XXVI

OUTLINES OF GRAMMAR.

auxiliary verb to do, in a (reduplicated ?) form ded or did, whence the
mod. Engl. deed, Germ, that, Icel. dáð; thus heyr-ð-a = 7 bear-d or hear
did I. This is precisely analogous to the suffixing of the article, only
that the verbal suffixed preterite is much older (centuries older than
Ulfilas), and is common to all Teutonic languages, ancient and modern ;
whereas the suffixed article is of later date and is limited to the Scan-
dinavian branch. There probably was a time when the preterite of
weak verbs was expressed by a detached auxiliary did, as was common
in the English of former days and still remains to a certain extent.
The other tenses, future and pluperfect, are still expressed by auxiliaries
(mun, skal, vil, hafa); ek mun ganga, ibo; ek hefi gengit, ivi; ek
hafða gengit, iveram. In mod. Icel. pres. indie, is used in future
sense (as in Gothic and to some extent in Engl.); as, hann kemr aldrei,
be will never come; hann kemr á morgun, be comes (i.e. will come)
to-morrow. The auxiliary verb mun is chiefly used in writing; in
conversation it sounds'stiff and affected : again, skal denotes necessity
or obligation, e. g. in a reply, eg skal gera það.

Modern Changes: generally these are very few, for special cases
see above and the single verbs in the Dictionary. There are two things
chiefly to be noted: 1. the ist pers. -a, in pret. indie, as well
as in pres. and pret. subj., is changed into -i, boðaði = boðaða (nunti-
aví), hefði = hefða (baberem), hafi = hafa (babenm). These mod. forms
began to appear in MSS. even of the 13th century; but the old form
still remains in some words in southern Icel., see the Dictionary, p. 2,
introduction to letter A (signif. C). 2. the plur. forms of the
subj. -in, -it, -i are in most cases changed into -urn, -ut, -u, and con-
form to the indie., thus töluðum (loqueremur) instead of talaðim;
tölum (loquamur) instead of talim; but wherever the subj. is formed
by vowel change it remains, thus hefðum (baberemus) instead of
the old hefðim ; værum (essemus) instead of vserim (in indie, höfðum,
várum) ; as also hafði (habui), but hefði (baberem.), so that in this case
distinction is kept up between indie, and subj. But the old subj. in-
flexion -i is still sounded in the 2nd and 3rd pers. in many dissyllabic
words, e.g. væriä (essetis), væri (essent) are quite as freq. as væruð,
væru, whereas in the 1st pers. plur, Icel. say værum (essemus), never
vaerim. 3. in 2nd pers. sing. pret. indie, of strong verbs, s has
been inserted throughout, thus, brann-st (ussis(i), fann-st (invenisti),
kom-st (venisti), hljop-st (cucurristi), var-st (fuisti), bjo-st (paravisti),
etc., whereas the ancients said brann-t, hljop-t, etc. But even the
ancients inserted s with verbs having t as characteristic; indeed it is
doubtful whether braut-t (fregisti), gret-t (flevisti) ever occur in old
writers; in these words we meet with the s in rhymes, even in verses
of the middle of the nth century, e.g. brauztn við bragning nýztan,
0. H. 219 ; brauztu rhymes on mesla.ii, Fins. vi. 139 ; and so also the
MSS., e. g. veizt (nosti) not veit-t; lézt (fecisti) not lét-t, etc. 4. in
2nd pers. pres. indie, of strong verbs 6 is inserted in about a score of
verbs, viz. in strong verbs and in weak of the 3rd conjugation if they
have a final vowel or a final r, fer-ð (is), fæ-rð (capis), dey-rð (moreris),
híae-rð (rides), slae-rð (feris), þvae-rð (lavas), sé-rð (vides), by'-rð (paras),
sve-rð (juras), ræ-rð (remigas), gny'-rð (fricas), sny-r& (vertis); weak,
ber-ð (feris), mer-ð (coniundis), ver-ð (defendis), smyr-ð (ungis),
spyr-ð (quaéris), ljær-ð (commodas), fly-rð (fugis), lý-rð (fatigas),
tæ-rð (carpis lanani), instead of fer-r, dey-r, . .. ly'-r, tæ-r; but this is
conversational and little used in writing: / is added in vil-t (vis, Engl.
wilt), for the old vil-1; both forms occur in very old MSS., e. g. villt,
Mork. 57. 1. 15, 168. 1. 19, but vill 62. 1. 3 : er-t (es, Engl. ibou art)
is common for old and mod. 5. for the weak participle in -inn
see p. xxiv. fey" Some MSS. (e. g. the Mar. S.) confound the 1st pers.
with the 3rd pers. pres. indie., and say, ek segir, heyrir, tekr, elskar,
as in mod. Swed. and Dan".; Dzn.jeg siger, borer, fager, elsker, Swed.
siiger, borer, taker; cp. in vulgar Engl. 7 says, I bears, I takes, I
loves: this use has never prevailed in Icel., either in speech or writing ;
and in MSS. it is simply a kind of Norwegianism.

VERBS WITH SUFFIX.

The Reflexive : these verbs are used in a reflexive or reciprocal
sense, but seldom as passive, and then in most cases only by way of
Latinism, the passive being usually expressed by the auxiliary verb
verða or vera; thus elska (amare), but pau elskask, tbey love one
another; anda, to breathe, but andask, to breathe 'oneself,' to die,
expirare: the reflexive often gives a new turn to a verb, and
makes it, so to say, individual and personal; see the Dictionary
passim. II. as to the form, 1. the inflexive-r (of the active
voice) is dropped, thus, boða-sk, qs. boðar-sk (nuntiaris). 2. the
inflexive -/ assimilates to the reflexive -s, and becomes -z, e. g. in the
2nd pers. plur., elskizk (amamini), eggizk (bortamini); þeim hafði
boðazk (qs. boðat-sk), as part. pass. neut. illis nuntiatum fuit, but
boða-sk (nuntiantnr). 3. -sk, qs. sik (se), is the old form, and
kept in the oldest MSS.; even sometimes -zþ, but usually -z, -zt or
-zst (often in MSS. of the i4th century), thus boða-z or boða-zt, the

former of which is common in MSS.; the mod. is -st (boða-st), which
form is adopted in most Editions and is also found in some old MSS.,
e. g. in one of the handwritings of Hb. (see Antiqq. Americ. facsim.
iv). It is likely that the sound of -zp, -z, -zt, and -st was much the
same, and that they differed only in the spelling. III. originally
there were two suffixes, viz. -si(i.e. sik, se) for the 2nd and 3rd pers., but

-mli (i. e. mik, me) for the 1st pers. plur.; this -mk is used in many good
old MSS. (and has generally been adopted in this Dictionary), but was,
from some confusion with -sk, changed into -mz or -mst; the -mk may
be called the personal reflexive, i. e. the reflexive reflecting the speaker
himself. It is worthy of notice that the ancients seldom used ek (7)
along with -sk; therefore—instead of saying ek pykki-sk (videor),
potti-sk (videbar), ek andask, lætsk, efask, óttask—they said, ek þykkju-
mk (videor mibi), ek þóttu-mk (videbar mibi), ek ondu-mk (morior),
ek latu-mk, ek efu-mk (dubito), ek ottu-mk (timeo), etc.; and ek þyk-
jumst, ek bóttumst are still in use. This usage is quite correct, and
the later common ek þykki-sk is in fact nonsense, being literally ego
' sibi' videor; it no doubt arose from the fact that the sense of the
suffix was no longer perceived. 2. we may note also the old
poet, usage of joining the reflexive -mk to the 2nd and 3rd pers.,
but in a personal reflexive sense, as gongumk firr funi, flame ! begone
from me, Gm. I ; jötna vegir stóðu-mk yfir ok undir, the ways of giants
stood over and under me, i.e. there were precipices above and below,
see the Dictionary, article ek, B. $ay"' It scarcely needs remark that
the m in this case belongs to the pronoun, not to the verbal inflexion,
and we are to write pykkju-mk, not þykkjum-k; the inflexive -m is
dropped before -mk, just as -r before -sk.

The Negative: it is obsolete and only used in poetry, in laws,
old sayings, and the like ; from the poets about two hundred instances
have been collected—perhaps a hundred more might be gleaned—in
Lex. Poet. p. 2, and from prose in this Dictionary, pp. 2, 3. In
Unger's Edition of Morkinskinna (lately published), we read mun-
k-at, 50; mun-a, 37; er-a, 36, 52, 129, 186; vere-a (non esset),
37: I. this suffix is chiefly used, 1. in the verb sub-
stantive and in the irregular verbs with pret. pres., esp. á, mun, skal,
which four verbs include nearly half the instances: in regular strong
verbs and some few verbs of the 3rd and 4th weak conjugation,
hafa, lifa, göra, etc.: very seldom in the 1st or 2nd weak conju-
gation, e.g. kallar-a (non vocas), Akv. 37; subj. stöðvi-g-a (non
sistem), Hm. 151; and once or twice in trisyllabic tenses. 2.
as to moods, it is freq. in indie, and imperat., but seldom in subj.,
where scarcely a score of instances are on record, e. g. verir-a, væri-a.
kveðir-a, megi-t, verði-t, standi-t, renni-a, bíti-a, sé-t (non sit), etc.;
and never in infin. 3. as to number and person, freq. in sing,
through all persons; in plur. freq. in 3rd pers., but very rare in ist and
2nd ; forms such as vitum-a, munum-a, váruin-a (nonfuimus), ættim-a
(non haberemus), or segit-a (ne dicatis), farit-a (ne eatis), each probably
occurs only once. 4. as to voice, it is rarely used with a re-
flexive; þóttisk-a (non videbatur), komsk-a (non pervenit), komsk-at,
forðumk-a (non evitamus), each occurs about once or twice; erumk-a
(ncn est mibi), Stor. 17, Eg. 459 (in a verse). II. as to form,

-at and -a both occur, as skal-a and skal-at, mon-a and mon-at;

-a is preferred when the next word begins with a consonant, -at
when it begins with a vowel; but they are often used indiscri-
minately. 2. after a vowel inflexion the vowel of the suffix is
dropped, and -/ (-ð, -p) remains, as áttu-ð, vitu-ð (nescitis), eigu-t (non
babent), standa-t (non slant); yet in a few instances -a is used, but
the hiatus sounds ill, e. g. biti-a, renni-a, skríði-a, all from Hkv. 2. 30,
31; væri-a, Mork. 37, Bkv. 8; kcemi-a (non venial), Gs. 10; urðu-a
(nonfieba/it), Gh. 3:—in verbs with characteristic j it appears, thus
þegj-at-tu (ne taceas), segj-at-tu (ne dicas), eggi-a (ne borteris), Sdm.
32; teygj-at, id.; kvelj-at (kill not), Vol. 31; leti-at (ne retineat), Skv.
3. 44:—in verbs ending in a long vowel the a is not dropped, e. g.
kna-at (cannot), á-at (ought not), sá-at (saw not). 8. in 1st pers.
sing, the personal pronoun (-/;^ek) is inserted between the verb and
suffix, a-k-at, em-k-at, etc.: if the verb ends in gg an assimilation
takes place, hykk-at, qs. hygg-k-at (7 think not) ; likk-at, qs. ligg-k-at
(nonjaceo): after a long vowel the k is even doubled, e.g. se-kk-at
(non video), ma-kk-at (non debeo): the pronoun is even repeated, e. g.
ma-k-at ek, sa-k-at ek, etc.:—in weak dissyllabic forms the inserted
k becomes g, stöðvi-g-a, or iterated stöðvigak, bjargi-g-a, Hm. 151,
153 ; (note also that the inflex. -a of the ist pers. is here turned into

-/', bjargi-g-a, not bjarga-g-a.) 4. in 2nd pers. sing, the personal
pronoun þú is also iterated, the latter being assimilated, er-t-at-tu for
ert-at-þú; mon-t-a-ttu, but also mon-at-tu.

The Personal: 1. for -k in the 1st pers., see s. v. ek (B),
p. 124. 2. the 2nd pers. þú, tbou, is suffixed, as -Ou, -du, -tu, or -u,
according to the final of the verb, a. imperat. boða-ðu, dcem-du,
gled-du, spyr-ðu, vak-tu, dug-ðu; brenn-du, rís-tu, bjód-du, far-ðu,
gef-ðu, ber-ðu, grát-tu, hlaup-tu; ver-tu, eig-ðu, mun-tu, mun-du,
unn-tu, vit-tu, ró-ðu, gró-ðu, sá-ðu, snú-ðu, gnú-ðu, kjós-tu, slá-ðu;