manner of _wert_ from _were_, a second
singular from _wit_ after the manner of _must_, a secondary praeterite from
_wiss_, or finally, the form _wisse_, anterior to the operation of the
euphonic process that ejected the -t.

s. 317. In the phrase _this will do_ = _this will answer the purpose_, the
word _do_ is wholly different from the word _do_, meaning _to act_. In the
first case it is equivalent to the Latin _valere_; in the second to the
Latin _facere_. Of the first the Anglo-Saxon inflection is _de['a]h_,
_dugon_, _dohte_, _dohtest_, &c. Of the second it is _d['o]_, _dodh_,
_dyde_, &c. I doubt whether the praeterite _did_, as equivalent to
_valebat_ = _was good for_, is correct. In the phrase _it did for him_ =
_it finished him_, either meaning may be allowed.

In the present Danish they write _duger_, but say _duer_: as _duger et
noget?_ = _Is it worth anything?_ pronounced _dooer deh note?_ This
accounts for the ejection of the g. The Anglo-Saxon form _de['a]h_ does the
same.

s. 318. _Mind--mind and do so and so_.--In this sentence the word _mind_ is
wholly different from the noun _mind_. The Anglo-Saxon forms are _geman_,
_gemanst_, _gemunon_, without the -d; this letter occurring only in the
praeterite tense (_gemunde_, _gemundon_), of which it is the sign. _Mind_
is, then, a praeterite form with a present sense; whilst _minded_ (as in
_he minded his business_) is an instance of excess of inflection; in other
words, it is a praeterite formed from a praeterite.

s. 319. _Yode_.--The obsolete praeterite of _go_, now replaced by _went_,
the praeterite of _wend_. Regular, except that the initial g has become y.

s. 320. _Did_.--See s. 317.

_Did_, from _do_ = _facio_, is a _strong_ verb. This we infer from the form
of its participle _done_.

If so the final -d is not the same as the -d in _moved_. What is it? There
are good grounds for believing that in the word _did_ we have a single
instance of the old _reduplicate praeterite_. If so, it is the latter d
which is radical, and the former which is inflectional.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXV.

ON CONJUGATION.

s. 321. Attention is directed to the following list of verbs. In the
present English they all form the praeterite in -d or -t; in Anglo-Saxon,
they all formed it by a change of the vowel. In other words they are _weak
verbs that were once strong_.

_Praeterites._

_English._