At 4:43:38 AM on Saturday, January 8, 2011, Torsten wrote:
> Da. dial. (Sønderjysk, Schleswig) stå/stær, gå/gær
> Dutch staan/staat, gaan/gaat
> German stehen/steht, gehen/geht
> "stand/stands", "go/goes"
> which make me suspect those two verbs originally umlauted
> in the 2/3 sg.pres.
They probably did. Apparently they're contracted presents
in *-ji- ~ *-ja- (from *-ye- ~ *-yo-), with PGmc. outcomes
*stai- ~ *sta- and *gai- ~ *ga-. The first stem alternant
ought to appear in the 2/3 sg. pres. (e.g., *staisi,
*staiþi), the second in the 1/3 pl. (e.g., *stamaz,
*stanþi). The 2 pl. should have been *staiþ, the inf.
*stanã, and the 1 sg. *st? (*sto::).
OSax. has very few attestations of either verb, but those
few seem to show remnants of this reconstruction: 2 sg.
<stes>; 3 sg. <ged>, <sted>, <steid>; 3 pl. <stad>; inf.
<gan>, <stan>. (That's the entire list of attested forms.)
Brian