Archaic grammar

This article explores what Anglish could be like if elements of archaic grammar were revived. Note that this is just for fun, as Anglish is an offshoot of Modern English and was not envisioned as being arbitrarily archaic.

Thou[edit]

See here for more.

Conjugation[edit]

The old conjugation mostly matches modern conjugation.

Old conjugation of regular verbs (e.g., *cook*)
Person / Number	Present tense	Past tense
1st. sing.	(none)	-ed
2nd. sing.	-est	-edst
3rd. sing.	-s / -eth	-ed
Plural	(none)	-ed

Old conjugation of irregular verbs (e.g., *sing*)
Person / Number	Present tense	Past tense
1st. sing.	(none)	(none)
2nd. sing.	-est	-est
3rd. sing.	-s / -eth	(none)
Plural	(none)	(none)

In other words, there are at most seven distinct parts for a normal verb (e.g., drive, walk):

Infinitive - drive, walk
Second-person singular present - drivest, walkest
Third-person singular present - drives / driveth, walks / walketh
Past - drove, walked
Second-person singular past - drovest, walkedst
Present participle - driving, walking
Past participle - driven, walked

The suffix -eth is often misused in imitations of archaic speech; in truth, it marks the third-person singular present and works exactly as -s does.

He hath a book.
She speaketh the truth.
It maketh no sense.

Note the special forms: doth (does, pronounced /dʌθ/), hath (has), saith (says, pronounced /sɛθ/).

Also, in terms of pronunciation, in Early New English, -eth usually does not undergo shortening, e.g., runneth is usually used instead of runth. The only exceptions are doth, hath, and saith. Of course, verbs ending in sibilants must have the ending pronounced separately, e.g., kisseth, teacheth.

The forms above are for the indicative mood only. For the imperative mood, the infinitive form is used as it is now.

Follow me, sir.
Leave this place at once, gentlemen.

The subjunctive mood is more complicated (see here for a more detailed explanation).

Interrogatives[edit]

The old way of forming interrogatives is simple: one simply needs to put the verb before the subject of the sentence. This is still the way of forming interrogatives in Dutch and German.

Does he know the answer? > Knows (knoweth) he the answer?
Where do you live? > Where livest thou?
Does he have any money? > Has he any money? (still used)

Note that even in Early New English did do begin to be used for questions, so dost thou know and knowest thou were both correct.

Negatives[edit]

Negatives are slightly trickier to deal with, since the way to form negatives has changed a lot since Old English. In archaic speech, one forms a negative by putting not after the main verb.

I do not know. > I know not.
He did not come. > He came not.
Do not fear. > Fear not. (still used)

This order is preserved only with auxiliary verbs and be, e.g., I have not read the book, she is not a witch.

As for where not is placed in a sentence with a direct object, it appears that in Early New English, it was possible to put it before or after the object.

I do not love him. > I love him not.
Do not forget me. > Forget me not.
But: I do not have the book. > I have not the book. (still used)

The general rule seems to be that if the object is a pronoun, then not is placed after the object, but if the object is a noun, then it is placed before it.

If a noun clause acts as an object, not is put before the clause, since putting it afterwards would otherwise convey the wrong idea.

The king thought not that he was in any danger.
I know not when we leave.

With infinitives, gerunds, and participles (all of which are non-finite verbs), not is generally put before.

It is foolish not to think about one's options.
Not working on the project is a bad idea.
Not thinking about the consequences of his choice, the knight rushed forth.
Not thought highly of by his neighbors, the man grew bitter.

Note that even in Early New English did do begin to be used for negation, so he did not know and he knew not were both correct.

Adverbs of location[edit]

Here, there, and where make an obvious set of adverbs referring to location. There were two other sets in older speech, however:

Adverbs
Place	Goal	Source
here	hither	hence
there	thither	thence
where	whither	whence

In today's English, we usually say come here and where shall I go?, but older speech has come hither and whither shall I go? instead. More examples:

The ship sailed hither last month.
Let me take you thither.
Whither did the foe disappear?

Likewise, we usually say he came from there and where had he come from?, but older speech has he came thence and whence had he come? instead. More examples:

He departed hence a month ago.
The bird flew thence as soon as it was startled.
Whence comest thou?

Note that the whence set is also used figuratively for time or logical conclusion, and these uses are still found in modern speech.

We leave a week hence.
The detective caught the murderer and thence brought peace to the town.
The king lost the gem, whence (as a result of which) he asked the knight to go find it.

In older speech, the whence set is often redundantly used with from (i.e., from hence, from thence, from whence).

Moreover, whither and whence can be used as relative adverbs.

I intended to find the place whither (to which) the thief had fled.
The facility whence (from which) the minerals have been transported is currently being inspected.

My/mine[edit]

My and mine are separated in function in modern speech; that is, my is used before nouns, and mine is always used independently. Formerly, however, mine could also be used dependently before vowels. The same use also applied to thine.

My eyes > mine eyes
Thy own life > thine own life

In Shakespeare, instances of my and thy used before vowels can be found, which shows that the distinction had already begun to break down, but this distinction is neatly followed in the King James Bible, which is more conservative in language.

Yon[edit]

Yon (with the variants yond and yonder) is used as a demonstrative to refer to something visible and remote from both the speaker and the hearer, i.e., it means over there.

Look at yon tower. (the tower over there)
What strange beast is yon? (that over there)
There is a man standing yonder. (standing over there)

These words are related to beyond.

Contractions[edit]

Older forms of English use contractions that now come off as poetic or literary:

It is > 'tis
It was > 'twas
It will > 'twill
It would > 'twould
Over > o'er
Even (adverb) > e'en

Be-perfect[edit]

To form the perfect tenses (that is, tenses with the perfect aspect), English now uses have for all verbs. Formerly, however, one could use be with intransitive verbs, mainly verbs of motion and change of state.

I have come. > I am come.
What hast thou become? > What art thou become?
He had gone to the castle. > He was gone to the castle.
Caesar has returned. > Caesar is returned.

Pronominal adverbs[edit]

Older English used pronominal adverbs such as herein, therewith, and whereof more often.

All the items listed in this > All the items listed herein
Everything related to that > Everything related thereto
The method by which it was done > The method whereby it was done

See here for more.

Case & gender[edit]

This goes beyond Early New English and delves into Old English and Middle English. See here for more.