To denote that a verbal
name was employed as a verb, the Saxons affixed to it a verbalizing
adjunct; thus, _the_ (to take, hold) was the noun-state of the verb;
and when they used it as a verb, they added the termination _an_;
thus, the_an_. The termination added, was a sign that _affirmation_
was intended. The same procedure has been adopted, and, in many
instances, is still practised, in our language. _An_, originally
affixed to our verbs, in the progress of refinement, was changed to
en, and finally dropped. A few centuries ago, the plural number of
our verbs was denoted by the termination, _en_; thus, they _weren_,
they _loven_; but, as these terminations do not supersede the
necessity of expressing the _subject_ of affirmation, as is the case
in the Latin and Greek verbs, they have been laid aside, as
unnecessary excrescences. For the same reason, we might, without any
disparagement to the language, dispense with the terminations of our
verbs in the singular.
In support of the position, that these terminations were once
separate words, we can trace many of them to their origin.
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