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The Origin of Modern Irregular Verbs

1) ME strong verbs (67 items) lost their pattern of conjugation and became irregular.

2) Some weak verbs (of the 1st and the 2nd classes) became irregular due to the phonetic changes.

OE

I

cēpan

II

cēpte

III

cēpt

ME

kepen [e:]

kepte [e] (shortening in closed syllable)

kept [e]

NE

Keep [i:] (GVS)

kept

kept

3) Some verbs, borrowed in ME, joined the class of strong verbs and then became irregular (give, take, get, catch).

Minor Groups of Verbs in ME and NE (Расторгуева с. 256 – 259)

… underwent phonetic and analogical changes (which affected their forms) and semantic changes (which affected their functions and meaning).

1. Oe maZan (Pret.-Pres.) “may, be able”

OE

ME

NE

Present

Sg mæZ

Pl maZon

may

mawen

may

---

Past

meahte, mihte

might

might

The Pres. form may became the only one in NE. The verb narrowed its meaning: the meaning of physical and mental ability passed to can.

2. Oe cunnan (Pret.-Pres.) “know, be able, can”

OE

ME

NE

Present

Sg cann

Pl cunnon

can

cunnen

can

---

Past

cūðe

couthe, coud

could

The insertion of “l” in spelling of the form could was by analogy with should and would. In ME can was sometimes used in its original meaning “to know”, but more often it indicated physical and mental ability and replaced may in these meanings.

3. Oe sculan (Pret.-Pres.) meaning of obligation: “shall, shoud, owe”

OE

ME

NE

Present

Sg sceal

Pl sculon

shal

shullen

shall

---

Past

sceolde

sholde

should

In ME the verb wasn’t used as a notional verb any more (in the meaning “to owe”), but functioned as a modal verb to express necessity, obligation and order.

The Past form sholde also began to be used as the Present Subjunctive form of shall, but eventually turned into a new separate modal verb should.

The similar shift of of time-reference occurred with would, must and ought.

4. Oe willan (Irregular) “intend, wish, will, be about to”

OE

ME

NE

Present

Sg wille, wylle

Pl willað

will, wyll

willen

will

Past

wolde

wolde

would

The letter “u” was inserted into the form would by analogy with should and could.

This verb will formed a system with shall, weakened its lexical meaning and turned into auxiliary, and its form would turned into a separate modal verb.