Whence <sprung> this difference?

[gil12345]

Hi there,

" I looked on these; I turned my gaze to my own mean dress.--Whence sprung this difference? Whence but from ingratitude, from falsehood, from a dereliction on the part of the prince's father, of all noble sympathy and generous feeling."

Volume I, Chapter 2 | Romantic Circles

Should the underlined "sprung" be replaced with "sprang"? Or it was acceptable in the past?

Thanks

Gil

 

[Franco-filly]

It means "from whence had sprung" which is the past perfect of spring. Similar to "the telephone rings / rang / had rung three times."

 

[entangledbank]

Yes, 'sprang' and 'sprung' were both used as simple past. Even today several verbs allow both forms: sank and sunk, span and spun, shrank and shrunk.

cross-posted A concealed pluperfect is also possible.

 

[gil12345]

It means "from whence had sprung" which is the past perfect of spring. Similar to "the telephone rings / rang / had rung three times."

so why did the writer omit "had"?

 

[Fagin]

so why did the writer omit "had"?

They didn't:

sprung

sprung (sprŭng)
v.
A past tense and the past participle of spring.

UPDATE
Shame on me. Either way it is not correct to put a question like this. Probably it's very informal but I am not a native speaker to judge.