between sonants, e.g. A.S. sēon, sīan, O.N. siá: O.H.G. sehan;
(3) the loss of n before s, e.g. A.S. ōs, O.N. áss: O.H.G. Ans—.
III. Among the chief changes common to English and German were the following: (1) The loss of final z; e.g. A.S. daeg, O.H.G. tag: O.N. dagr (N. inscr. dazaz). In short monosyllables, however, z became r in High German, as in Scandinavian; e.g. mir (Dat.): A.S. mē, O.-Sax. mī, O.N. mér, Goth. mis. (2) The change z>r before d (whereas assimilation took place in Scand.), e.g. A.S. hord, O.H.G. hort: O.N. hodd, Goth. huzd. (3) The change d>d in all positions (in Scand. only initially and after l), e.g. A.S. faeder, O.-Sax. fader (0.H.G. fater): O.N. faðir. (4) The lengthening of all consonants (except r) before j (in Scand. only gutturals), e.g. A.S. biddan, O.H.G. bitten: O.N. biðia.
The sound-changes peculiar to English, Scandinavian and German are treated in the articles dealing with these languages. It should be noted that the Frisian dialects agree with English not only in the phenomena enumerated above, but also in a number of changes peculiar to these languages. Such are (1) the change ā>ō before nasals, e.g. A.S. mōnað, O.Fr. mōnath: O.H.G. mānod; (2) the change ā>āē (later ē) in other positions, e.g. A.S. rāēd, O.Fr. rēd: O.H.G. rāt; (3) the labialization of a before nasals, e.g. A.S. mon, man, O.Fr. mon, man: O.H.G. man; (4) the change a>ae (e in Fris.) in close syllables (also in open syllables before front vowels), e.g. A.S. staef, O.Fr. stef: O.H.G. stap; (5) the diphthongization of vowels before h, e.g. A.S. cneoht, O.Fr. kniucht: O.H.G. kneht; (6) the loss of n before þ, e.g. A.S. ōðer, O.Fr. ōther: O.H.G. ander; (7) the palatalization of gutturals before front vowels, e.g. A.S. geldan, gieldan (Engl. yield), O.Fr. ielda: O.H.G. geltan. The noteworthy differences between the two languages in early times seem to have been very few: (1) a, e, i, are diphthongized before r followed by a consonant in English, but not in Frisian, e.g. A.S. earm: O.Fr. erm (cf. Goth. arms); (2) the diphthong ai became ā in English everywhere, but in Frisian only in open syllables (ē in close syllables); e.g. A.S. að: O.Fr. ēth (Goth. aiþs), but A.S., O.Fr. āgun (Goth. aigun); (3) the diphthong au became (aeu, then) ēa in English, but ā in Frisian, e.g. A.S. ēage (ēge): O.Fr. āge (Goth. augo); (4) i was labialized in Frisian, but not in English, before (original) w in the following syllable; e.g. O.Fr. siunga: A.S. singan (cf. Goth. siggwan). Frisian texts of the 13th and 14th centuries show many characteristic changes which must have rendered the language almost, if not wholly, unintelligible to an Englishman of the same period; but it is hardly probable that these changes were for the most part of any great antiquity.
Declension.—The I.-Eur. languages seem originally to have had three numbers and eight cases, though it is by no means clear that each of the latter had a distinct form in every class of stems. In Teutonic there is scarcely any trace of the dual in nouns. Of the cases all the early Teutonic languages preserved four, viz. the Nominative, Accusative, Genitive and Dative. The Vocative also was kept in Gothic and the Instrumental to a considerable extent in early German, while the earliest Anglo-Saxon preserved many traces of the locative.
The case endings are best preserved in the earliest Northern inscriptions and in Gothic. As an illustration we may take those of the I.-Eur. o-declension:—
| Goth. | N. sing. | -s | A. | - G. | -is | D. | -a | N. plur. | -ōs | A. -ans G. ē D. -am | |
| N. inscr. | -az | -a | -as | -ē | -ō | ||||||
| cf. Greek | -ος | -ον | -ονς (-ους) -ων |
As examples of the forms found in the inscriptions may be given N. erilaz, A. staina, G. A(n)suʒisalas, D. Woduride. In the other classes of stems also the declension conforms to the general I.-Eur. types. Whatever changes have taken place have usually tended towards simplification; thus there are but few traces of stem-variation (ablaut) between different cases of the same noun.
The treatment of adjectives was somewhat more peculiar. In addition to the old type of declension which conformed to that of Adjectives. the demonstrative pronoun and not, as in Greek and Latin, to that of substantives, almost every adjective was inflected also after the model of n-stems. This type of inflection occurs chiefly in conjunction with the demonstrative pronoun (definite article) and it is thought that its origin is to be found in substantival (appositional) sage.
The comparative of adjectives is formed partly by a suffix -izan- (e.g. Goth. sutiza, A.S. lengra), which is apparently extended from the suffix -ios-, -is- found in the other I.-Eur. languages and probably to be compared with Gk. ἡδίων (from swādisōn), and partly by a suffix -ōzan- (e.g. Goth. swinþoza) which is peculiar to Teutonic. Similarly the superlative is formed partly by a suffix -ista- (e.g. Goth. hauhists, A.S. lengest) corresponding to -isto- in other I.-Eur. languages (e.g. Gk. ἥδιστος), and partly by a new formation -ōsta- (e.g. Goth. armosts).
Most of the I.-Eur. demonstrative pronouns are found in Teutonic, and the peculiarities of their inflection are in general well preserved. Pronouns. The most important are Goth. is, O.H.G. er: Lat. is; A.S. he: Lith. szis; Goth. sa, so, þata: Gk. ὁ, ἡ, τό. The last of these (as in Greek) has become a definite article in all except the Scandinavian languages. The interrogative pronouns are Goth. hwas, A.S. hwā: Sanscr. kas, and O.H.G. hwer: Lat. quis. The place of the relative pronoun is supplied by the demonstrative or by indeclinable forms. The inflection of the personal and reflexive pronouns is for the most part peculiar to Teutonic, e.g. Goth. 1 sing. N. ik, A. mik, G. meina, D. mis; 1 plur. N. weis, A.D. uns (unsis), G. unsara. The majority of these forms are common to all the Teutonic languages, though there is a variation between -e and -i which is probably due to accentual causes; e.g. A.S. ic, mec, me; O.N. ek, mik, mer; O.H.G. ih, mih, mir.
Conjugation.—The Teutonic verb-system is simpler than that of most of the I.-Eur. languages. The old Middle Voice is preserved only in Gothic, where it is used as a passive. In the other Teutonic languages only one or two isolated forms remain. In place of the two old moods, Conjunctive and Optative, there is but one, which is generally called Conjunctive, though its forms are mostly of Optative origin. Again, there are only two tenses, Present and Preterite, the latter of which is derived partly from the I.-Eur. Perfect, partly from Aorist or Imperfect formations. A few old Perfects, however, which have no Presents, retain their original meaning and are generally known as Preterite-presents, e.g. Goth. wait, A.S. wāt, “I know”: Gk. οἶδα. In place of the Future the Teutonic languages use either perfective verbs (generally compounded with a preposition) or a periphrasis consisting of the Infinitive with an auxiliary verb.
The conjugation of the Pres. Indic. Act. corresponds in general to that of most of the I.-Eur. languages, e.g. Goth. 1 sing. baira, 2 bairis, 3 bairip, 1 plur. bairam, 2 bairip, 3 bairand, cf. Gk. φέρω, Sanscr. bharasi, bharati, Gk. φέρομεν, φέρετε, φέροντι (φέρουσι). Gothic had also forms for the 1, 2 dual, bairos, bairats, which have not been satisfactorily explained. In the other languages there is scarcely any trace of the dual. The conjugation of verbs corresponding to the Greek verbs in -µι is preserved best in Old High German; e.g. 1 sing. habē-m (-n), 2 habēs, 3 habēt, 1 plur. habēmēs, 2 habēt, 3 habēnt, cf. Gk. 1 sing. τίθημι, Lat. 2 sing. habēs, 3 habet, 1 plur. habēmus, 2 habētis, 3 habent. A number of archaic forms are preserved in the “verb substantive,” e.g. Goth. 1 sing. im, 2 is, 3 ist, 3 plur. sind.; O.N. 1 plur. erum; cf. Gk. 1 sing. εἰμί, 2 ἐσσί, εἶ, 3 ἐστί, 1 plur. ἐσμέν, 3 εἰοί. The forms of the Conjunctive (Optative) correspond in general to those of the other I.-Eur. languages; e.g. Goth. 2 sing. bairais, 3 sing. bairai; Gk. 2 sing. φέροις, 3 sing. φέροι. So also the Imperative, e.g. 2 sing. bair: Gk. φέρε; but the origin of the 3 sing. and 3 plur. forms in Gothic (bairadau, bairandau) is not quite clear. The Gothic Passive is conjugated as follows in the Pres. Indic.: 1, 3 sing. bairada, 2 sing. bairaza, 1, 2, 3 plur. bairanda; cf. Gk. 3 sing. φέρεται, 2 sing. φέρῃ (from φέρε(σ)αι), 3 plur. φέρονται.
The Preterite formations are of two types, usually termed “strong” and “weak.” The latter belong to verbs whose past participle has a stem -đa- (I.-Eur. -tó-; see below), the former to the remaining verbs. The singular of the strong Preterite is derived from the I.-Eur. Perfect, while the plural, which in most verbs has a different stem, may come either from the Perfect or from Aorist formations. In the plural the endings were originally accented; hence many verbs show differences not only in the stem vowel but also in the consonants (by Verner's Law, see above) between the two numbers; e.g. A.S. sing. waes, wearð, plur. wāēron, wurdon. Reduplication is preserved in Gothic only in a limited number of verbs (e.g. haldan, pret. haihald); in the other languages it is rare. The inflection is as follows: Goth. 1 sing. -bauþ, 2 -baust, 3 -bauþ, 1 dual -budu, 2 -buduts, 1 plur. -budum, 2 -buduþ, 3 -budun; cf. Gk. 1 sing. οἶδα, γέγονα, 2 οἶσθα, 3 οἶδε, γέγονε, 1 plur. ἴσμεν, γέγαμεν. Except in Gothic and Scandinavian the 2 sing. has generally a form (originally Aorist) similar to the plur., e.g. A.S. bude. The stem of the Conjunctive also agrees with that of the plur., e.g. Goth. 1 sing. -budjau, 3 sing. -budi.
The “weak” Preterite seems originally to have arisen out of a periphrastic formation of which the second part consisted of Imperfect or Aorist forms of the verb seen in A.S. dōn, O.H.G. tuon (related to Gk. τίθημι), and probably identical with the Pret. A.S. sing. dede (dyde), plur. dāēdon; O.H.G. sing. teta, plur. tātun. The short reduplication-syllable, however, is lost in the sing., while the long syllable of the plur. (and dual) is preserved only in Gothic. The inflection of the Indic. is as follows:—
sing. Goth. 1 nasida, 2 -des, 3 -da; A.S. nerede, -des(t), -de, O.H.G. nerita, -tōs, -ta. O.N. lagða (early inscr. -ō), -ir, -i.
plur. 3 Goth. nasidedun, A.S. neredon; O.H.G. neritun; O.N. lögðu.
It is to be observed that the stem of the weak Preterite almost always conforms to that of the past participle. Such forms as Goth. pret. waurhta are probably derived from the past part. waurhts (stem waurhta-) on the analogy of pret. nasida beside past part. nasiþs (stem nasida-), where the resemblance between the two formations is due to the regular operation of the sound laws.
