§ 317. In the phrase _this will do_ = _this will answer the purpose_, the word _do_ is wholly different from the word _do_, meaning _to act_. In the first case it is equivalent to the Latin _valere_; in the second to the Latin _facere_. Of the first the Anglo-Saxon inflection is _deáh_, _dugon_, _dohte_, _dohtest_, &c. Of the second it is _dó_, _doð_, _dyde_, &c. I doubt whether the præterite _did_, as equivalent to _valebat_ = _was good for_, is correct. In the phrase _it did for him_ = _it finished him_, either meaning may be allowed. In the present Danish they write _duger_, but say _duer_: as _duger et noget?_ = _Is it worth anything?_ pronounced _dooer deh note?_ This accounts for the ejection of the g. The Anglo-Saxon form _deáh_ does the same. § 318. _Mind--mind and do so and so_.--In this sentence the word _mind_ is wholly different from the noun _mind_. The Anglo-Saxon forms are _geman_, _gemanst_, _gemunon_, without the -d; this letter occurring only in the præterite tense (_gemunde_, _gemundon_), of which it is the sign. _Mind_ is, then, a præterite form with a present sense; whilst _minded_ (as in _he minded his business_) is an instance of excess of inflection; in other words, it is a præterite formed from a præterite. § 319. _Yode_.--The obsolete præterite of _go_, now replaced by _went_, the præterite of _wend_. Regular, except that the initial g has become y. § 320. _Did_.--See § 317. _Did_, from _do_ = _facio_, is a _strong_ verb. This we infer from the form of its participle _done_. If so the final -d is not the same as the -d in _moved_. What is it? There are good grounds for believing that in the word _did_ we have a single instance of the old _reduplicate præterite_. If so, it is the latter d which is radical, and the former which is inflectional. * * * * * CHAPTER XXV. ON CONJUGATION. § 321. Attention is directed to the following list of verbs. In the present English they all form the præterite in -d or -t; in Anglo-Saxon, they all formed it by a change of the vowel. In other words they are _weak verbs that were once strong_. _Præterites._ _English._ _Anglo-Saxon._