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Accidence—The Table Manners of Language   105

form, as in placed or dreamt. This corresponds to the German teiminal

-te (schnarchte = snored) or -ete (redete = spoke).

In Gothic, the oldest known Teutonic language, we meet such forms
as sohda (I sought), and soktdedum (we sought) Some philologists
believe that this is an agglutination of the same root as German tun,
and English do with the verb root It is as if we said in English / seekdid
(= / did seek)) or m German ich suchetat In some hayseed districts a
similar combination (e g, he did say = he said) is quite customary
The example below shows the old English past of the verb andswenan
(to answer) and how it may have come about by contraction with dyde
(did) if this view is correct

Sing.            J   II

[ill

Pluial (all persons)

andswenan + dyde
andswerian 4- dydest
andswerian + dyde

andswenan 4- dydon

= andswerede
= andsweredest
== andswerede

= andsweredon

The English verb of Harold at the Battle of Hastings had personal
flexions of the past as of the present forms All such personal flexions
corresponding to a particular class of time or aspect derivatives make
up what is called a single tense. In Slavonic, Celtic,, and Teutonic
languages, as in English, there are two simple tenses, corresponding
more or less to our present and past. Some of the ancient Indo-European
languages and the modern descendants of Latin have a much more
elaborate system of derivatives signifying differences of time or aspect.
The following table shows that Latin verbs have six forms of tense
flexion, each with its own six flexions of person and number, making
up six tenses, respectively called (i) piesent, (n) past imperfect^ (ui)
past perfect^ (iv) pluperfect^ (v) futwe, and (vi) future perfect French,

D

fc

IATIN
	FRLNCH
	ANG10-AMERICAN

(i)   amo
	j'aunc
	I love


	
	I am loving

(u)   amabam
	j'aunais
	I used to love


	
	I did love


	
	I was loving

(111)   amavi
	j'aunai
	I loved


	j'ai ann6
	I (have) loved

(xv)   amaveram
	j'avais aim£
	I had loved

(v)   amabo
	j'aimcrai
	I shall love

(vi)   amavero
	j'aurai aun£
	I shall have loved