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Germanic Languages, As We Have Seen, Preterite Tenses Had Two Different Vowel Gradations

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Germanic Languages, As We Have Seen, Preterite Tenses Had Two Different Vowel Gradations Welcome Why Do We Say That? The Indo-European Factor IE: 4000-2500 B.C. Inherited Word Stock Indo-European vocabulary correspondences English night (OE eight (OE garden (OE guest (OE meal (OE mane (OE niht) eahta) geard) giest) melu) manu) German Nacht acht Garten Gast mahlen Mähne Gothic nahts ahtau gards gasts malan mana (Old Gmc) ‘house (OHG) Latin nox, noctis octo≠ hortus hostis molere mon|le ‘neckband’ Greek nyktós (G.) okto≠ xórtos m¥llo≠ ‘court’ Old Indic nák, naktam as˝t¸au grhá- mrn˝a≠ti mánya≠ (Sanskrit) ‘house’ ‘neck’ Old Irish -nocht ocht gort melim muin ‘neck’ (Old) Welsh nos oeth garth malu mwn ‘neck’ ‘enclosure’ Lithuanian naktis a£tuonì gar~das malù ‘enclosure’ Old Slavic no£t@ osm@ gradu` gost@ meljoˆ monisto ‘neckband’ Vowel Gradation (Ablaut) Indo-European made frequent use of vowel gradation (Ablaut) to indicate tenses and various forms of words. Its effects live on in the daughter languages and beyond. From IE st(H)\-/st(H)a≠- ‘stand’: Lat. stare≠ OE standan, MnE stand (with present -n- infix) Lat status, OE sto≠d, MnE stood (from perfect stem) From PrGmc sta∂iz: E stead, G Stadt, Statt, Stätte Skt sthíti ‘(the act of) standing’ Lat statio,≠ stationis, Gk stásis OE sto≠d ‘group of animals, esp. for breeding’ > MnE stud, Ger Stute Also E stall < Gmc sta∂laz; E stool, Ger Stuhl, Rus stol ‘table’, Gk ste≠le≠ ‘column’ Possibly E stem, G Stamm Zero grade -st-: nest Vowel Gradation (Ablaut) Why do we say SING - SANG - SUNG or WRITE - WROTE - WRITTEN? Vowel Gradation (Ablaut) Indo-European vowel gradations were of two types qualitative (e.g., a/o, a/e,) quantitative (e.g., a/a≠, o/o≠, a/Ø that is, zero-grade) Germanic retained the alternations very visibly in the verb system, with original IE vowels changed slightly but regularly in some instances. Gothic, the oldest Gmc language for which we have extensive records, shows the most regular pattern and is used to mirror the PrGmc situation. German and English exhibit variations due to sound changes and the effects of analogy. Vowel Gradation (Ablaut) Traditional verb class I PrGmc pres | pret1 ai pret2 i p.p. i Gothic steigan ‘rise’ stáig stigum stigans OHG tr|ban ‘drive’ treib tribun gitriban OE b|tan ‘bite’ bat≠ biton biten Traditional verb class II PrGmc pres eu pret1 au pret2 u p.p. u Gothic kiusan kaus kusum kusans OHG sliofan ‘slip’ slouf sluffun gisloffan OE be≠odan ‘command’ be≠ad budon boden Vowel Gradation (Ablaut) Traditional verb class IV PrGmc pres e pret1 a pret2 æ≠ p.p. o Gothic baíran (pron ‘e’) bar be≠rum baúrans OHG stelan ‘steal’ stal stalun≠ gistolan OE beran ‘bear’ bær bæron≠ boren Traditional verb class V PrGmc pres e pret1 a pret2 æ≠ p.p. e Gothic qiπan qaπ qe≠πum qiπans OHG geban ‘give’ gab ga≠bun gigeban OE metan ‘measure’ mæt mæ≠ton meten Preterite-Presents Preterite-present verbs have past-tense (preterite) forms for present-tense meanings. These verbs are ancient, all the way from IE days. In Germanic languages, as we have seen, preterite tenses had two different vowel gradations. In OE: OE singan: ic/he ≠ song πu ≠ sunge (thou sangest) I/he sang we/ge≠ /he≠ o≠ sungon we/ye/they sang Preterite-Presents In Germanic languages, preterite tenses had two different vowel gradations: OE singan: ic/he ≠ song πu ≠ sunge (thou sangest) I/he sang we/ge≠ /he≠ o≠ sungon we/ye/they sang The OE verb witan (to know) uses similar forms with a present meaning: OE witan: ic/he ≠ wat≠ πu≠ wite I/he know(s) we/ge≠ /he≠ o≠ witon orig. ‘I have seen’ we/ye/they know PRESENT meaning ! Preterite-Presents Preterite-present witan (to know) came from IE. OE witan: wat≠ - witon know Originally meant way back in IE ‘I have seen’, the perfect (past) tense. If I have seen something, I ‘know’ it. In form it is thus past, but came to have a present meaning. It is related to Lat video,≠ videre≠ ‘see’’! Cf. also Russian vizhu, vidit, ‘I see, she sees’ Preterite-Presents Preterite-presents are largely modal auxiliary verbs: Eng can OE can/cunnon G kann/können shall sceal/sculon soll/sollen may mæg/magon mag/mögen will wille/willa∂ will/wollen must mot≠ /moton≠ muss/müssen (durst) πearf/πurfon darf/dürfen OE (mostly) retained the two-vowel past tense system in these ancient verbs (but of course with PRESENT meaning). Modern German still does as well, but ONLY in the modal verbs and wissen (OE witan). MnE has leveled them out to one vowel only. Preterite-Presents Modern English, by way of Middle English, has ended up with just one vowel. In the case of witan, we have the remains of the verb ‘to know’ in: witless ‘having no sense, knowing nothing’ unwittingly ‘without knowing’ witness > OE witnes ‘knowledge; testimony’ witling ‘person of little wit’ dull-witted, dim-witted ‘weak in the knowledge department’ Preterite-Presents More modern traces of witan ‘to know’: nitwit ‘know-nothing’ (or ‘brain the size of a louse’s egg’) witty (formerly, ‘having great knowledge’) wits (brains, knowledge) at one’s wits’ end ‘not knowing what to do’’ to wit ‘so that you know’, for example wittol (ME wetewold): an archaic term for a cuckold, one who knows of his wife’s infidelity but does nothing about it More vowel gradation Do these vowel gradations only show up in verbs? More vowel gradation The IE Connection: not only verbs fare drive Gk pos≠ ‘foot’ ferry drift foot, Ger Fuß wayfarer in droves Lat pe≠s, pedis ford pedal, podium, firth tripod; in fetters Ties thatthat bind: Proto- Germanic Ties that bind: Proto-Germanic Development of Germanic Proto-Gmc: 500 B.C. - 3C A.D. PreGmc: 2500-500 B.C. Germanic Tribes Off to Merry Olde England! (beginning around 400-450 A.D.) IE toto Germanic How did the Germanic language family become different from Indo-European? What kinds of factors made it a different language family? IE toto Germanic First Sound Shift: consonant changes: IE bh, dh, gh > Gmc b≠, ∂, ©, later b, d, g in some positions IE p, t, k > Gmc f, π, x (h initially) IE b, d, g > Gmc p, t, k Relatively complicated IE verb system simplified in Germanic to present and past tenses only. (Compound tenses added later.) Vowel changes: IE o > Gmc a (L octo≠, Go ahtau) IE a≠ > Gmc o≠ (L ma≠ter, OE mo≠dor) Dental preterite (past tense formed by a t/d/π suffix) was a Gmc innovation: origin of MnE -ed, now in the vast majority of our verbs IE accent could be on any syllable; the accent became fixed on the first syllable in Germanic Some vocabulary not found in other IE languages Germanic Sound Shift Examples of First Germanic Sound Shift Separated Germanic from other IE branches Germanic changes shown in red in chart IE bh > L f, Gk ph IE dh > L f, Gk th IE gh > L h, Gk ch Gmc b Gmc d Gmc g fra≠ter / brother fi(n)gere ‘mold’ / hostis / guest fiber / beaver dough (OE d|ge) hortus / geard fra(n)go≠ / break foris / door homo / OE guma Gk pho≠gein / bake Gk thygate≠r / (cf. ME bridegome) daughter Gk chole≠ / gall IE/L/Gk p > Gmc f IE/L/Gk t > π IE/L/Gk k > Gmc h pater / father tre≠s / three cornu≠ / horn piscis / fish tu≠ / thou cord- / heart portus / ford tenuis / thin quod / hwæt, what pullus / foal tumere≠ ‘swell’ / cent- / hund-red ped- / foot thumb capere / heave, pecu ‘cattle’ / fee tona≠re / thunder have OE feoh canis / hound IE/L/Gk b > Gmc p IE/L/Gk d > Gmc t IE/L/Gk g > Gmc k G kannabis / hemp duo≠ / two genu / knee turba / thorp ‘town’ dent- / tooth ager ‘field’ / acre (IE b was very rare; domare≠ / tame genus / kin little evidence left decem / ten G gyne≠ / queen of it) edere / eat granum≠ / corn Dental preterite If we inherited a system of vowel alternations from Indo-European, why do we put -ed on most of our verbs to form the past tense without changing the vowel at all? Dental preterite Dental suffix to form past tense/past participle Examples from Germanic languages Infinitive / 3s past / past participle Gothic nasjan/nasida/nasiπs ‘save’ haban/habáida/habáiπs ‘have’ OHG nerien(nerren)/nerita/ginerit habe≠n/habe≠ta/gihabe≠t OE fremman/fremmede/fremed ‘perform’ habban/hæfde/hæfd MnE save/saved/saved have/had/had keep/kept/kept rip/ripped/ripped MnG retten/rettete/gerettet haben/hatte/gehabt Dan spise/spiste/spist ‘eat’ have/havde/haft bo/boede/boet ‘live, dwell’ Ice dæma/dæmdi/dæmdur ‘deem’ hreyfa/hreyf∂i/hreyf∂ur ’move’ her∂i/herti/hertur ‘harden’ bor∂a/bor∂a∂i/bor∂a∂ur ‘eat Fixed Accent Greek retained Gmc (here OE) fixed IE movable accent: accent on first syllable: Nom pate≠r Sing. N/D/A fæder Sing. Gen patros Gen fæder(es) Dat patri Acc patera N/A fæderas Plur. Voc pater Gen fædera Dat fæderum N/V pateres Plur. Gen patero≠n This was to have dramatic Dat patrasi effects in Middle English. Acc pateras Fixed Accent Compare these words from Old English, featuring full vowel values in unstressed syllables, with their Middle English equivalents: Old English Middle English ‘lame’ lama lam≠ e ‘go, fare’ faran, p.p. faren fa≠ren (both forms) ‘stone’ sta≠nes (G), sta≠nas (pl) sto≠ˆnes* ‘falleth’ fealla∂ falleth nacod na≠ked ‘we made’ macodon mak≠ eden ‘sure’ sicor sek≠ er leng∂o lengthe ‘liquor’ medu meˆd≠ e Unaccented vowels were leveled to the neutral -e.
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