10. =FRAGMENTS OF VERB INFLECTIONS.=--The inflections of the verb are very strangely disguised; and, if learned men had not worked hard, and made diligent inquiry in many directions, we should never have known what they really are. Thus the _m_ in _am_ is the same _m_ that is found in _me_; and the oldest form known of the verb _am_, in the oldest language, is _asmi_.--The _t_ which we find in the second person of some verbs, such as _art_, _wast_, _shalt_, and _wilt_, is the same as the _th_ in _thou_. This _t_ is therefore the pronoun _thou_ added to the verb.--The _th_ in the old-fashioned third person singular _writeth_, _hopeth_, etc., is the same _th_ that we find in _the_ and _that_. Accordingly, we may say that _burneth_ is = _that_ (_thing_) _burns_.--The last _d_ in _did_ is not the same as the _ed_ in _walked_. _Did_ is not = _doed_. An older form of _did_ is _dude_; and from this we see that the past tense was formed by doubling the present--by reduplication. Thus we see that it is the last _d_ that represents the _do_.--The word _worth_ in the well-known lines from the _Lady of the Lake_-- Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, That cost thy life, thou gallant gray!-- is not an adjective, but the remnant of an old verb. This verb is _weorthan_, to become; and _worth_ is the imperative of it. When a verb has lost one of its parts, it goes to another verb, and borrows the use of one of its parts. Thus _went_, the past tense of _go_, is borrowed from _wend_. 11. =FRAGMENTS OF INFLECTIONS IN ADVERBS.=--Adverbs contain a great number of disguised inflections. In the present day, we make adverbs from adjectives by adding _ly_ to them--as _neat_, _neatly_; _warm_, _warmly_. But, in old English, the adverb was made by employing the dative of the adjective. Thus, _brightë_ was = _in a bright manner_; _swiftë_ was = _swiftly_. Then _ë_ very soon dropped off; and the word was left in its bare root--stripped of inflections. And so it has happened that we have many adverbs which are used in their simplest form, and are just the same as adjectives. We do not say, ‘He runs fastly,’ but ‘He runs fast;’ ‘He works hardly,’ but ‘He works hard.’--But the remnants of other cases are also found in adverbs. Thus _needs_, _always_, _sideways_, _once_ (for _onës_), _twice_ (for _twiës_), _unawares_, _whence_ (for _whennës_) and others, are all old possessives.--_Seldom_ is an old dative plural. _Seld_ meant _rare_; and _seldom_ means _at rare times_.--_The_ in the phrase, ‘The older the better,’ is an ablative or _instrumental_ case; and therefore means _by that_. Accordingly this sentence means: ‘By that older, by that better.’ The measure of the increase of age is the measure of the increase of the quality.