Ē 2 and EU in Germanic Strong Preterites of Class VII

Despite all that has been written on the subject, it is still an open question whether the prevailing types of strong preterites of class VII in NGmc. and WGmc., as Ole. hét, hlióp, helt, fekk, lét, blét, etc., have a common origin with Gothic reduplicated preterites of the types haíháit, áiáuk, haíhald, faífāh, lailōt, haíhōp, etc., or descend from IE unreduplicated formations, in particular lengthened-grade aorists. In recent decades this problem has come to be involved with another one, namely the origin of the pt. pl. stem in classes I-V of the strong verb, above all in classes IV and V for Germanic as a whole, and probably most scholars who accept unreduplicated formations as the source of the forms in the category first mentioned do so for the forms in the latter categories also. It is not proposed in this paper to restate the arguments that have been put forward in support of this view, 1 or in refutation thereof, 2 but rather, tentatively assuming its general correctness, to reconstruct in chronological order the various developments which the theory seems to require if it is to be brought into detailed correspondence with the known NGmc. and WGmc. forms which it purports generally to explain.