Went (verb)

The verb ''go'' is an irregular verb in the English language (see English irregular verbs). It has a wide range of uses; its basic meaning is "to move from one place to another". Apart from the copular verb ''be'', the verb ''go'' is the only English verb to have a suppletive past tense, namely ''went''.

Principal parts

The principal parts of ''go'' are ''go, went, gone''. In other respects, the modern English verb conjugates regularly. The irregularity of the principal parts is due to their disparate origin in definitely two and possibly three distinct Indo-European roots.

Unlike every other English verb except ''be'', the preterite (simple past tense) of ''go'' is not etymologically related to its infinitive. Instead, the preterite of ''go'', ''went'', descends from a variant of the preterite of ''wend'', the descendant of Old English ''wendan'' and Middle English ''wenden''. Old English ''wendan'' (modern ''wend'') and ''gān'' (mod. ''go'') shared semantic similarities. The similarities are evident in the sentence "I'm wending my way home", which is equivalent to "I'm going home".

Etymology

''Go'' descends from Middle English ''gon'', ''goon'', from Old English ''gān'', from Proto-Germanic *''gāną'', from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *''ǵʰēh₁''- 'to go, leave'. Cognates in the Germanic languages include West Frisian ''gean'', Dutch ''gaan'', Low German ''gahn'', German ''gehen'', Danish, Norwegian, Swedish ''gå'', Crimean Gothic ''geen''.

Origin of ''ēode''

Old English did not use any variation of ''went'' for the general preterite of ''go''; instead, the word ''ēode'' (variant ''ġeēode'') was used, which lingered on as the now obsolete ''yede'', ''yode'' and ''yead''.

Old English ''ēode'' 'he went' (plural ''ēodon'') is made up of a defective preterite base ''ēo''- and the weak dental suffix -''de'' common in most modern English past tense forms (cf. ''ache'' : ''ached''). The base ''ēo''- and its Gothic counterpart ''iddja'' (pl. ''iddjedun'') show the following development:
* PIE perfect singular *' (singular) → Proto-Germanic *''ijō-dē'' → *''eōdæ'' → ''ēode''
* PIE perfect plural *' (plural) → *''jejj''- (Holtzmann's law) → *''jijj-'' (i-mutation) → Proto-Germanic *''ijjēdun''- → Gothic ''iddjēdun''.

Both forms are derived from the PIE root *' (late *') based on close matches with past tense forms of Sanskrit ''yā́ti'' 'he goes, travels' (cf. imperfect ''áyāt'', perfect ''yayáu'', and aorist ''áyāsam''). The root is regarded as an iterative-intensive derivative of the more common *' 'to go' (present *'). One reflex of *' is Latin ''īre'' 'to go' (present ''eō'' 'I go') which gave many English words such as amb''ition'', ex''it'', intro''it'', issue, preter''ite'', and so forth. It is also found in the Slavic languages as ''iti'' and similar forms.

Development of a new preterite

In Middle English, ''ēode'' evolved into ''ȝede'', ''yede'', and ''yode''. By the 15th century in southern England, ''wende'' (''wend'') had become synonymous with ''go'', but its infinitive and present tense forms had ceased to be in frequent use. This was also true of the various ''ēode''-derived preterites of ''go'', thus a variant preterite of ''wend'' absorbed the function. After ''went'' became established as the preterite of ''go'', ''wend'' took on a new preterite, ''wended''. In Northern English and Scots, ''yede'' was ''gaed'', regularly formed by suffixing ''-ed'' to a variant of ''go''. Due to the influence of the region, southern English forms constitute the standard language of England, and so ''went'' is the standard English preterite. Spencer used ''yede'' to mean ''go'' with ''yode'' as its preterite form but as dialect.

Origin of ''went''

''Went'', the modern past tense of ''go'', was originally the preterite form of Middle English ''wenden'' 'to turn, direct; depart' (modern English ''wend''), from Old English ''wendan'' (past ''wende'', ''ġewend''), itself from Proto-Germanic *''wandijaną'' 'to turn' ( transitive). Cognates include West Frisian ''weine'', Dutch, Low German, German ''wenden'', Yiddish ''ווענדן'', Swedish ''vända'', Danish, Norwegian ''vende'', and Gothic ''wandjan''. The original forms of the ME past tense were ''wende'', ''wended'' (our modern form), and past participle ''wend'', but variant ''wente'' developed from about 1200. By ''ca''. 1500, ''wended'' had prevailed in the transitive senses, whereas ''wente'', restricted to intransitive senses, rivalled and replaced ''gos older past tense, ''yede''/''yode''.

Proto-Germanic *''wandijaną'' is a causative derivative of *''windaną'' 'to wind, wrap', from which the modern English verb ''wind'' developed. Cognates include West Frisian ''wine'', Dutch, Low German, German ''winden'', Swedish ''vinda'', Danish and Norwegian ''vinde'', and Gothic -''windan'' (in ''biwindan'' 'to wind around, wrap'). PGmc *''windaną'' comes from Proto-Indo-European *' 'to wind, twist', which also gave Umbrian pre''uenda'' 'turn!' (imperative), Tocharian A/B ''wänt''/''wänträ'' 'covers, envelops', Greek ( Hesychius) ''áthras'' 'wagon', Armenian ''gind'' 'ring', and Sanskrit ''vandhúra'' 'carriage framework'.

Summary of the main Proto-Indo-European roots

''Go'' is historically derived from at least three Proto-Indo-European roots: *''ǵʰēh₁'', the source of ''go'' and ''gone'' (← ME ''gon'', ''ygon'' ← OE ''ġegān''); *''h₁ei'', the source of ''ēode''; and *''u̯endʰ'', the source of ''went'' as well as ''wend'' and ''wind''. Only two roots are continually used in their modern English reflexes ''go''/''gone'' and ''went''.

Suppletion in other Germanic languages

The Dutch, Low German, German, and Scandinavian verbs cognate to ''go'', e.g. Dutch ''gaan'', Low German ''gahn'', German ''gehen'', and Danish/Norwegian/Swedish ''gå'', also have suppletive past forms, namely the preterite ''ging'' of Dutch and German, ''güng'' of Low German, ''gick'' (from the same source) of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, and the past participle ''gegangen'' of German. These forms are relics from earlier, more widespread words that meant 'to walk, go' and which survive sporadically in Scots ''gang'', East Frisian ''gunge'', and Icelandic ''ganga''. Some obsolete cognates include Middle Low German, Middle High German ''gangen'', early modern Swedish ''gånga'', and Gothic ''gaggan''. These are reflexes of Proto-Germanic *''ganganą'', from Proto-Indo-European *' 'to step', which also gave Lithuanian ''žeñgti'' 'to stride', Greek ''kochōnē'' 'perineum', Avestan ''zanga'' 'ankle', and Sanskrit ''jáṁhas'' 'step', ''jaṅghā'' 'shank'.

Therefore, the case of English ''go'' is not unique among the Germanic languages, and it would appear that most have in a like manner reproduced equivalent suppletive conjugations for their words for 'to go', suggesting a cyclical change patterned after the state of affairs in Proto-Germanic.

Phrasal forms

The verb may be combined with various prepositions to form phrasal verbs such as "go around" and "go off".

The verb ''go'' is used to form the ''going to'' future, in sentences like "I'm going to finish my work today."

Perfect forms

In perfect forms of the verb (''have gone'', ''had gone'', etc.) the past participle ''gone'' is often replaced by that of ''be'', namely ''been''. For example:
*He's been to the shops. (He went and came back)
*He's gone to the shops. (He's there now)

For details of this usage, see ''have been''.

Notes

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Etymologies
English verbs