3 | The Inflexions.
The plural of the substantives terminates in (1) s resp. ys: 837 ryghtys—knyghtes. 1298 stonys—nonys.
(2) in n: 458 slon—appon. 1116 done—shone. 1193 shone—anon, done.
(3) is formed by i-umlaut: men 1784, 2282, but 2197 wan—men (= man).
(4) has no inflexion: 651 gere—spere. 705 far—gere. 836 hend—frende, sende. 1173 ffere—yere. 1405 hend—frend. 1556 stone—gone. 2188 were—yere. 2194 here—yere. The inflexions of the adjectives have totally disappeared.
The infinitive ends in -ne or n, or has no termination at all. (1) with n: 123 kene—see (= sene). 217 ageyne—sayne. 262 fayne—slayne. 489 Mavdeleyn—seyne; 16 sone—gon.
(2) without n: 67 sake—take. 93 kynd—fynd. 148 wake—stake. 184 so—goo. 434 Adolake—take. 1062 tho—do. 1762 me—se.
The 2nd person sing. of the pres. ind. occurs only once in the rhyme, 1333 tase—thou hase, tas—gas.
The 3rd person sing. of the present indicative ends in s: 187 tellys—ellys. 2317 rose—gose. 558 tellythe—elles (The rhyme shows that tellys must be inserted; cf. 103 gos—takythe, and 858 gothe—toke = gas—tas.) Only once th occurs: 2047 Nazareth—gethe (ags. gæð). On this remarkable form see Zupitza, Guy of Warwick, note on l. 11075. The plural has no termination: 3 wynde—ende—lende.
The subjunctive mood has no inflexions: 70 sped—stede, 3rd pers. 87 blynd—wynde, 3rd pers. 213 fyld—schyld, 3rd pers. 416 sey—may, 2nd pers. sg. 584 feld—schyld, 3rd pers. sg. 1978 saue—haue; but observe 139 slone—none and 1839 sene—grene.
The present participle ends usually in -ande (onde): 13 londe—wonande. 127 fonde—growonde. 315 levand—bond. 352 stand—lygand. 358 vndyrstond—levand. 1128 stond—shynand. 1280 fayland—lond. 1445 fleand—waraunt. 1452 ffand—goand. 1821 lond—wepand. 1899 lond—pleyand. 2104 hond—levand. Thrice -yng is found: 268 kyng—dwellyng, 1638 and 2568.
The gerund terminates always in ing (yng): 1479 kyng—ryding. 1503 comyng—kyng. 1933 ryng—lettyng. 2509 kyng—lesyng.
Observe the 2nd pers. sing. of a past tense, 1589 thou cam)—slan), of a praeterito-praesens, 410 they—sey, thow may. 1543 away—aye, may. 2001 may—welaway.
The past participle of strong verbs terminates in n: 482 syne—schene, wene—clene. 675 slayne—rayne. 800 slayne—trayne. 1292 fayn)—slayn). 1562 sene—wene. 2323 alone—slone. We don’t find one certain instance for the dropping of this n, besides 1678 and 2063 be.
The past tense plural of strong verbs has the same vowel as the singular: 1452 They ffound (r. ffand)—goand. 1458 began—gentilman. 1753 tong—dong.
The 3rd pers. of the present indic. of to be = ys or es: cf. 738 blyse—ys. 2413 ys—Raynes. Once ys is found as plural: 2524 ys—iwys. The present subjunctive is be through all persons: 208 be—me, 2nd pers. 614 be—se, 3rd pers. 884 the—bee, 3rd pers. 2017 be—me, 2nd pers. plr. The infinitive be and bene: 49 the—bee. 483 be—see. 1643 be—charite. 903 the—bee. 1833 clene—bene. 2161 quene—bene. 2613 bene—kene. The past tense singular number is was or wes: 247 alas—wase. 426 glase—was. 771 pase—wase. 1873 wyldernes—was (= wes). The plural were, ware, wore, as well as was, wes: (1) l. 402 wer)—cher. 1047 were—chere. 1845 were—ffere. 2586 squiere—were, here—clere. (2) 603 fare—were. 2494 ware—bare. 1384 beffore—there, were (= wore). (3) 384 pase—wase. 1388 passe—was. (4) 2026 wildernes—was (= wes). 2545 wildernes—was; cf. l. 2584. The subjunctive mood of the past tense is were and ware, in sgl. and plr.: 225 were—clere. 235 here—were. 1696 chere—were. 2476 were—bere. 154 were (= ware)—fare. 1020 wer (= ware)—fare. 2074 care—ware. The past participle: 7 bedene—ben. 172 byne—seyn. 2344 ibene—kene. 1678 be—crystiaunte.
From this inquiry into the sounds and inflexions, the following conclusions can be drawn:
The development of ă is of no use in fixing the dialect. Nor is ea, which has become a, o, and e, to be deemed a characteristic either of the Midland or Northern dialect. Ags. ea occurs as o as early as 1250 in the Northumbrian Psalter, and 50 years afterwards in Sir Tristrem and Sir Perceval; even Richard Rolle in his Pricke of Conscience offers one instance of this change (cf. Sir Tristrem, p. lxix f.).
The development of the ags. â, which we find in 26 passages as a, in 22 as o, is remarkable. There are only a very few instances of this change in Sir Tristrem, p. lxxi, and in the Psalter; and this almost equal number of a- and o-rhymes proves evidently that the poem cannot belong to a Northern country. At the same time, a proportion like that would be impossible in a text of Southern origin. The same negative result is to be derived from the fact that Ags. y is always written y.
As to the inflexions, the plurals of the substantives are formed by adding -s or -n (en), or by vowel change, or they have no inflexions at all. As for the inflexion -n, it only occurs in slon and shon, and of this very word the plural in n is to be met with even in Northern writers.
The infinitives both preserve or drop the final n, as is the rule with the Midland dialect; the form of the past participle with n accords with the use of the Northern writers.
The present partic. ending in -and and the past tense plurals of strong verbs having adopted the vowel of the singular, agree with the North as well as with the northern districts of the Midland, in the same way as some forms of to be: plr. prs. ys and plr. prt. was, besides the usual forms be and are, resp. were and ware, and the contracted forms of take: 758 name—tane. 1095 gane—itane. 1825 ta—twa (cf. 231, 286, 859, 1333, 1475, 1722, 1733, 2617).
The forms thou has and thou may point to the West.
The inflexions of the 3rd pers. prs. sg. are -th and -s. In the western part of the Midland we never meet with the ending th, but only with s. In Amis and Amiloun, the Eastern origin of which seems to be sure, only the inflexion -eþ is found in the rhyme (Amis, p. xxx ff.).
The romance of Sir Torrent seems to be the first document hitherto considered where both these forms occur, one by the side of the other. Perhaps this fact justifies us in concluding that this poem was composed in the east, but on the borders of the west, Midland.