Talk:Old English morphology
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[edit] Preterite-Present Verbs
I'm curious to know why "wit" and "owe" aren't considered to have survived into Modern English.--Jr mints 22:21, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
- The article says they didn't survive as preterito-present verbs, which is true. "Wit" is a noun and "owe" is a regular verb. —Angr 22:39, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
- "Wit" is a verb with preterite-present past tense "wist". "Owe" maintains it's preterite-present past tense "ought" in the modal sense. Even "dow" is listed in my extremely modest collegiate dictionary with the past tense "dought".--Jr mints 17:26, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
- I think it's a stretch to say those have survived into Modern English. —Angr 19:48, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
- They are, perhaps, not widely used in the last hudred years, but isn't it better to edge on the side of teaching something new than leaving something untought?--Jr mints 20:56, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
- Last four hundred, more like. But perhaps we can hammer something out to make it clear that wit, owe, and dow survived past Middle English as preterite-present verbs, but that nowadays owe is a regular verb, its original past tense ought has been semantically divorced from it, and wit (as a verb) and dow are completely obsolete. —Angr 21:08, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
- Honestly, if anyone is actually checking out a page entitled "Old English morphology", I doubt they will be greatly discomfitted at seeing some rare words. What's more, I don't think we have to worry about anyone mistaking these words for ones in common use. At best, their inclusion may help someone better understand certain apparent eccentricities in English, and at worst, a reader will have to look over some non-essential information.--Jr mints 17:02, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
- Also, it occurs to me, if someone wants information on Old English morphology, that the current etymological status of the words is irrelevent and that more examples would be better than less. So, whether we agree to mention modern reletives or not, why don't we include the conjugations of the other preterite-present verbs?--Jr mints 17:13, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
- Last four hundred, more like. But perhaps we can hammer something out to make it clear that wit, owe, and dow survived past Middle English as preterite-present verbs, but that nowadays owe is a regular verb, its original past tense ought has been semantically divorced from it, and wit (as a verb) and dow are completely obsolete. —Angr 21:08, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
- They are, perhaps, not widely used in the last hudred years, but isn't it better to edge on the side of teaching something new than leaving something untought?--Jr mints 20:56, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
- I think it's a stretch to say those have survived into Modern English. —Angr 19:48, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
- "Wit" is a verb with preterite-present past tense "wist". "Owe" maintains it's preterite-present past tense "ought" in the modal sense. Even "dow" is listed in my extremely modest collegiate dictionary with the past tense "dought".--Jr mints 17:26, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Partial move to Old English declension
I was bold, and moved a lot of text to Old English declension, which seemed like a more appropriate article for it. FilipeS (talk) 18:17, 28 December 2007 (UTC)
