§ 182. The Perfect.—i. In Pr. Ar. the vowel-grade of the root was F° in the 1st sg., and L° in the 3rd sg., as Skr. cakára ‘I made’ < *qeqora, cakā́ra ‘he made’ < *qeqore.—Ml. W. kigleu ‘I have heard, he has heard’, Ir. ro-chūala, ro-chūalae. The W. form implies the 1st sg. k̑ū́-k̑lou̯-a: Skr. s̑u‑s̑ráva; for the long ū of the reduplicator cf. Skr. tū-tava, √teu̯- ‘be strong’. See § 194 v (4).
ii. (1) The following old perfects are 3rd sg. only, and show L°-grade of the root: √u̯ereꬶ- ‘work’ gave *u̯e-u̯rōꬶe > Brit. *u̯o-u̯rā́ge > Ml. W. guoreu, goreu ‘did’ (u̯ lost by dissim., āg > eu § 71 iii);—√ret- ‘run’ gives gwa-red-af ‘I succour’; perf. sg. 3. *re-rōt-e > Brit. *u̯o-(re)rā́te > Ml. W. gwarawt ‘succoured’;—√u̯et/d- ‘say’ gives dy-wed-af ‘I say’; perf. sg. 3. Brit. *do-u̯ā́t-e or *dó-u̯at-e > Ml. W. dywawt or dywat, dywot ‘said’ (unacc. ā shortened § 74; wa: wo § 34 iv).
(2) √deuk- had R-grade *duk- in the Brit. pres., giving W. dyg-af (: Lat. dūco < O. Lat. douco, F°-grade); perf. sg. 1. *du-douk-a > W. *dy-ẟuc, 3. *du-dōuke > W. dy-ẟuc b.t. 4, 52. The tense was re-formed with the perf. endings ‑um, ‑ost § iv (1), § 194 iii (2).—The verb amygaf ‘I defend’ has similarly a 3rd sg. perf. amuc § 194 iv (2).
iii. In verbs like eisteẟaf ‘I sit’, gorweẟaf ‘I lie’, arweẟaf ‘I carry’, go(r)ẟiweẟaf ‘I overtake’, etc., the form of the above perf. is seen in goẟiwawẟ w.m. 42 ‘overtook’; this being re-formed as gorẟiweẟawẟ r.m. 29 (so eisteẟawẟ w.m. 188, etc.), the ‑awẟ seemed to be a 3rd sg. past ending; and was added to suffixless aorists like *kar § 181 iii (1) giving karawẟ, Mn. W. carodd ‘loved’.
iv. (1) Deponent verbs in Brit, had periphrastic perfects formed like those of Lat. deponents. Thus √ag̑‑: perf. sg. 1. *aktos esmi > *aktoimmi > aethum, euthum; 2. *aktos (e)si > *aktossi > *aethos + t = aethost; 3. *aktos ’st > *aktosst > aeth ‘went’. From these forms 1st and 2nd sg. endings ‑um, ‑ost were deduced, and added to other formations, such as the root-aor. keint and the perf. duc. This perf. itself was completed in the pl. by the addition of the aor. endings ‑am, ‑awch, ‑ant.
(2) The Ml. plup. is sg. 3. athoeẟ for *aethoeẟ, which represents *akto(s) sii̯īt. The diphthong ae was simplified prob. by dissim. with the diphthong oe. The second perf. athwyf etc. seems to be a new creation formed on the analogy of the plup.
(3) The impers. llas ‘was slain’ is an example of this formation. It is not a root-aor. as it has R-grade of √qolād‑. It is probably a perf. passive; thus *slad-tos (e)st > *slass-osst > llas ‘was slain’. This passive has a pl. llesseint b.b. 63 ‘were slain’ which seems to be re-formed like impfs. in ‑ynt § 174 iii (2), for *llessynt < *slassī senti; lleẟessynt b.a. 9 ‘were slain’ seems to be another re-formate.
(4) The impers. of the above perf. is formed by adding the impers. *bw͡yt of the verb ‘to be’ to the stem; thus aeth-pwyt, etc. This was extended to root-aorists, as *kant‑pwyt > kanpwyt, perfects, as duc-pwyt, and presents; § 175 iii (7). The form *bwyt does not occur elsewhere; prob. the whole formation is new.
