CHAPTER LIX.

[§ 218.] DEFECTIVE VERBS.

THE term Defective Verbs is here applied to those only in which the defectiveness is striking, and which are found only in certain forms and combinations, for there are, besides, a very large number of defective verbs, of which certain tenses are not found on account of their meaning, or cannot be shown to have been used by the writers whose works have come down to us. Many of them have been noticed in the lists of verbs in the preceding chapters; with regard to others, it must be left to good taste, cultivated by reading the best authors, as to whether we may use, e. g., cupe, from cupio, like cape, from capio, and whether we may say dor, I am given, like don, or putatus sum, like habitus sum. (Putatum est occurs in Cicero, p. Muren., 17.) We shall here treat of the verbs aio and inquam, I say; fari, to speak; the perfects coepi, memini, novi and odi; the imperatives apage, ave, salve, vale; cedo and quaeso; and, lastly, of forem.

1. Aio, I say, say yes, or affirm.*

pro

Note. In prose, as well as in poetry, ain'? do you think so? is frequently used for aisne, just as we find viden', abin', for videsne, abisne. See 24. The comic writers, especially Terence, use the imperfect aibam, &c., as a word of two syllables.

[§ 219.] 2. Inquam, I say.‡

This verb is used only between the words of a quota

* [Aio is evidently connected with the Sanscrit aha (" dixi," "inquam"), and also with the Greek h-ui for on-uí. (Compare Pott, Etym. Forsch., vol. i., p. 281.) —Am. Ed.

t [This third person of the perfect is very doubtful. (Compare Struve, über die Lat. Decl. und Conj., p..213.) Late church writers, however, have aïsti, aierunt, &c.]—Am. Ed.

[Inquam and sum are the only two Latin verbs which still show traces

tion, while ait, aiunt, are found most frequently in the

Note.-The first person of the perfect (more probably inqui than inqui) is not found; the present inquam is used instead, and inquit may, therefore, just as well be taken for the present. The present subjunctive has been here given according to Priscian, p. 876, but has not yet been con firmed by any other authority.

[§ 220.] 3. Fari, to speak, say.‡

This very irregular verb, with its compounds affāri, effari, profari, is, generally speaking, more used in poetry than in ordinary prose. The third persons of the present, fatur, fantur, the imperative fare, and the participle fatus, a, um (effatum is used also in a passive sense), occur most frequently. The ablative of the gerund, fando, is used in a passive sense even in prose, in the phrase fando audire, to know by hearsay.

Compounds: affamur, Ovid; affamini, Curtius; affabar, Virgil; effabor and effaberis, also occur in poetry. The first person for, the subjunctive fer, feris, fetur, &c., and the participle fans in the nominative, do not occur, though the other cases of fans are found in poetry. Fandus, a, um, only in the combination fandum et nefandum; fanda, nefanda, which are equivalent to fas et nefas.

[§ 221.] 4. Coepi,

5. Měmini, 6. Novi, 7. Odi,

I have begun. I remember. I know. I hate. These four verbs are perfects of obsolete presents which have gone out of use, with the exception of nosco,

of the m termination in the present tense, and the original forms of these verbs were undoubtedly inquami and sumi. This ending in -mi connects them at once with the Greek verbs in -ut, and also with the Sanscrit.]— Am. Ed.

* [Compare with in-quit the English quoth, the Anglo-Saxon quêthan, and the Welsh gwedyd.]-Am. Ed.

+[Scaliger, however, reads inquii in Catullus (x., 27), and is followed by Döring and others. The metre and context both require inquii, which cannot, therefore, be said to be a form "not found."]-Am. Ed.

[Pott compares Fa-ri with the Sanscrit bha-sh, "loqui," and the Greek on-uí.]-Am. Ed.

and coepio, coepere. They consequently have those tenses only which are derived from the perfect. In meaning, měmini, novi, and ōdi are presents; novi, I know, shows the transition most clearly, for it properly means "I have learned to know." (See § 203.) Hence the pluperfect has the meaning of an imperfect: memineram, I remembered; noveram, I knew; oderam, I hated, not "I had hated," and the future perfect has the signification of a simple future, e. g., odero, I shall hate; meminero, I shall remember. Otherwise the terminations are quite regular.

Fut. act. coepturus.

odisse.

with

(perosus, exosus,
an active meaning.)

osurus.

Note. Hence coepisse has a perfect passive coeptus (a, um) sum; e. g., Liv., xxx., 30; quia a me bellum coeptum est: xxviii., 14; quum a neutris pugna coepta esset; but it is used especially in connexion with an infinitive passive, as in pons institui coeptus est; Tyrus septimo mense, quam oppugnari coepta erat, capta est; de re publica consuli coepti sumus; the active forms coepit, coeperat, however, may likewise be used in this connexion. Compare desitus est, § 200. Compounds are occoepi, which is not unfrequently used along with the regular occipio (the same as incipio) and commemini.

[§ 222.] 8. Apăge, 9. Ave, 10. Salve, 11. Vale, farewell.

be gone.

hail.

hail.

Note.-Apăge is the Greek imperative anaye of åñáyw, and akın to abigo; apage istas sorores! away with them! especially apage te, get thy self off, or, with the omission of the pronoun, apage, begone. Salveo in Plautus, Trucul., ii., 2, 4, may be regarded as the present of salve. Comp. Probus, Instit. Gram., p. 141, ed. Lindemann. Vale and ave, on the other hand, are regular imperatives of valeo, I am well, and aveo, I desire; and they are mentioned here only on occount of their change of meaning.

The plural is, avete, salvete, valete; the imperat. fut. aveto, salveto, valeto. The future, salvebis, valebis, is likewise used in the sense of an imperative, and the infinitives mostly with jubeo: avere, salvere, valere.

[§ 223.] 12. Cědo, give, tell.

This word is used as an imperative in familiar language, for da and dic, both with and without an accusaA plural cette occurs in old Latin.

tive.

The e is short in this word, which thus differs from the complete verb cedo, I yield, give way.

[§ 224.] 13. Quaeso, I beseech.

Quaeso is originally the same as quaero, but in good prose it is generally inserted in another sentence. Besides this first person singular, we find only the first per son plural quaesămus.

14. Forem, I should be.

This imperfect subjunctive, which is conjugated regularly, has arisen from fuerem, of the obsolete verb fuo, and belongs to sum. (See above, § 156.)

[§ 225.] 1. THE term Impersonal Verbs strictly applies only to those of which no other but the third person sin gular is used, and which do not admit a personal subject (I, thou, he), the subject being a proposition, an infinitive, or a neuter noun understood. (See § 441, &c.) Verbs of this kind are:

Miseret (me), I pity, perfect miseritum est.
Piget (me), I regret, piguit or pigitum est.
Poenitet (me), I repent, poenituit, fut. poenitebit.

Pudet (me), I am ashamed, puduit or puditum est. Taedet (me), I am disgusted with, (taeduit, very rare), pertaesum est.

Oportet, it behooves, oportuit, fut. oportebit.

Note.-Miseruit, the regular perfect of miseret, occurs so seldom, that we have not here noticed it. The form commonly used is miseritum or misertum est, which is derived from the impersonal me miseretur tui, which is not uncommon, although the deponent misereri is otherwise used only as a personal verb, misereor tui. Compare the passages, Cic., p. Ligar., 5; cave te fratrum pro salute fratris obsecrantium misereatur: in Verr., i., 30; jam me tui misereri non potest, where the verb is likewise impersonal.

[§ 226.] 2. Besides these impersonals, there are some others, which likewise have no personal subject, but yet are used in the third person plural, and may have a nominative (at least a neuter pronoun) as their subject. Such verbs are:

Libet (mihi), I like, choose; perf. libuit, or libitum est. Licet (mihi), I am permitted; perf. licuit, or licitum est. Decet (me), it becomes me, and dedecet, it does not be come me; perf. decuit, dedecuit.

Liquet, it is obvious; perf. licuit.

Note.-Libuit has been mentioned here as a perfect of libet, but it is usu ally found only as a present, in the sense of libet.

[§ 227.] 3. There is also a considerable number of verbs which are used impersonally in the third person, while their other persons occur with more or less difference in meaning. To these belong: interest and refert in the sense of "it is of importance to," with which no nominative can be used as a subject; farther, accidit, fit, evenit, and contingit, it happens; accedit, it is added to, or in addition to; attinet and pertinet (ad aliquid), it con cerns; conducit, it is conducive; convenit, it suits; constat, it is known or established; expedit, it is expedient; delectat and juvat, it delights, pleases; fallit, fugit, and praeterit me, it escapes me, I do not know; placet, it pleases; perf. placuit and placitum est; praestat, it is better; restat, it remains; vacat, it is wanting; est, in the sense of licet, it is permitted or possible, e. g., est videre, non est dicere verum, but especially in poetry and late prose writers.

[§ 228.] 4. The verbs which denote the changes of the weather; pluit, it rains; ningit, it snows; grandinat, it hails; lapidat (perf. also lapidatum est), stones fall from heaven; fulgurat and fulminat, it lightens (with this dif ference, that fulminat is used of a flash of lightning which