least, allowable. We can certainly say _I dared him to accept my
challenge_; and we can, perhaps, say _I dared venture on the expedition_.
In this last sentence, however, _durst_ is the preferable expression.

Now, although _dare_ is both transitive and intransitive, _durst_ is only
intransitive. It never agrees with the Latin word _provoco_; only with the
Latin word _audeo_. Moreover, the word _durst_ has both a present and a
past sense. The difficulty which it presents consists in the presence of
the -st, letters characteristic of the second person singular, but here
found in all the persons alike; as _I durst_, _they durst_, &c.

This has still to be satisfactorily accounted for.

_Must_.--A form common to all persons, numbers, and tenses. That neither
the -s nor the -t are part of the original root, is indicated by the
Scandinavian form _maae_ (Danish), pronounced _moh_; praeterite _maatt_.

This form has still to be satisfactorily accounted for.

_Wist_.--In its present form a regular praeterite from _wiss_ = _know_. The
difficulties of this word arise from the parallel forms _wit_ (as in _to
wit_), and _wot_ = _knew_. The following are the forms of this peculiar
word:--

In Moeso-Gothic, 1 sing. pres. ind. _v['a]it_; 2. do., _v['a]ist_; 1 pl.
_vitum_; praeterite 1 s. _vissa_; 2 _viss[^e]ss_; 1 pl. _viss[^e]dum_. From
the form _v['a]ist_ we see that the second singular is formed after the
manner of _must_; that is, _v['a]ist_ stands instead of _v['a]it-t_. From
the form _viss[^e]dum_ we see that the praeterite is not strong, but weak;
therefore that _vissa_ is euphonic for _vista_.

In Anglo-Saxon.--_W[^a]t_, _w['a]st_, _witon_, _wiste_, and _wisse_,
_wiston_.--Hence the double forms, _wiste_, and _wisse_, verify the
statement concerning the Moeso-Gothic _vissa_.

In Icelandic.--_Veit_, _veizt_, _vitum_, _vissi_. Danish _ved_, _vide_,
_vidste_. Observe the form _vidste_; since, in it, the d of the root (in
spelling, at least) is preserved. The t of the Anglo-Saxon _wiste_ is the
t, not of the root, but of the inflection.

In respect to the four forms in question, viz., _wit_, _wot_, _wiss_,
_wisst_, the first seems to be the root; the second a strong praeterite
regularly formed, but used (like [Greek: oida] in Greek) with a present
sense; the third a weak praeterite, of which the -t has been ejected by a
euphonic process, used also with a present sense; the fourth is a second
singular from _wiss_ after the