Is there a historical reason for I taking a verb form that's also plural?

[greystroke]

Dear Sir,

Why does " I" take a verb form that's(also) plural?

Examples: I talk to my friends everyday or I go to the market regularly.

Is there a historical reason for this? I've read somewhere that it is because of a feature called syncretism.

Can somebody clarify please?

Thanks,

Arun

 

[Tdol]

In old English, there were different endings for the different person of the verb, but they all got dropped except the third person singular, we also lost the pronoun thou along the way. The third person ending came from the north of the country, where there was a stronger Viking influence, replacing the older ending. The first person ending was dropped. English evolved from a mix of languages and it started as a highly synthetic language, but gradually lost many of those features over time.

 

[greystroke]

Thank you, Tdol,

That's useful information.

Regards,

Arun