Early English Alliterative Poems 7
Other idioms, which have generally been confounded with those last
mentioned, have the indeterminate pronoun preceded by a nominative
absolute.
(2) ‘_I_, having been acquainted with the smell before, knew it was
Crab, and--_goes me_ to the fellow, who whips the dogs,’ etc. Two
Gent. of Verona, 4. 4.
(3) ‘_He thrusts me_ himself into the company of three or four
gentlemanlike dogs under the Duke’s Table.’ _Ib._ See B. Jons. Ev.
Man in his Humour, 3, 1.
Johnson considers the _me_ in examples 2 and 3 to be the oblique case of
the first pers. pron., and treats it as “a ludicrous expletive.” It is
difficult to say how he would have parsed example 2 on such a
hypothesis.
With these instances of the use of _me_ (indef. or reflexive), the
reader may compare the following:
(1) “Suche a touche in that tyde, _he_ taȝte (Gauan) hym in tene
And _gurdes me_, Sir Gallerun, evyn grovelonges on grounde.”
(The Anturs of Arther at the Tarnewathelan, p. 22.)
(2) There at the dore he (the Fox) cast _me_ downe hys pack.
Spenser’s Shep. Cal. ed. Morris, p. 460, l. 243.
Cp. _Cut me_, i. Hen. IV. Act 4. Sc. 4; _steps me_, Ib. Act 4, Sc. 3;
_comes me, runs me_, Ib. Act 3, Sc. 1.
(3) “Juno enraged, and fretting thus,
_Runs me_ unto one Æolus.” --(Virgile Travestie, 1664.)
The indefinite _me_ = one is not uncommon in Elizabethan writers. Cf.
“_touch me_ his hat;” “_touch me_ hir with a pint of sack,” etc.; “and
_stop me_ his dice you are a villaine” (Lodge’s Wit’s Miserie).
The following table exhibits the declension of the personal and relative
pronouns:--
SINGULAR.
Nom. I, thou, he, ho, hit.
Gen. My, myn, thy, thyn, his, hir, her, hit.
Dat. Me, the, him, hir, her, hit.
Acc. Me, the, him, hir, her, hit.
PLURAL.
Nom. We, ȝe, thay, hit.
Gen. Oure, yor, youre, her (here), hor, hit.
Dat. Vus (= uus), yow, you, hem, hom, hit.
Acc. Vus (= uus), yow, you, hem, hom, hit.
Nom. Who (quo).
Gen. Whose (quos).
Dat. { Whom, Wham } (quom).
Acc. { Whom, Wham } (quom).
[Footnote 56: _Scho_ occurs _once_ in the present poems.]
[Footnote 57: _Yowreȝ_ (yours) sometimes takes the place of
_youre_ in the romance of “Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knyȝt.”]
[Footnote 58: Page 92, l. 108.]
[Footnote 59: Page 91, l. 72.]
[Footnote 60: Syr Gawayn, l. 1932.]
[Footnote 61: I would say that _says me I_ = I myself say. --R. M.]
IV. +Verbs.+
_Infinitive Mood._--The _-en_ of the infinitive is frequently dropped,
without even a final _-e_ to mark its omission. Infinitives in _-y_, as
_louy_ (love), _schony_ (shun), _spotty_ (spot, defile), _styry_ (stir),
_wony_ (dwell), occasionally occur, and probably owe their appearance to
the author’s acquaintance with Southern literature.[62]
_Indicative Mood._--The final _e_ often disappears in the first and
third persons of the preterite tense, as I _loved_, he _loved_, instead
of I _lovede_, he _lovede_.
The _-en_ in the plural of the present and preterite tenses is
frequently dropped. The pl. present in _-eȝ_ occasionally occurs.
_Imperative Mood._--The imperative plural ends in _-es_ (_eȝ_), and not
in _-eth_ as in the Southern and ordinary Midland dialects.
_Participles._--The active or imperfect participle ends in _-ande_[63]
and never in _-ing_.
The participle passive or perfect of regular verbs terminates in _-ed_;
of irregular verbs in _-en_. Occasionally we find the _n_ disappearing,
as _bigonn-e_, _fund-e_, _runn-e_, _wonn-e_, where perhaps it is
represented by the final _-e_.
The prefix _-i_ or _-y_ (A.S. _-ge_) occurs twice only in the poems, in
_i-chose_ (chosen), and _i-brad_ (extended); but, while common enough in
the Southern and Midland dialects, it seems to be wholly unknown to the
Northumbrian speech.
The verb in the West-Midland dialect is conjugated according to the
following model:--
I.--+Conjugation of Regular Verbs.+
INDICATIVE MOOD.
PRESENT TENSE.
Singular. Plural.
(I) hope, (We) hopen.
(Thou) hopes, (Ȝe) hopen.
(He) hopes, (Thay) hopen.
PRETERITE TENSE.
(I) hopede[64] (hoped), (We) hopeden.
(Thou) hopedes (hoped), (Ȝe) hopeden.
(He) hopede[64] (hoped), (Thay) hopeden.
IMPERATIVE MOOD.
Hope (thou). Hopes (ȝe).
PARTICIPLES.
Imperfect or Active. Perfect or Passive.
Hopande. Hoped.
II.--+Conjugation of Irregular Verbs.+
INDICATIVE MOOD.
PRESENT TENSE.
Singular.
(I) kerve, renne, smite, stonde.
(Thou) kerves, rennes, smites, stondes.
(He) kerves, rennes, smites, stondes.
Plural.
(We) kerven, rennen, smiten, stonden.
(Ȝe) „ „ „ „
(Thay) „ „ „ „
PRETERITE TENSE.
Singular.
(I) carf, ran, smot, stod.
(Thou) carve, ranne, smote, stode.
(He) carf, ran, smot, stod.
Very frequently the _e_ in the second person is dropped,[65] as in the
Northumbrian dialect, but we never meet with such forms as carves
(= carvedest), rannes (= ranst), smotes (= smotest), etc.
Plural.
(We) corven, runnen, smiten, stonden.
(Ȝe) „ „ „ „
(Thay) „ „ „ „
PASSIVE PARTICIPLES.
Corven, runnen, smiten, stonden.
The Northumbrian dialect does not preserve any separate form for the
preterite plural, and this distinction is not always observed in the
present poems.
+Table of Verbs.+
A.--SIMPLE ORDER.
Present. Preterite. Passive Participle.
Class I.
Hate, hatede, hated.
Class II. (_a_)
Bede (offer), bedde, bed.
Dype (dip), dypte, dypt.
Kythe (show), kydde, kyd.
Lende, lende, lent.
Rende, rende, rent.
Sende, sende, sent.
(_b_)
Clothe, cladde, clad.
Dele (deal), dalte, dalt.
Lede, ladde, lad.
Leve, lafte, laft.
Rede (advise), radde, rad.
Sprede (spread), spradde, sprad.
Swelt (die), swalte, ----
Swette (sweat), swatte, ----
Threte (threaten), thratte, thrat.
Class III.
Byye (buy), boȝte, boȝt
Bringe, broȝte, broȝt.
Cache (catch), caȝte, caȝt.
Lache (seize), laȝte, laȝt.
Reche (reck), roȝte, ----
Reche (reach), raȝte, ----
Selle, solde, sold.
Worche (work), wroȝte, wroȝt.
B.--COMPLEX ORDER.
Present. Preterite. Passive Participle.
+Division I.+
Class I.
Bere (bear), ber, born.
Bete (beat), bet, beten.
Breke (break), brek, broken.
Chese (choose), ches (chos), chosen.
Cleve (cleave), clef, cloven.
Ete (eat), ette (_for_ et), eten.
Forȝete (forget), forȝet, forȝeten.
Frese (freeze), fres, frosen.
Gife (give), gef, given, geven.
Heve (heave), hef, hoven.
Ligge (lie), leȝ, leyen, leȝen.
Lepe (leap), lep, lopen.
Nemme } (take), nem (nam), nomen.
Nimme }
Schere (shear), scher, schorn.
Slepe (sleep), slep, slepen.
Speke (speak), spek, spoken.
Stele (steal), stel, stolen.
Swere (swear), swer, sworen.
Wepe (weep), wep, wopen.
Wreke (avenge), wrek, wroken.
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