" The -ed that marks the past probably started as did: painted goes back, in other words, to paint-did. Considering how often you refer to things in the past, you could have known that did, when used that way, was eventually going to wear down to something like an -ed, inseparable from the verb itself.* "

― John McWhorter , Words on the Move: Why English Won't—and Can't—Sit Still (Like, Literally)