Chapter 26

REMAINING VERBS; VERB-PHRASES WITH #habban#, #bēon#, AND #weorðan#.

#Anomalous Verbs.# (See § 19.)

134. These are:

bēon (wesan), wæs, wǣron, ----, _to be_. willan, wolde, woldon, ----, _to will, intend_. dōn, dyde, dydon, gedōn, _to do, cause_. gān, ēode, ēodon, gegān, _to go_.

NOTE.--In the original Indo-Germanic language, the first person of the present indicative singular ended in (1) ō or (2) mi. _Cf._ Gk. λύ-ω, εἰ-μί, Lat. _am-ō_, _su-m_. The Strong and Weak Conjugations of O.E. are survivals of the ō-class. The four Anomalous Verbs mentioned above are the sole remains in O.E. of the mi-class. Note the surviving m in #eom# _I am_, and #dōm# _I do_ (Northumbrian form). These mi-verbs are sometimes called non-Thematic to distinguish them from the Thematic or ō-verbs.

#Conjugation of Anomalous Verbs.#

135. Only the present indicative and subjunctive are at all irregular:

#Indicative.#

PRESENT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic eom (bēom) wille dō gā 2. ðū eart (bist) wilt dēst gǣst 3. hē is (bið) wille dēð gǣð

_Plur._ 1. wē } 2. gē } sind(on) willað dōð gāð 3. hīe }

#Subjunctive.#

PRESENT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic } 2. ðū } sīe wille dō gā 3. hē }

_Plur._ 1. wē } 2. gē } sīen willen dōn gān 3. hīe }

NOTE.--The preterit subjunctive of #bēon# is formed, of course, not from #wæs#, but from #wǣron#. See § 103, (3).

#Preterit-Present Verbs.# (See § 19.)

136. These verbs are called Preterit-Present because the present tense (indicative and subjunctive) of each of them is, in form, a strong preterit, the old present having been displaced by the new. They all have weak preterits. Most of the Mn.E. Auxiliary Verbs belong to this class.

witan, { wiste, } wiston, gewiten, _to know_ { wisse, } [to wit, wot]. āgan, āhte, āhton, āgen (adj.), _to possess_ [owe]. cunnan, cūðe, cūðon, { gecunnen, } _to know_, _can_ { cūð (adj.), } [uncouth, cunning]. durran, dorste, dorston, ---- _to dare_. sculan, sceolde, sceoldon, ---- _shall_. magan, { meahte, meahton, } ---- _to be able_, _may_. { mihte, mihton, } mōtan, mōste, mōston, ---- _may_, _must_.

NOTE.--The change in meaning from preterit to present, with retention of the preterit form, is not uncommon in other languages. Several examples are found in Latin and Greek (cf. _nōvi_ and οἶδα, _I know_). Mn.E. has gone further still: #āhte# and #mōste#, which had already suffered the loss of their old preterits (#āh#, #mōt#), have been forced back again into the present (_ought_, _must_). Having exhausted, therefore, the only means of preterit formation known to Germanic, the strong and the weak, it is not likely that either _ought_ or _must_ will ever develop distinct preterit forms.

#Conjugation of Preterit-Present Verbs.#

137. The irregularities occur in the present indicative and subjunctive:

#Indicative.#

PRESENT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic wāt āh cǫn (can) 2. ðū wāst āhst cǫnst (canst) 3. hē wāt āh cǫn (can)

_Plur._ 1. wē } 2. gē } witon āgon cunnon 3. hīe }

_Sing._ 1. Ic dear sceal mæg mōt 2. ðū dearst scealt meaht mōst 3. hē dear sceal mæg mōt

_Plur._ 1. wē 2. gē durron sculon magon mōton 3. hīe

#Subjunctive.#

PRESENT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic } 2. ðū } wite āge cunne 3. hē }

_Plur._ 1. wē } 2. gē } witen āgen cunnen 3. hīe }

_Sing._ 1. Ic } 2. ðū } durre scule (scyle) mæge mōte 3. hē }

_Plur._ 1. wē } 2. gē } durren sculen (scylen) mægen mōten 3. hīe }

NOTE 1.--#Willan# and #sculan# do not often connote simple futurity in Early West Saxon, yet they were fast drifting that way. The Mn.E. use of _shall_ only with the 1st person and _will_ only with the 2d and 3d, to express simple futurity, was wholly unknown even in Shakespeare’s day. The elaborate distinctions drawn between these words by modern grammarians are not only cumbersome and foreign to the genius of English, but equally lacking in psychological basis.

NOTE 2.--#Sculan# originally implied the idea of (1) _duty_, or _compulsion_ (= _ought to_, or _must_), and this conception lurks with more or less prominence in almost every function of #sculan# in O.E.: #Dryhten bebēad Moyse hū hē sceolde beran ðā earce#, _The Lord instructed Moses how he ought to bear the ark_; #Ǣlc mann sceal be his andgietes mǣðe ... sprecan ðæt he spricð, and dōn ðæt ðæt hē dēð#, _Every man must, according to the measure of his intelligence, speak what he speaks, and do what he does_. Its next most frequent use is to express (2) _custom_, the transition from the obligatory to the customary being an easy one: #Sē byrdesta sceall gyldan fīftȳne mearðes fell#, _The man of highest rank pays fifteen marten skins_.

NOTE 3.--#Willan# expressed originally (1) _pure volition_, and this is its most frequent use in O.E. It may occur without the infinitive: #Nylle ic ðæs synfullan dēað, ac ic wille ðæt hē gecyrre and lybbe#, _I do not desire the sinner’s death, but I desire that he return and live_. The wish being father to the intention, #willan# soon came to express (2) _purpose_: #Hē sǣde ðæt hē at sumum cirre wolde fandian hū longe ðæt land norðryhte lǣge#, _He said that he intended, at some time, to investigate how far that land extended northward_.

#Verb-Phrases with _habban_, _bēon_ (_wesan_), and _weorðan_.#

_Verb-Phrases in the Active Voice._

138. The present and preterit of #habban#, combined with a past participle, are used in O.E., as in Mn.E., to form the present perfect and past perfect tenses:

PRESENT PERFECT. PAST PERFECT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic hæbbe gedrifen _Sing._ 1. Ic hæfde gedrifen 2. ðū hæfst gedrifen 2. ðū hæfdest gedrifen 3. hē hæfð gedrifen 3. hē hæfde gedrifen

PRESENT PERFECT. PAST PERFECT.

_Plur._ 1. wē } _Plur._ 1. wē } 2. gē } habbað gedrifen 2. gē } hæfdon gedrifen 3. hīe } 3. hīe }

The past participle is not usually inflected to agree with the direct object: #Norðymbre ǫnd Ēastęngle hæfdon Ælfrede cyninge āðas geseald# (not #gesealde#, § 82), _The Northumbrians and East Anglians had given king Alfred oaths_; #ǫnd hæfdon miclne dǣl ðāra horsa freten# (not #fretenne#), _and (they) had devoured a large part of the horses_.

NOTE.--Many sentences might be quoted in which the participle does agree with the direct object, but there seems to be no clear line of demarcation between them and the sentences just cited. Originally, the participle expressed a _resultant state_, and belonged in sense more to the object than to #habban#; but in Early West Saxon #habban# had already, in the majority of cases, become a pure auxiliary when used with the past participle. This is conclusively proved by the use of #habban# with intransitive verbs. In such a clause, therefore, as #oð ðæt hīe hine ofslægenne hæfdon#, there is no occasion to translate _until they had him slain_ (= _resultant state_); the agreement here is more probably due to the proximity of #ofslægenne# to #hine#. So also #ac hī hæfdon þā hiera stemn gesętenne#, _but they had already served out_ (_sat out_) _their military term_.

139. If the verb is intransitive, and denotes _a change of condition_, _a departure or arrival_, #bēon# (#wesan#) usually replaces #habban#. The past participle, in such cases, partakes of the nature of an adjective, and generally agrees with the subject: #Mīne welan þe ic īo hæfde syndon ealle gewitene ǫnd gedrorene#, _My possessions which I once had are all departed and fallen away_; #wǣron þā męn uppe on lǫnde of āgāne#, _the men had gone up ashore_; #ǫnd þā ōþre wǣron hungre ācwolen#, _and the others had perished of hunger_; #ǫnd ēac sē micla hęre wæs þā þǣr tō cumen#, _and also the large army had then arrived there_.

140. A progressive present and preterit (not always, however, with distinctively progressive meanings) are formed by combining a present participle with the present and preterit of #bēon# (#wesan#). The participle remains uninflected: #ǫnd hīe alle on ðone cyning wǣrun feohtende#, _and they all were fighting against the king_; #Symle hē bið lōciende, nē slǣpð hē nǣfre#, _He is always looking, nor does He ever sleep_.

NOTE.--In most sentences of this sort, the subject is masculine (singular or plural); hence no inference can be made as to agreement, since -e is the participial ending for both numbers of the nominative masculine (§ 82). By analogy, therefore, the other genders usually conform in inflection to the masculine: #wǣron þā ealle þā dēoflu clypigende ānre stefne#, _then were all the devils crying with one voice_.

_Verb-Phrases in the Passive Voice._

141. Passive constructions are formed by combining #bēon# (#wesan#) or #weorðan# with a past participle. The participle agrees regularly with the subject: #hīe wǣron benumene ǣgðer ge þæs cēapes ge þæs cornes#, _they were deprived both of the cattle and the corn_; #hī bēoð āblęnde mid ðǣm þīostrum heora scylda#, _they are blinded with the darkness of their sins_; #and sē wælhrēowa Domiciānus on ðām ylcan gēare wearð ācweald#, _and the murderous Domitian was killed in the same year_; #ǫnd Æþelwulf aldormǫn wearð ofslægen#, _and Æthelwulf, alderman, was slain_.

NOTE 1.--To express agency, Mn.E. employs _by_, rarely _of_; M.E. _of_, rarely _by_; O.E. #frǫm# (#fram#), rarely #of#: #Sē ðe Godes bebodu ne gecnǣwð, ne bið hē oncnāwen frǫm Gode#, _He who does not recognise God’s commands, will not be recognized by God_; #Betwux þǣm wearð ofslagen Ēadwine ... fram Brytta cyninge#, _Meanwhile, Edwin was slain by the king of the Britons_.

NOTE 2.--O.E. had no progressive forms for the passive, and could not, therefore, distinguish between _He is being wounded_ and _He is wounded_. It was not until more than a hundred years after Shakespeare’s death that _being_ assumed this function. #Weorðan#, which originally denoted _a passage from one state to another_, was ultimately driven out by #bēon# (#wesan#), and survives now only in _Woe worth_ (= _be to_).

142. VOCABULARY.

ðā Beormas, _Permians_. ðā Dęeniscan, _the Danish (men), Danes_. ðā Finnas, _Fins_. ðæt gewald, _control_ [#wealdan#]. sēo sǣ, _sea_. sēo scīr, _shire, district_. sēo wælstōw, _battle-field_. āgan wælstōwe gewald, _to maintain possession of the battle-field_. sē wealdend, _ruler, wielder_.

geflīeman, geflīemde, geflīemed, _to put to flight_. gestaðelian, gestaðelode, gestaðelod, _to establish, restore_. gewissian, gewissode, gewissod, _to guide, direct_. wīcian, wīcode, gewīcod, _to dwell_ [wīc = village].

143. EXERCISES.

I. 1. Ǫnd ðær wæs micel wæl geslægen on gehwæþre hǫnd, ǫnd Æþelwulf ealdormǫn wearþ ofslægen; ǫnd þā Dęniscan āhton wælstōwe gewald. 2. Ǫnd þæs ymb ānne mōnaþ gefeaht Ælfred cyning wiþ ealne þone hęre ond hine geflīemde. 3. Hē sǣde þēah þæt þæt land sīe swīþe lang norþ þǫnan. 4. Þā Beormas hæfdon swīþe wel gebūd (§ 126, Note 2) hiera land. 5. Ohthęre sǣde þæt sēo scīr hātte (§ 117, Note 2) Hālgoland, þe hē on (§ 94, (5)) būde. 6. Þā Finnas wīcedon be þǣre sǣ. 7. Dryhten, ælmihtiga (§ 78, Note) God, Wyrhta and Wealdend ealra gesceafta, ic bidde ðē for ðīnre miclan mildheortnesse ðæt ðū mē gewissie tō ðīnum willan; and gestaðela mīn mōd tō ðīnum willan and tō mīnre sāwle ðearfe. 8. Þā sceolde hē ðǣr bīdan ryhtnorþanwindes, for ðǣm þæt land bēag þǣr sūðryhte, oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt land, hē nysse hwæðer. 9. For ðȳ, mē ðyncð bętre, gif ēow swā ðyncð, ðæt wē ēac ðās bēc on ðæt geðēode węnden ðe wē ealle gecnāwan mægen.

II. 1. When the king heard that, he went (= then went he) westward with his army to Ashdown. 2. Lovest thou me more than these? 3. The men said that the shire which they lived in was called Halgoland. 4. All things were made (#wyrcan#) by God. 5. They were fighting for two days with (= against) the Danes. 6. King Alfred fought with the Danes, and gained the victory; but the Danes retained possession of the battle-field. 7. These men dwelt in England before they came hither. 8. I have not seen the book of (#ymbe#) which you speak (#sprecan#).