Chapter 105

ON THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THE NOUN AND VERB, AND ON THE INFLECTION OF THE INFINITIVE MOOD.

§ 274. In order to understand clearly the use of the so-called infinitive mood in English, it is necessary to bear in mind two facts, one a matter of _logic_, the other a matter of _history_.

In the way of _logic_, the difference between a noun and a verb is less marked than it is in the way of _grammar_.

Grammatically, the contrast is considerable. The inflection of nouns expresses the ideas of sex as denoted by gender, and of relation in place as denoted by cases. That of verbs rarely expresses sex, and never relations in place. On the other hand, however, it expresses what no noun ever does or can express; e.g., the relation of the agency to the individual speaking, by means of _person_; the time in which acts take place, by means of _tense_; and the conditions of their occurrence, by means of _mood_.

The idea of _number_ is the only one that, on a superficial view, is common to these two important parts of speech.

§ 275. Logically, however, the contrast is inconsiderable. A noun denotes an object of which either the senses or the intellect can take cognizance, and a verb does no more. _To move_ = _motion_, _to rise_ = _rising_, _to err_ = _error_, _to forgive_ = _forgiveness_. The only difference between the two parts of speech is this, that, whereas a noun may express any object whatever, verbs can only express those objects which consist in an action. And it is this superadded idea of action that superadds to the verb the phenomena of tense, mood, person, and voice; in other words, the phenomena of conjugation.

§ 276. A noun is a word capable of _declension_ only. A verb is a word capable of declension and _conjugation_ also. The fact of verbs being declined as well as conjugated must be remembered. _The participle has the declension of a noun adjective, the infinitive mood the declension of a noun substantive. Gerunds and supines, in languages where they occur, are only names for certain cases of the verb._

§ 277. Although in all languages the verb is equally capable of declension, it is not equally declined. The Greeks, for instance, used forms like

[Greek: to phthonein] = _invidia_. [Greek: tou phthonein] = _invidiæ_. [Greek: en tôi phthonein] = _in invidia_.

§ 278. Returning, however, to the illustration of the substantival character of the so-called infinitive mood, we may easily see--

[alpha]. That the name of any action may be used without any mention of the agent. Thus, we may speak of the simple fact of _walking_ or _moving_, independently of any specification of the _walker_ or _mover_.

[beta]. That, when actions are spoken of thus indefinitely, the idea of either person or number has no place in the conception; from which it follows that the so-called infinitive mood must be at once impersonal, and without the distinction of singular, dual, and plural.

[gamma]. That, nevertheless, the ideas of time and relation in space _have_ place in the conception. We can think of a person being _in the act of striking a blow_, of his _having been in the act of striking a blow_, or of his _being about to be in the act of striking a blow_. We can also think of a person being _in the act of doing a good action_, or of his being _from the act of doing a good action_.

§ 279. This has been written to show that verbs of languages in general are as naturally declinable as nouns. What follows will show that the verbs of the Gothic languages in particular were actually declined, and that fragments of this declension remain in the present English.

The inflection of the verb in its impersonal (or infinitive state) consisted, in its fullest form, of three cases, a nominative (or accusative), a dative, and a genitive. The genitive is put last, because its occurrence in the Gothic languages is the least constant.

In Anglo-Saxon the nominative (or accusative) ended in -an, with a single n.

Lufian = _to love_ = _amare_. Bærnan = _to burn_ = _urere_. Syllan = _to give_ = _dare_.

In Anglo-Saxon the dative of the infinitive verb ended in -nne, and was preceded by the preposition _to_.

To lufienne = _ad amandum_. To bærnenne = _ad urendum_. To syllanne = _ad dandum_.

The genitive, ending in -es, occurs only in Old High German and Modern High German, _plâsannes_, _weinnenes_.

§ 280. With these preliminaries we can take a clear view of the English infinitives. They exist under two forms, and are referable to a double origin.

1. The _independent_ form.--This is used after the words _can_, _may_, _shall_, _will_, and some others, as, _I can speak_, _I may go_, _I shall come_, _I will move_. Here there is no preposition, and the origin of the infinitive is from the form in -an.

2. The _prepositional_ form.--This is used after the majority of English verbs, as, _I wish to speak_, _I mean to go_, _I intend to come_, _I determine to move_. Here we have the preposition _to_ and the origin of the infinitive is from the form -nne.

§ 281. Expressions like _to err_ = _error_, _to forgive_ = _forgiveness_, in lines like

"To err is human, to forgive divine,"

are very remarkable. They exhibit the phenomena of a nominative case having grown not only out of a dative but out of a dative _plus_ its governing preposition.

* * * * *