118 WISCONSIN ACADEMY SOIElirCES, ARTS, AND LETTERS. 



vaiirJfjan, to work; thagkjan, to tliink; thuggkjan or tliugkjan^ videri. 

 The d of the preterite-suffix da can only stand after n, r, Z and z^ (the 

 only exceptions are: gahugds, ajukduths); it changes to t after i 

 which becomes s, and after A*, g which become h, hence gd and 

 kd=ht^ td=st. The nasal ^ (w) disappears before h, which causes 

 the lengthening of the preceding vowel. The preterite of these 

 verbs is, therefore, as follows: hrdJita <braghta <hraggda Khrag- 

 gida; hrHhta <britkfa <hrukda <hrukida; haiilita <.bugta <bugda 

 <bugida, short « before h (r) has the breaking cdij kaiipasta <ka^- 

 patta <kaiipatda <kai(patida ; vafirhta; tJidhta <thdkta <thdkda 

 <thag(n)kda <tJiagkida; fJiuJda for thugkida> thugkda, etc. The 

 consonant-changes are due partly to assimilation, partly to dissimi- 

 lation. In briggan (root brag, cf. fra-n-go), the i is a weakening of 

 the original a. In the other dialects the derivative j (i) caused Um- 

 laut in the present which remained after the j had disappeared 

 (after stems long by nature or position) by syncope as in Old High 

 German, or by assimilation as in the Anglo-Saxon. But in the pre- 

 terite Riick-umlaut takes place on account of the syncopated j, which 

 vowel-change, in addition to the consonant-changes, forms the 

 peculiar characteristic of these verbs. This vowel-change is not 

 the Ablaut, as some grammarians teach. 



Old High German — prenkan (prinkan),])rei.prdhta, p. i:). prdht. 

 This verb belonged originally to the strong conjugation, (Class 

 XII, Grimm), for we find the following forms: prank, prmtkumes, 

 prunkan; in the Gothic documents strong forms do not occur. Its 

 present stem was formed with the infix -??«-, shortened -n-, which 

 was originally a sufiBx- This verb is an example of a primitive 

 verb in the transition-period to the weak conjugation, and Language 

 remained conscious of its primitive character in retaining the strong 

 form which occurs for the pret. participle in the dialects of New 

 High German. Denchan (thenkan), pret. ddhta. p. p ddht and 

 denchit; dunchan, dttJita, duht; furhtan or forhtan, forhta, forht 

 and furhtit; tmircJian (wirchan), ivorhta, worht and wurchit (lourJit). 

 Old High German rejects the Umlaut of u; fot^hta and ivorhta have 

 weakened u into o on account of the following a, but when the 

 succeeding syllable has *, the original u reappears in the root, hence 

 furhtit and ivurchit. 



In Middle High German the vowels ^ and u are sheltered by the 

 liquids m and n, followed by another consonant. While the Um- 



