A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v3.c17.31

v3.c17.31

languages of Europe, it is scarcely possible to trace step by step the changes which have occurred in the verb. It is necessary, however, to make the attempt, and to piece together such evidence as we have, because the modern verb is an undoubted descendant of the ancient one, though only a slight trait here and there recalls the features of its parent, and its structure in many points can only be rendered intelligible by tracing it back to the ancient stock whence it sprung.