(3) The 3rd sg. mid. of thematic stems ended in *‑oito. We should therefore expect ‑ud beside ‑id for the impers. in W. A trace of this actually occurs in ac y haruetud etc. b.b. 20, which should be *ac yth arweẟud etc. ‘and thou wert borne’, etc., where the scribe mistook the impers. for the 2nd sg., which makes no sense if it is active, and we can hardly assume the 2nd sg. to have retained a passive sense.
v. (1) In the 1st and 2nd pl. of athematic stems the Ar. form was *‑i̯ə‑: *‑i‑. We can probably assume for Kelt. *kár(a)-i̯ə-me; the m was doubled on the analogy of the aor.; and post-tonic *i̯a > i̯e > e in W., § 65 vi (1); hence W. carem. Similarly 2nd pl. *caret + chw̯- > karewch, carech.
(2) The 3rd pl. ending was *‑i̯ént (for *‑i̯ḗnt). The form *‑a‑i̯ént gives W. ‑i § 75 v (1); as tri ugeint canhwr a sevi b.t. 55 ‘6000 men stood’; hence the rare “3rd sg.” ‑i. The 3rd pl. ‑ynt seems to be a middle form < *‑ento < *‑i̯ə‑nto (or *‑into < *‑ī‑nto), which spread because it had the 3rd pl. sign ‑nt.
vi. (1) The impf. subj. is the optative of the s‑aorist, cf. Lat. vīderīmus < *u̯eid-is-ī‑m‑. Thus Kelt. *kara-sii̯īt > Ml. W. karhei.
(2) The plup. is an optative formed from the new Kelt. ss‑aorist. Thus Brit. *karassii̯ī́t > carassai.
The plup. is held to be a Brit. innovation. Strachan’s examples of the impf. subj. being replaced by the plup. in later texts, quoted in b.b. 157, prove nothing as to the antiquity of the plup.; its existence in Bret. shows that it goes back at least to Brit., so that the evidence of Ml. texts is irrelevant. We also find the plup. in early texts where we should expect to find the impf. subj. as ri-uelssud b.b. 20. The fact is that the two aorists were not very sharply distinguished.
§ 181. The Aorist.—i. The Welsh aorist comes from a Keltic re-formation of the ‑s- aorist. The orig. Ar. formation seems to have been (1) L‑grade of √ + ‑s‑ (in Kelt. R‑grade in the pl.), or (2) F‑grade of V + ‑is‑. The endings are secondary.
ii. (1) With long-vowel stems the suffix is ‑s‑; thus Skr. á-prā-sam < *é plē‑s‑m̥, √pelē‑ ‘fill’, Gk. ἐφίλη-σ‑α (intervocalic ‑σ- restored from cons. stems ‑ψα, etc.). Thus Kelt. *kárā‑s‑m̥ ‘I loved '. Bearing in mind that st > ss and that sm > mm the whole Kelt. tense may be restored thus: sg. 1. *kárāsm̥, 2. *kárāss, 3. *kárāss, pl. 1. *ká-rammo, 2. *kárasse, 3. *kárasn̥t.
(2) This tense was wholly reconstituted in Kelt., with stem sg. *kárāss‑, pl. *kárass‑. The 1st and 2nd sg. were made anew with thematic endings; thus 1. *kárāssū, 2. *kárāssīs (inj. ‑es). The 1st pl. became *kárassammo instead of *kárammo; then followed 2. *kárassate instead of *kárasse. Unaccented ā was shortened in Brit, and Ir. and these formations gave regularly Ir. sg. 1. ro-charus (2. ro-charais), pl. 1. ro-charsam, 2. ro-charsaid, and W. sg. 1. kereis, 2. kereis + t, pl. 1. karassam, 2. *karassat + chw̯- > karassawch. The ending of the 3rd pl. was made primary; thus *kárassanti > Ir. carsait, W. karassant. As a variant the thematic vowel was brought into the
