin., which seems
older, kljúfa, krjúfa, rjúfa, drjúpa, krjupa, fljuga, ljuga, sjuga, smjuga,
fjúka, rjuka, strjúka: with eliminated j, súpa, lúka (and Ijúka), lúta,
hnufa, amputare (defect.) fîS* Those with final g have also an obso-
lete pret. in ó (fló, 10, sniu, so), but usually and in mod. usage regular,
flaug, etc.: frjósa and kjósa have a double pret., a regular fraus, hnaus,
and irregular fröri, köri. IV. to the 4th class belong twenty-
six words, hlaða, vaða (óð, vaðit), vaxa (óx, vaxit), standa (stóð,
staðit), grafa, skafa, ala, gala, kala, mala, skapa, fara, draga, gnaga
(defect.), aka, skaka, taka: contracted in infin., flá, slá, þvá (qs. rlaga,
slaga): infin. with characteristic ;', dey-ja, gey-ja, hef-ja, hlæ-ja (hló,
hlógu), kleg-ja (defect.), sver-ja (sór, svarit). $*** The verbs with final
g and k, either contracted or not, have e in part, pass., dreg-it, ek-it,
skek-it, fleg-it, sleg-it, þveg-it, hleg-it; deyja has dá-it. V. the
5th class falls into two divisions: 1. twenty words, kveða, vega
(vá, vágu), fregna (frá, frágu, fregit), gefa, leka, reka (persequï), reka
(qs. vreka, ulciscï), drepa, vera (vesa), lesa, eta, feta, freta, geta, meta :
infin. with characteristic j, bið-ja, ligg-ja (lú, lágu, legit), þigg-ja (þá,
þágu, þegit), sit-ja, sjá (sá, séð). 2. nine irregular words,
all having o in part, pass., vefa (óf, ófu, ofit), fela (fal, fi'tlu, fólgit),
stela (stal, stálu, stolit), nema (nam, námu, numit), bera, skera (skar,
skáru, skorit), troða (trað, tráðu, troðit), sofa (svaf, sváfu, sofit), koma
(kom, kómu or kvámu, komit). In placing these words here we
follow the preterite ; according to the participle they might be put
in the 1st class. Grimm makes a separate class of them ; but for that
they are too few in number and too similar in inflexion to the 1st and
5th class. VI. the 6th class, originally reduplicated verb?, many
of which are still such in Gothic : 1. with é in pret., falda, halda,
falla, blanda, ganga (gékk, gengu. gengit), hanga (hókk, hengu, hangit),
fá (fékk, fengu, fengit), ráða, blúsa, grata, látn, heita (hét, heitinn),
leika (lék, leikinn), biota (q. v.) 2. the verbs auka, ausa, hlaupa,
búa (q. v.), höggva (hjó, hjoggu, höggit), spý-ja (spjó, spúit); defect.
bauta (p. 54).

IRREGULAR VERBS,

The Verb Substantive properly belongs to the 5th class of
strong verbs ; older forms are, pres. es, pret. vas, vas-t, vas, infin. vesa,
imperat. vesi, ves-tu, which forms are used in old poets and in the
very oldest MSS. (cp. Engl. was) ; er, var, vera, etc. are the mod.
forms; er (sum) is mod. instead of em, which latter however is still
used in the N. T. and often in sacred writings, hymns, etc.; mod.
Dan. and Swed. also have er, so that the Engl. alone have preserved
the true old form (am) : the Engl. plur. are is not Saxon but Scandin.-
Engl., and is not used even by Chaucer.

Verbs with Present in Preterite Form: the first three
belong, although irregularly, to the 5th strong class, the next six
(skal,... ami) to the 1st class, and veil to the and. The plur. 2nd
pers. munit, unnit, and 3rd pers. muna, unna, which are used in old

writings, shew that at early times this verb began to confuse the
preterite with the present forms ; in mod. usage this is carried farther,
and Icel. say, eigit and eiga, megið and mega, kunnið and kunna, þurfið
and þurfa, vitið and vita ; but the -u is still preserved in skuluð and
skulu, munuð and munu. Icel. distinguish between munu (nt\\ovat)
and muna (rneminerunf). II. the infinitives skulu, munu are pro-
perly preterite infinitive forms; whereas in the rest of these verbs the
-u changed into -a, eiga, vita, etc.: another preterite infinitive (weak)
is preserved in skyl-du and myn-du, which are the sole preterite infini-
tive forms that have been preserved in prose. fëp In old poetry
there are about twenty instances of an obsolete pret. infinitive, which
conforms to 3rd pers. plur. pret. indie., just as the pres. infin. to the 3rd
pers. plur. pres. indie.; especially in ace. with infin., hygg þá stóðu
(credo illos stetisse), fóru (ivisse), kómu (yenisse), fly'ðu (fugisse), etc.,
vide Lex. Poet., all of them obsolete and seldom used in prose, e. g.
vildo (voluisse), Mork. 168, 1. 20; only skyldu, myndu are frequent
in the Sagas and are used even to the present day. III. the
preterites are formed by inflexion and are weak ; exceptional however
are kunna, unna, vissa, being without d or t; in mod. usage Icel. say,
unnti (amavit), making a regular weak preterite of it, which form occurs
even in Kb. iii. 469 ; but we cannot say kunn-ti instead of kun-ni.

The Verbs with the Preterite in -ra: these verbs are pro-
perly strong verbs, and are so in kindred languages (A. S., O. H. G.,
Goth.) The pret. form is difficult to explain ; a reduplication might
explain the verbs having initial r or s before the root vowel, róa,
gróa, frjósa, and sá (só-ri being qs. so-si) ; and would even do for slá,
snúa: but gnua, kjósa remain unexplained, unless we admit that
they have been formed by analogy with the others, as also valda
(olli, qs. vo-voli). $8" Kjósa, frjósa usually follow the 3rd strong class
(pret. kaus, fraus), and slá the 4th: sleri only occurs a few times
in old writers; sá has in mod. sense become a regular weak verb (sá,
sá-ða, sá-ð).

General Kemarks on the Strong and the Irregular Verbs:
these verbs all together amount to about two hundred and twenty,
but in the course of time some of them have become weak, and
even in old writers are so used : a. changed into the 1st weak
conjugation, bjarga, hjálpa, feta, freta, fregna, rita (from rita), blika
(from blikja), dvina, klifa (from klifa), svipa (from svipa), gala, mala,
aka, skapa, falda, blanda, biota, klægja. p. into the 2nd weak conju-
gation, snerta, slöngva, þröngva, rista, svelgja, sá (serere). y. into the
3rd weak conjugation, fela, tyggja, bvá,—in all about twenty-six verbs.
If we add half a score of words which are obsolete and defective, or
were so even in olden times, there remain not quite two hundred
strong verbs in full use. We may add fragmentary verbs, of which
only the part. pass, remains; and to this class we may assign
the participial adjectives, bólginn (injlatus), toginn (ductus, Germ.
gezogeri], dofinn, boginn, hroðinn (piclus), snoðinn, rotinn, hokinn,
fúinn, hiinn, auðinn, snivinn (vi(þó/j.(vos obsolete and poet.), belonging
chiefly to the 1st and 2nd class, and perhaps many besides. Grimm
reckons that in all the Teutonic languages together there are about
four hundred and fifty strong verbs, whole or fragmentary; but
no single dialect has much more than half of that number. These
verbs belong to the earliest formation of words; they are decreasing,
as no new strong verbs are ever spontaneously formed, whereas the
old die out or gradually take the weak forms. So also wrecks of
strong verbs are found here and there, and even modern languages
have by chance preserved words lost elsewhere, thus vrungu (lorse-
ntnt) is an air. \ty. in one of the oldest Icel. poets; but in this case
the English supplies the loss, as wring, wrung (whence wrong, prop.
= wry, opp. to right) are common enough." Most of the important
j words of the language belong to the strong conjugation, and many of
them are treated at great length in the Dictionary ; whereas only a few
of the great verbs, such as giira, hafa, belong to the weak conjugation,
so that the strong conjugation has an importance far beyond the
number of its verbs. II. the formation of tenses in the strong
verbs is plain enough, a. the chief tenses, the pret. in sing, and
plur., the infin. and part, pass., are formed by way of ablaut (see
p. xxix), from which p. the secondary tenses are formed by way
of umlaut (see p. xxviii), viz. the pres. sing, indie, from infin., e. g. býð
(jubed) from bjóða (jnbere) ; stend (sto) from standa (stare) ; el (a/o)
from ala (alere) ; grset (fled) from grata (flere), etc.: in plur. the
unchanged root vowel returns, bjóðuni (jubemus); stöndum (stamvs);
ölum (alimus) ; gn'ttum (flemns). y. in the same way the pret. subj.
is formed from pret. plur. indie., e.g. byða (juberem) from buðu (jusse-
runt); cela (alereni) from ólu (ahterunt); brynna (nrereni) from brunnu
(vsserunt); bsera (ferreni) from baru(fw/er//w/),etc. Qa* The character-
istic^' and v reappear in pres. indie, plur.; thus, from sitja (sedere], pres.
sing, sit (sedeo), but sitja (sedent); from höggva (caedere), Inogg(caedo),
but höggva (caedrmt): in pres. subj. the^ and v are kept through the
sing.,as sitja(seckaw),hoggva(caerfrtm),etc. III. the weak verbs
are formed upon a later and quite different principle, viz. by suffixing the