As already noticed, the Anglo-Saxon Auxiliary Verb forms in numerous instances an important connecting link. Thus the modern English and the modern German Auxiliary Verbs differ totally in the present tense.
English. German. I am, Ich bin, Thou art, Du bist, He is. Er ist.
We are, Wir sind, You are, Ihr seyd, They are. Sie sind.
But both these Verbs co-exist in the present tense in the old Anglo-Saxon.
_Anglo-Saxon_(39) Verb the source of the English “I am,” and Anglo-Saxon Verb corresponding with the German “Ich bin.”
1, Eom; 1, Beo, 2, Eort; 2, Byst, 3, Is.; 3, By & Byd.
But though the present tense of the Verb “Beo” or “Beonne” does not exist in modern English, it has been preserved in a remarkable manner in the Shropshire and other dialects, in which it runs thus:
Provincial English. German. I Be, or I Bin, Ich Bin, Thou Bist, Du Bist, He Is. Er Ist. We Bin, Yō Bin, They Bin.
The word “Bin” or “Ben” is used by Chaucer for the 1st, 2d, and 3d Persons Plural,(40) as in the passage previously quoted: “These two sinnes _bin_ so nigh cosins.” (_Person’s Tales._)
These are singular but highly instructive examples of the caprices of “the great Innovator!”
_On the Scandinavian Languages. Resemblances between the Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon. Recent Origin and extensive Nature of the Differences among the Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian Tongues. Approximation of the Ancient Specimens of the Scandinavian and Teutonic Languages._
The Island of Iceland abounds in diversified features of interest; and its Language, early History, and Institutions, will be found replete with instruction, in connexion with the inquiry pursued in this volume.
As has been previously stated, the Gothic Class of languages are naturally divisible into two great subordinate branches: the Teutonic or German, including the dialects of Germany, the Low Countries, and of Great Britain—and the Scandinavian, including those of the two Scandinavian Peninsulas and Iceland. These two great Divisions of the Languages of the Gothic race are radically the same, but they are supposed to display certain specific differences by which they are distinguished from each other.
Of the Teutonic—one of the most venerable specimens is the Anglo-Saxon, the primitive tongue of the Ancestors of the modern English. More ancient specimens of some of the other Gothic dialects have been preserved, but as these are for the most part mere fragments—while of the Anglo-Saxon literature and language we possess copious Remains—it has been inferred by eminent Scholars that it is in these Remains—to Englishmen so interesting for other reasons—that we may on the whole, perhaps, hope to find the nearest approach to a transcript of the early language of the Teutonic tribes.(41) Of all the Scandinavian Languages, on the other hand, the Icelandic—by the general concurrence of the scholars of the North—appears to be the most primitive.