Participle
hæbbende
g
.
ehæfd
There are several points which still have to be made. Firstly, in terms of
gemination the alternation is not simply between a single and a double
consonant, but between and in the cases of habban and libban,
and between and .
g
.
> in sec . g . an and hyc . g . an. This alternation is not
specific to these verbs, but occurs wherever there is an possible alter-
nation within these two pairs. Secondly, i-mutation is often found in a
rather confused pattern, as a result of other forms, notably from class 2
forms where, of course, there is no i-mutation. Thirdly, one of the
characteristic features of class 3 verbs is that they have much more
syncope of unstressed vowels than we have seen elsewhere.
4.7 ‘Anomalous’ verbs
In Chapter 3 we looked at the verb be¯on/wesan, which fits into no other
category. There are three other verbs similarly isolated and whose origin
is complex and well beyond the scope of this work. Traditionally these
verbs are called anomalous verbs, because their structures are unlike
those of any other verb type. The verbs in question are: willan ‘will’, do¯n ‘do’ and ga¯n ‘go’. Their idiosyncratic behaviour, although well-defined,
is best shown by simply presenting their paradigms in a rather brief form:
Pres. willan do¯n ga¯n 1 Sing.
wille
do¯
ga¯
2 Sing.
wilt
de¯st
gæ¯st
3 Sing.
wile
de¯
e
gæ¯
e
Plural
willa
e
do¯
e
ga¯
e
Subj. (Pl.)
wille (willen)
do¯ (do¯n)
ga¯ (ga¯n)
Participle
willende
do¯nde
_____
Past Ind.
wolde
dyde
e¯ode
