XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: a24061@ducksburg.com   
      
   On 2024-09-02, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:   
      
   > Adam Funk wrote:   
   >   
   >> The -ing suffix in Modern English is a fusion of two Old English   
   >> suffixes, one similar to German -ung & the other to German -end. I'm   
   >> not sure of the extent to which that encouraged the development of the   
   >> current -in'/-ing situation.   
   >   
   > One might add that the -ung is a suffix that substantivates a verb,   
   > while the -end makes the verbform present particip. There are parallels   
   > in Danish where we have -(n)ing and -ende.   
      
   I'm not surprised. I think (but am open to correction) that English is   
   the only Germanic language that has merged them.   
      
      
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