Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith Talk Forums General Topics Q&A about words Slip sliding away
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
The difference between weak and strong verbs in English appears to date back to proto-Germanic, where the -d- inflexion arose. It does not appear to be related to weak inflexions in other Indo-European languages: e.g. Greek had a perfect using -k-, and Latin used -v-.
Proto-Indo-European probably didn't have a weak inflexion at all. I've got to admit this is more complicated than I understand and I would need to study several of my geet big thick books some more to get a handle on it. But basically, the sing-sang-sung kind of pattern was regular at the proto-Indo-European level.
It is theorized to derive from pre-Indo-European accent patterns, changing the vowels. I really should know more of this.
P.S. Hi.
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,916Posts230,387Members9,211 Most Online7,006
Mar 7th, 2026
Newest Members Boo boo kitty fu, peterreineck, Peripatetic Toad, JerryC, blvd
9,211 Registered Users
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 17
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 11,211tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,974Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith Talk