Fun fact: The past tense of “wend” was once “went”, but that was co-opted for the past tense of “go”, and the past tense of wend is now “wended”.
“But what was the past tense of ‘go’ before that?”
Kind of hard to tell what it would be now, but “goed” does seem likely - like we might have said as toddlers - but irregular “yode” / “yoed” is closer to the old form and is also possible.
Evidence from other Germanic languages as well as “do” becoming “did” suggests a less likely “gid”, “gig”, “ging” or even “gang” (compare “sang”).
Fun fact: The past tense of “wend” was once “went”, but that was co-opted for the past tense of “go”, and the past tense of wend is now “wended”.
“But what was the past tense of ‘go’ before that?”
Kind of hard to tell what it would be now, but “goed” does seem likely - like we might have said as toddlers - but irregular “yode” / “yoed” is closer to the old form and is also possible.
Evidence from other Germanic languages as well as “do” becoming “did” suggests a less likely “gid”, “gig”, “ging” or even “gang” (compare “sang”).
Man etymology is so neat