Chapter XXII

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

#Anomalous Verbs.# (See § 19.)

134. These are:

bêon (wesan), wæs, wæ:ron, ----, _to be_.
willan, wolde, woldon, ----, _to will, intend_.
dôn, dyde, dydon, gedôn, _to do, cause_.
gân, êode, êodon, gegân, _to go_.

NOTE.--In the original Indo-Germanic language, the first person
of the present indicative singular ended in (1) ô or (2) mi.
_Cf._ Gk. +lu-ô+, +ei-mi+, Lat. _am-ô_, _su-m_. The Strong and Weak
Conjugations of O.E. are survivals of the ô-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 #dôm# _I
do_ (Northumbrian form). These mi-verbs are sometimes called
non-Thematic to distinguish them from the Thematic or ô-verbs.

#Conjugation of Anomalous Verbs.#

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

#Indicative.#

PRESENT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic eom (bêom) wille dô gâ
2. ðû eart (bist) wilt dêst gæ:st
3. hê is (bið) wille dêð gæ:ð

_Plur._ 1. wê }
2. gê } sind(on) willað dôð gâð
3. hîe }

#Subjunctive.#

PRESENT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic }
2. ðû } sîe wille dô gâ
3. hê }

_Plur._ 1. wê }
2. gê } sîen willen dôn gân
3. hîe }

NOTE.--The preterit subjunctive of #bêon# is formed, of course,
not from #wæs#, but from #wæ:ron#. 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].
âgan, âhte, âhton, âgen (adj.), _to possess_ [owe].
cunnan, cûðe, cûðon, { gecunnen, } _to know_, _can_
{ cûð (adj.), } [uncouth, cunning].
durran, dorste, dorston, ---- _to dare_.
sculan, sceolde, sceoldon, ---- _shall_.
magan, { meahte, meahton, } ---- _to be able_, _may_.
{ mihte, mihton, }
môtan, môste, môston, ---- _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. _nôvi_ and +oida+, _I know_). Mn.E. has gone further still:
#âhte# and #môste#, which had already suffered the loss of their
old preterits (#âh#, #môt#), 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 wât âh con (can)
2. ðû wâst âhst const (canst)
3. hê wât âh con (can)

_Plur._ 1. wê }
2. gê } witon âgon cunnon
3. hîe }

_Sing._ 1. Ic dear sceal mæg môt
2. ðû dearst scealt meaht môst
3. hê dear sceal mæg môt

_Plur._ 1. wê
2. gê durron sculon magon môton
3. hîe

#Subjunctive.#

PRESENT.

_Sing._ 1. Ic }
2. ðû } wite âge cunne
3. hê }

_Plur._ 1. wê }
2. gê } witen âgen cunnen
3. hîe }

_Sing._ 1. Ic }
2. ðû } durre scule (scyle) mæge môte
3. hê }

_Plur._ 1. wê }
2. gê } durren sculen (scylen) mægen môten
3. hîe }

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 bebêad Moyse hû hê sceolde beran ðâ earce#, _The
Lord instructed Moses how he ought to bear the ark_; #Æ:lc mann
sceal be his andgietes mæ:ðe ... sprecan ðæt he spricð, and dôn ðæt
ðæt hê dêð#, _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: #Sê byrdesta
sceall gyldan fîfty:ne 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 dêað, ac ic wille ðæt hê
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_: #Hê sæ:de
ðæt hê at sumum cirre wolde fandian hû longe ðæt land norðryhte
læ:ge#, _He said that he intended, at some time, to investigate how
far that land extended northward_.

#Verb-Phrases with _habban_, _bêon_ (_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. ðû hæfst gedrifen 2. ðû hæfdest gedrifen
3. hê hæfð gedrifen 3. hê hæfde gedrifen

PRESENT PERFECT. PAST PERFECT.

_Plur._ 1. wê } _Plur._ 1. wê }
2. gê } habbað gedrifen 2. gê } hæfdon gedrifen
3. hîe } 3. hîe }

The past participle is not usually inflected to agree with the direct object: #Norðymbre ond Êastengle hæfdon Ælfrede cyninge âðas geseald# (not #gesealde#, § 82), _The Northumbrians and East Anglians had given king Alfred oaths_; #ond hæfdon miclne dæ:l ðâra 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 hîe 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 hî
hæfdon þâ hiera stemn gesetenne#, _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_, #bêon# (#wesan#) usually replaces #habban#. The past participle, in such cases, partakes of the nature of an adjective, and generally agrees with the subject: #Mîne welan þe ic îo hæfde syndon ealle gewitene ond gedrorene#, _My possessions which I once had are all departed and fallen away_; #wæ:ron þâ men uppe on londe of âgâne#, _the men had gone up ashore_; #ond þâ ôþre wæ:ron hungre âcwolen#, _and the others had perished of hunger_; #ond êac sê micla here wæs þâ þæ:r tô 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 #bêon# (#wesan#). The participle remains uninflected: #ond hîe alle on ðone cyning wæ:run feohtende#, _and they all were fighting against the king_; #Symle hê bið lôciende, nê slæ:pð hê næ:fre#, _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: #wæ:ron þâ
ealle þâ dêoflu clypigende ânre stefne#, _then were all the devils
crying with one voice_.

_Verb-Phrases in the Passive Voice._

141. Passive constructions are formed by combining #bêon# (#wesan#) or #weorðan# with a past participle. The participle agrees regularly with the subject: #hîe wæ:ron benumene æ:gðer ge þæs cêapes ge þæs cornes#, _they were deprived both of the cattle and the corn_; #hî bêoð âblende mid ðæ:m þîostrum heora scylda#, _they are blinded with the darkness of their sins_; #and sê wælhrêowa Domiciânus on ðâm ylcan gêare wearð âcweald#, _and the murderous Domitian was killed in the same year_; #ond Æþelwulf aldormon 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. #from# (#fram#), rarely #of#: #Sê ðe Godes
bebodu ne gecnæ:wð, ne bið hê oncnâwen from Gode#, _He who does not
recognise God's commands, will not be recognized by God_; #Betwux
þæ:m wearð ofslagen Êadwine ... 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 #bêon# (#wesan#), and survives now
only in _Woe worth_ (= _be to_).

142. VOCABULARY.

ðâ Beormas, _Permians_.
ðâ Deeniscan, _the Danish (men), Danes_.
ðâ Finnas, _Fins_.
ðæt gewald, _control_ [#wealdan#].
sêo sæ:, _sea_.
sêo scîr, _shire, district_.
sêo wælstôw, _battle-field_.
âgan wælstôwe gewald, _to maintain possession of the battle-field_.
sê wealdend, _ruler, wielder_.

geflîeman, geflîemde, geflîemed, _to put to flight_.
gestaðelian, gestaðelode, gestaðelod, _to establish, restore_.
gewissian, gewissode, gewissod, _to guide, direct_.
wîcian, wîcode, gewîcod, _to dwell_ [wîc = village].

143. EXERCISES.

I. 1. Ond ðær wæs micel wæl geslægen on gehwæþre hond, ond Æþelwulf ealdormon wearþ ofslægen; ond þâ Deniscan âhton wælstôwe gewald. 2. Ond þæs ymb ânne mônaþ gefeaht Ælfred cyning wiþ ealne þone here ond hine geflîemde. 3. Hê sæ:de þêah þæt þæt land sîe swîþe lang norþ þonan. 4. Þâ Beormas hæfdon swîþe wel gebûd (§ 126, Note 2) hiera land. 5. Ohthere sæ:de þæt sêo scîr hâtte (§ 117, Note 2) Hâlgoland, þe hê on (§ 94, (5)) bûde. 6. Þâ Finnas wîcedon be þæ:re sæ:. 7. Dryhten, ælmihtiga (§ 78, Note) God, Wyrhta and Wealdend ealra gesceafta, ic bidde ðê for ðînre miclan mildheortnesse ðæt ðû mê gewissie tô ðînum willan; and gestaðela mîn môd tô ðînum willan and tô mînre sâwle ðearfe. 8. Þâ sceolde hê ðæ:r bîdan ryhtnorþanwindes, for ðæ:m þæt land bêag þæ:r sûðryhte, oþþe sêo sæ: in on ðæt land, hê nysse hwæðer. 9. For ðy:, mê ðyncð betre, gif êow swâ ðyncð, ðæt wê êac ðâs bêc on ðæt geðêode wenden ðe wê ealle gecnâwan 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#).