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English Pages 91 [92] Year 1970
A SYNTAX OF KING ALFRED'S PASTORAL CARE
JANUA LINGUARUM STUDIA MEMORIAE NICOLAI VAN WIJK DEDICATA
edenda curat
C. H. VAN SCHOONEVELD INDIANA
UNIVERSITY
SERIES PRACTICA 101
1970
MOUTON T H E H A G U E · PARIS
A SYNTAX OF KING ALFRED'S PASTORAL CARE by
WILLIAM H. BROWN, JR. U N I V E R S I T Y OF S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A
1970
MOUTON THE HAGUE · PARIS
© Copyright 1970 in The Netherlands. Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 70-113635
Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., Printers, The Hague.
PREFACE
Some of the material in this study was initially part of a dissertation I submitted at the University of Michigan. Since then various works have appeared that suggest revisions and additions as well as fundamental changes in methodology. I have redone the entire study while incorporating much of that new research; but I nevertheless retain my original purpose: an analysis of word order in the clause and in the several kinds of phrases. I should hope that the data here, although presented within a framework quite traditional, will be of value even to the sophisticated demands of transformational grammar. My debts are many. Friends and colleagues have given me much encouragement; generous grants from the University of Southern California Research and Publication Fund and the Leo S. Bing Fund in the English Department have aided me both in the writing and in the costs of publication. Finally, I should like to dedicate this little book to the memory of my father, William H. Brown, and to Professor Sherman M. Kuhn, Editor of the Middle English Dictionary, for it was from them I learned to persevere. University of Southern California September, 1968
WILLIAM H . BROWN, JR.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
5
0. Introduction 0.1. Preliminaries 0.2. The Latin Influence
9 9 11
1. The Structure of the Clause 1.1. The Major Elements of the Clause 1.2. The Order of the Major Elements
21 21 33
2. The 2.1. 2.2. 2.3.
38 38 50 51
Structure of the Phrase The Nominal The Pronominal The Complex Verb
3. The Adverbial Modifier
63
4. Clause Types 4.1. The Subjectless Construction 4.2. Ellipsis and Parataxis 4.3. Dependent and Non-Dependent Clauses
72 72 77 81
Works Cited
90
0. I N T R O D U C T I O N
0.1. PRELIMINARIES King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Cura Pastoralis is one of three sizeable, early West-Saxon texts preserved in contemporary manuscripts. Together with Alfred's translation of Orosius' Historiarum Adversus Paganos Libri Septem and the Parker manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Pastoral Care forms the basis for study of early West-Saxon prose. 1 Wülfing and Bacquet have treated extensively the syntax of the Pastoral Care as well as that of related texts. 2 Their works nonetheless have little in c o m m o n either in scope or method; and the study here differs in fundamental ways from both. Wülfing's t w o volumes make up only the first of his projected two parts. This first part, extending to over thirteen hundred pages, gives a detailed analysis of the parts of speech (or, in Wülfing's words, "die Syntax der einzelnen Wortklassen"). There he discusses case usage as well as the functions of the individual parts of speech. One use 1
The Hatton MS. of the Pastoral Care, like the Lauderdale (Tollemache) Orosius and the Parker Chronicle (at least to the last entry by the first scribe, 891 A.D.), can be dated with reasonable certainty at about 900. The Hatton (Bodley MS. Hatton 20) is complete but for a single leaf, cut out after f. 41, containing a part of chapter ΧΧΧΙΠ. Just one of the other seven MSS. of the Pastoral Care is contemporary with Alfred: Cotton Tiberius Β XI, originally incomplete and burned twice, surviving now in one leaf and fragments of five others; but Junius had copied it entire in the seventeenth century (Bodley MS. Junius 53). Henry Sweet has edited both the Hatton and the Junius MSS. in King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care, EETS OS 45,50 (London, 1871-72), and N. R. Ker produces the Hatton MS. in facsimile in volume VI of Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, ed. Kemp Malone and others (Copenhagen, 1956). The Cotton MS. probably represents a slightly earlier and slightly different version of the work: see Sweet's Introduction, pp. xii-xix; N. R. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1957), esp. pp. 384-86; and Kenneth Sisam, "The Publication of Alfred's Pastoral Care", Studies in the History of Old English Literature (Oxford, 1953), pp. 140-147. 1 J. E. Wülfing, Die Syntax in den Werken Alfreds des Grossen, 2 vols. (Bonn, 1894-1901); Paul Bacquet, La structure de la phrase verbale a I'ipoque alfredierme (Paris, 1962). Wülfing investigates the whole of what may loosely be called the Alfredian corpus: Alfred's translations of Gregory, Orosius, Boethius, and St. Augustine, the Old English Bede, the West-Saxon Psalms, the Anglo-Saxon Laws, and the Preface to Waerferth's translation of Gregory's Dialogues. Bacquet uses the first forty of the sixty-five chapters of the Pastoral Care (=vol. I in Sweet's edition), Alfred's translations of Orosius and St. Augustine, the so-called Alfred's Will, and the Parker MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle through 891.
10
INTRODUCTION
of the genitive, for example, he describes thus: "Bei den Zeitwörtern, die eine geistige Thätigkeit bezeichnen, steht der Gen. zur Angabe des Inhalts derselben" (I, p. 15). About a function of the personal pronoun he says: "Wenn ein persönliches Zeitwort von keinem Hauptworte als Subjekt begleitet ist, so steht meist ein persönliches Fürwort als Subjekt" (I, p. 333); and about some uses of the subjunctive: "Der Konjunktiv steht im Hauptsatze, um einen Wunsch, eine Aufforderung, eine bescheidene Behauptung, eine Einräumung auszudrücken, sowie im Folgesatze eines hypothetischen Satzgefüges statt des Konditionals" (II, p. 66). Wülfing's statements about word order in this part are, as these quotations would suggest, infrequent and brief. The second part was to have handled the syntax of the sentence, but that never appeared. Bacquet, on the other hand, is not much concerned with case usage or individual parts of speech; he sets out to eradicate the old notion, originating as long ago as 1894 with Wilhelm Braune, that holds the order of the elements in the phrase to be free — "Nous nous proposons de demontrer avant tout que la liberte de l'ordre des elements de phrase est un mythe, herite, comme bien d'autres mythes linguistiques, du XIX* siecle allemand" (p. 11). To do that Bacquet establishes a base order (ordre de base) for every construction with a verb as its head; any deviations from that base order, the marked order (ordre marque), he attributes to stylistic reasons. Thus in declarative-affirmatives that consist of subject, simple verb, and pronominal object, the base order shows this pronominal object between subject and verb, as in phrases of the type ic hine lufige. In the marked order for this kind of phrase the pronominal object stands either first, hine ic lufige, or last, ic lufige hine. Not only the object but also the entire phrase takes on in the marked order a significance different from that in the base order: "Si une phrase comme: ic hine lufige correspond ä 'c'est moi qui fait Taction de l'aimer', une phrase comme: hine ic lufige correspondra ä 'c'est lui (dont il vient d'etre question) qui est l'object de mon affection'. Enfin ic lufige hine signifie 'je l'aime lui et pas un autre'" (p. 695). But the bulk of the work (chapters II-IX) goes to establishing the base order.3 a
This brief summary can only hint at Bacquet's thorough and insightful analysis of a diverse corpus. Particularly valuable is his study of context, which thus enables him to evaluate the stylistic significance of various orders. Bacquet follows in the main the lines set down by J. Fourquet in L'ordre des elements de la phrase en germanique ancien (Strasbourg, 1938), S. O. Andrew in Syntax and Style in Old English (Cambridge, 1940), and, indirectly, by L. Tesni£re in Elements de syntaxe structural (Paris, 1959). Bacquet remarks that he has based his work on structural principles without having been influenced by any structuralist school; but certain statements on methodology — his use of the term "faits (de langue)", for instance — will strike some as overly simplistic: "Notre position ne correspond done pas ä un alignement sur ce que d'aucuns considerent comme une mode dangereuse et caduque qui ferait passer la thöorie et le reve avant l'observation minutieuse des faits. Elle rdsulte au contraire d'une lente dvolution inspiree prdcisement par l'examen des faits de langue" (p. 11). And those of different theoretical persuasion can agree with much in his assumptions about base order: "C'est avec la conscience qu'il existe un ordre de base, un Statut structurel fondamental dont on ne saurait s'ecarter sans un motif valable, que les ecrivains du moyen age anglais manient leur langue. C'est la connaissance ϊηηέβ qu'ils ont de cette norme qui leur permet d'avoir recours ä ces multiples jongleries stylistiques dans lesquelles un ceil non averti ne verrait que caprice, disinvolture ou anarchie" (p. 13). Yet Bacquet's slot-and-filler technique can relate these "multiples jongleries stylistiques" to the base order only in an ad hoc way.
INTRODUCTION
11
I gratefully acknowledge my debt to Wülfing and to Bacquet, although this study does not depend on their data or their interpretations of it. I have not attempted to treat the parts of speech and case usage with Wülfing's exhaustiveness, nor have I been concerned with the rhetorique structurelle that Bacquet sets up and admirably describes. I have followed in general the analysis given by Quirk and Wrenn in their grammar and by Miss Shannon in her monograph on the Parker MS. of the AngloSaxon Chronicle .4 The discussion proceeds from the major elements in the clause and their order to the nominal, the verb phrase, the adverbial modifier, and, finally, the clause-types. The focal point of the study is word order.6
0.2. THE LATIN INFLUENCE 0.2.1.
The Pastoral Care is not only Alfred's earliest surviving translation but also that closest to its Latin original.® Alfred makes none of the extended interpolations and cuttings that he will make when he translates Orosius, nor does he reshape and rewrite entire sections as he will do in his versions of Boethius and St. Augustine, reworking the original with additional material thus to create, in part, independent pieces. In the Pastoral Care Alfred has rendered intact a handbook for priests; his purpose, to put it briefly, is strictly utilitarian.7 N o matter what direction a discussion of Latin syntactic influence may take, we must distinguish between the kind of influence that presumably would result from so4 Randolph Quirk and C. L. Wrenn, An Old English Grammar, 2nd ed. (London, 1958), pp. 59-103; Ann Shannon, A Descriptive Syntax of the Parker Manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 734 to 891 (The Hague, 1964). Also to be mentioned are F. Th. Visser's An Historical Syntax of the English Language, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1963-66), the second volume of Karl Brunner's Die Englische Sprache, 2nd ed. (Tübingen, 1962), and P. J. Cosijn's discussion of morphology in his Altwestsächsische Grammatik, Π (The Hague, 1886). 6 All quotations from the Pastoral Care are from King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care, ed. Henry Sweet, EETS OS 45,50 (London, 1871-72; rptd. 1958). I cite the Hatton MS. throughout (except where noted), omitting the editorial brackets, parentheses, and italics. As a rule I reproduce Sweet's translation, but I alter it occasionally for a closer rendering of the isolated segments discussed here. The Hatton MS., in Sweet's edition, runs to some seventy-two hundred lines or eighty thousand words. I have limited the corpus to approximately two-thousand lines (twenty-two thousand words) divided into four parts over the text: Alfred's Preface, Gregory's Preface, and chapters I-V (pp. 3-9, 23-47); chapters XX-XXVI (pp. 149-187); chapters XXXVIII-XLII (pp. 271-308); and chapters LV-LXV (pp. 427-467). I have excluded the verse epilogues appended to Alfred's Preface and to chapter LXV. * The order usually assumed places the Orosius after the Pastoral Care, then the Boethius, and finally the translation of St. Augustine's Soliloquies. Miss Whitelock excellently discusses the chronology, inter alia, in her essay "The Prose of Alfred's Reign", Continuations and Beginnings, ed. E. G. Stanley (London, 1966), pp. 67-103. 7 I am indebted to Ludwig Borinski's statements on Stilwillens in Der Stil König Alfreds: Eine Studie zur Psychologie der Rede (Leipzig, 1934), p. 40 et passim.
12
INTRODUCTION
called syntactic Latinisms and that obvious influence on Alfred's choice of clausetypes and patterns of correlation or hypotaxis, the influence on style. 0.2.2. A construction's ultimate origin, its extension to match the function of a Latin construction, its reinforcement by Latin influence — those questions scholars have long argued, under a wide range of assumptions and with a wide range of conclusions. But the questions themselves are parum ad rem in a descriptive study. Alfred 'invents' no new construction, nor does he use those of disputed ancestry in any unique way. His use of the absolute participle and the periphrastic, to take two much-analyzed cases, suggests nothing unidiomatic or, indeed, anything beyond a question of style. In the entire text Alfred uses the absolute participle at most three times. 8 An accusative absolute translates a gerund in the ablative: 101.13. He ongeat öaet he oferstag hine selfne on öaere sceawunge öaere godcundnesse, & eft hine selfne ofdune astiggende he cuöe gemetgian his hieremonnum. 'He perceived that he surpassed himself in the contemplation of godliness, and, letting himself down again, he knew how to adapt himself to his disciples.' = quia et semetipsum noverat contemplando transcendere, et eumdem se auditoribus condescendendo temperare. 33.A. 9 A dative translates an ablative absolute: 39.21. öa he hine ascead of öam woroldrice, & hine gehwyrfde to ungesceadwisum * Morgan Callaway, Jr., claims that the absolute dative/instrumental as well as the absolute nominative/accusative were borrowed from Latin; see his Absolute Participle in Anglo-Saxon (diss. Johns Hopkins, 1889), esp. pp. 3, 57. Manfred Scheler, Altenglischen Lehnsyntax: Die syntaktischen Latinismen im Altenglischen (diss. Berlin, 1961), thinks the absolute dative/instrumental to be fundamentally an alien construction (p. 79), but one that may have developed natively under strong Latin influence: "Die Anlage zur Entwicklung eines heimischen absoluten Dativs (Instrumentals) war hier jedoch, soweit wir sehen können, so gering entwickelt, daß es eines starken Impulses von Seiten der lat. Sprache bedurfte, ..." (p. 81). The absolute nominative/accusative, Scheler believes, is quite likely a native construction whose use developed under strong secondary influence of Latin (p. 87). He makes the plausible suggestion that stylistic grounds contributed to its origin: "... dem schwerfälligen abs. Dativ/Instrumental stellte sich der anschaulichere, effektvollere abs. Nominativ/Akkusativ gegenüber, woraus sich für die Übersetzer die Möglichkeit ergab, zwischen den beiden Partizipialfügungen auszuwählen und zu wechseln" (p. 87). And in her thorough monograph, Vorkommen, gebietsmäßige Verbreitung und Herkunft altenglischer absoluter Partizipialkonstruktionen in Nominativ und Akkusativ (Paderborn, 1954), Else von Schaubert concludes that we must not fully eliminate the possibility of native origin, nor lose sight of the probability of Latin influence: "Vielleicht ist es daher das Sicherste, auch für die Verwendung altenglischer absoluter Partizipialkonstruktion in Nominativ und Akkusativ eine ähnliche Sachlage anzunehmen, d.h. also die Möglichkeit heimischer Entstehung nicht völlig auszuschalten, die Wahrscheinlichkeit lateinischen Einflusses darüber aber nicht aus den Augen zu verlieren" (p. 181). * The number and letter following citations from Gregory's Cura Pastoralis (Liber Regula Pastoralis) refer to page and section in Migne, Patrologice Cursus Completus, LXXVII. I have renumbered Biblical references, where necessary, in accordance with the modern Vulgate.
INTRODUCTION
13
neatum, & sua awende mode he hine geöiedde to feldgongendum deorum; 'when he deprived him of his worldly kingdom, and turned him into an irrational animal, and thus, having altered his spirit, he associated him with the beasts of the field;' = Unde et in irrationale animal hunc vertit, ab humana societate separavit, agri bestiis mutata mente conjunxit, 18.B. And Miss von Schaubert proposes a nominative absolute that translates the present indicative of two deponents: 93.6. Hit is awriten öaet he scolde inngongende & utgongende beforan Gode to 5am halignessum beon gehiered his sueg, öylaes he swulte. 'It is written that whether he went in or out before God to the sanctuary, his sound was to be heard, lest he died.' = Scriptum quippe est: Ut audiatur sonitus quando ingreditur et egreditur sanctuarium in conspectu Domini, et non moriatur (Ex. 28:35). 3I.A. She must emend the text, however, to support her interpretation.10 Perhaps those two (or three) absolute constructions lent a bookish air, although surely no more so than did the numerous hapax legomena. The absolute dative (awende mode) for the ablative absolute may seem overly Latinate, but we should note that Alfred uses five dative absolutes in his much freer translation of Orosius, one of which also corresponds to a Latin ablative.11 Both the dative and the nominativeaccusative absolute occur in the poetry; and if the researches of Lord, Magoun, and their followers have proved anything, it is that Old English poetry would be the last place we could expect to find borrowed syntax.
0.2.3. In his important book on the expanded form (periphrastic) Nickel has argued convincingly against Latin origin.12 He counts forty-nine expanded forms in the le
Else von Schaubert, Vorkommen, gebietsmäßige Verbreitung und Herkunft altenglischer absoluter Partizipialkonstruktionen in Nominativ und Akkusativ (Paderborn, 1954), pp. 65-66. Miss von Schaubert would read the passage thus: "Hit is awriten öaet, he inngongende & utgongende beforan Gode to dam halignessum, scolde beon gehiered his sweg, öylaes he swulte." She explains the misplaced scolde by pointing out, first, that the preceding sentence but one begins "Foröaem w®s beboden Moyse öaet se sacerd scolde ...", and that the sentence immediately following begins "Hit is gecueden öaet se sacert scolde...". From that she concludes: "Da lag außerordentlich nahe, daß der Autor oder der Kopist des altenglischen Originals entsprechend begann: 'Hit is awriten öaet he [se sacerd] scolde', um dann jedoch richtig weiterzuschreiben und seinen Irrtum nicht zu bemerken." 11 Manfred Scheler discusses the five examples in his Altenglische Lehnsyntax (diss. Berlin, 1961), pp. 75-76. 14 Gerhard Nickel, Die Expanded Form im Altenglischen: Vorkommen, Funktion und Herkunft der Umschreibung beonjwesan + Partizip Präsens (Neumünster, 1966). He discusses the Pastoral Care on pp. 152-62. Nickel reminds us that the expanded form appears in original works as well as free translations, where its use is frequently quite independent of the Latin — facts that earlier scholars, in particular, have tended to minimize or even to ignore. He could have strengthened his argument
14
INTRODUCTION
Pastoral Care, including four with adjectival function, and then shows that twentythree of these translate the five Latin constructions that Mosse and Raith believe to have contributed to the rise of the expanded form, constructions of the type docens est, locutus (est), venturus (est), loquitur, and laudans.13 The remaining twenty-six, accordingly, are independent (unabhängig) of the Latin. Nickel concludes that Alfred, therefore, does more than simply use the expanded form the way glossators did: "...so benutzt er seine EFnicht nur wie Glossatoren automatisch an Stelle bestimmter lateinischer Konstruktionen. Er gibt einerseits nur einen Teil dieser Konstruktionen mit einer EF wieder und setzt andererseits nicht wenige seiner isF-Konstruktionen unabhängig von der lateinischen Vorlage" (p. 162). But this abhängig : unabhängig dichotomy presupposes two strata whose relationship remains tenuous; furthermore, that kind of distinction seems of dubious validity. Nickel has already determined that the use of the expanded form in the glosses is not, as it were, entirely grammatical: "Das Vorkommen der EF in Glossen und Interlinearpsaltern ist an keine innersprachlichen Gesetzmäßigkeiten gebunden" (p. 145). And then later he says that its use in works like the Pastoral Care ("rather literal translations") is not automatic, although the attempt at literalness "obscures and distorts" what is natural — "Allerdings ist hier die Verwendung nicht ganz ohne Zwang, da oft das Streben nach Wörtlichkeit die innersprachliche Vorstellung verdunkelt und verbiegt" (p. 205). Three of the nine periphrastic futures in the Cura Pastoralis Alfred translates with the expanded form (p. 158): 97.13. Ic öe bebeode beforan Gode & öasm haelendum Criste, se öe demende is cucum & deadum, Ί command thee before God and the Savior Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead,' = Testificor coram Deo et Christi Jesu, qui judicaturus est vivos et mortuos, (II Tim. 4:1) 32.B. 441.19. Ac gehiren hi öaet öas andweardan god bioö from aelcre lustfulnesse swiöe hraedlice gewitende, & swaöeah sio scyld öe hi öurh öa lustfullnesse öurhtioö ungewitendlice bid öurhwuniende mid wrsece; 'Let them hear that this present good will very soon be separated from every pleasure, and yet the sin that they perpetuate through the pleasure will permanently remain with punishment;' = Audiant ergo quod bona praesentia et a delectatione citius transitura sunt, et tamen eorum causa ad ultionem sine transitu permensura; 117.C.
by mentioning that one of the examples he cites from Beowulf occurs in the Finn episode (1. 1105), which probably reflects the older verse, and that the Cynewulf-Cyneheard entry in the Angb-Saxon Chronicle, with three examples, is surely archaic prose, markedly different from the contemporary account of Alfred's wars with the Danes at 878. 18 See Fernand Mosse, Histoire de la forme periphrastique etre + participe present en germanique, I (Paris, 1938), pp. 54-62, and Josef Raith, Untersuchungen zum englischen Aspekt, I (München, 1951), pp. 40-41.
INTRODUCTION
15
Those three expanded forms, following Nickel's reasoning, would be abhängig, presumably running counter to Alfred's natural idiom. To be sure Alfred is translating closely. But nothing in Nickel's discussion shows what the forms "obscure" or "distort"; and one can legitimately argue that Alfred has not said exactly what Paul and Gregory say; perhaps Alfred decides to express the continuity of the action rather than the futurity that Nickel and Sweet (in his modern rendering) assume. 14 Nickel is certainly aware that the original cannot always be used as a measure for what the translator writes, although for some reason Nickel relegates that important point to a footnote halfway through his book — "Es wurde mehrfach gezeigt, wie irrig es wäre, den Text der lateinischen Vorlage immer bei Entscheidungen über den Charakter der altenglischen Konstruktionen als Maßstab heranzuziehen" (p. 235, note 724).
0.2.4. Henry Sweet has summed up the most tenable position on the Latin influence: "... there seems to be no attempt to engraft Latin idioms on the English version: the foreign influence is only indirect, chiefly showing itself in the occasional clumsiness that results from the difficulty of expressing and defining abstract ideas in a language unused to theological and metaphysical subtleties" (I, p. xl).1B Sweet evaluates well some effects of the Latin's prompting certain embeddings and extended concatenations, effects that often contribute to a poor style. Consider two of the anacolutha 14
The use here seems identical with that of the two expanded forms Nickel cites from the Orosius, also translating periphrastic futures: wees ... farende = transfugiturus ... fuerit; cefterfylgende woes = insecuturus. Yet he calls these unabhängig (pp. 113-14). Raith's inconclusiveness about the use of the expanded form in the Pastoral Care makes a pertinent contrast to Nickel: "Alfred kennt die Umschreibung, verwendet sie aber sehr zögernd. Man kann nicht sagen, daß die Umschreibung durch die lat. Vorlage ausgelöst wird. Sie mag in einigen Fällen durch die lat. Vorlage angeregt sein; aber man hat doch den Eindruck, daß Alfred die Umschreibung nicht gedankenlos einsetzt. Was er sich allerdings dabei gedacht hat, ist schwer zu sagen" (Untersuchungen zum englischen Aspekt, I [München, 1951], p. 44). 15 Two studies treat in detail the Pastoral Care's relationship to the Latin: Gustav Wack, Über das Verhältnis von König Aelfreds Übersetzung der Cura Pastoralis zum Original (diss. Greifswald, 1889), and Albert Dewitz, Untersuchungen über Alfreds des Grossen westsächsische Übersetzung der Cura Pastoralis Gregors und ihr Verhältnis zum Originale (diss. Breslau, 1889). These are concerned mainly with Alfred's omissions, additions, paraphrasing, and translation errors; but both concur with Sweet's opinion. Thus Wack, after quoting with approval Sweet among others (who say about the same thing), concludes that the Pastoral Care is clumsy but idiomatic: "Sie bestätigen vielmehr, dass Aelfred in syntactischer Beziehung seiner Vorlage frei gegenübersteht, dass er die Gedanken, die sie bietet, so zum Satze fügt, wie sein Idiom es heischt... Aelfreds Übersetzung liest sich, trotz mancher Schwerfälligkeit im Satzbau, leichter als das Original, weil sie alles Complicierte vereinfacht und sich in Ausdruck und Constructionen natürlich giebt" (p. 55). Compare Dewitz's remarks, pp. 5-6. Wülfing and Bacquet also agree that the Latin influence is only indirect; see Wülfing's introduction, pp. IV-V, and Bacquet's discussion in his first chapter, pp. 47-48. Scheler makes no definite statement; but he does conclude that some translations preserve the native idiom and avoid excessive Latinization: "... andere sich durch eine flüssige ae. Idiomatik auszeichnen, ohne sich selbst dem Bannkreis des lateinischen Einflusses völlig zu entziehen (Soliloquien Augustins, Aelfrics Homilien usw.)" (p. 103). Presumably the usw. would include the Pastoral Care.
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INTRODUCTION
Sweet lists. In the first, Alfred follows too closely the sequence of the Latin clauses, almost losing his subject and first main verb between two long nominalizations: 107.20. Hwaet öonne öa ungelicnesse öe of hira unöeawum foröcymeö, se godcunda dom gedencd öaette ealle men gelice beon ne magon, ac wile öast simle se oöer beo araered from öaem oörum. 'Indeed then the divine judgment is mindful of the difference coming from their moral defects, and that all men cannot be equal, and always wishes them to be raised one above another.' = Ipsa autem diversitas quae accessit ex vitio, divino judicio dispensatur; ut quia omnis homo asqua stare non valet, alter regatur ab altero. 34.C. In the second, he leaves se halega wer dangling and abruptly shifts into the passive for his dependent clauses, most likely influenced by the Latin passive and deponent: 99.17. Loca un hu se halega wer, se öe sua faesölice geimpod wxs to öaem hefenlicum diogolnessum, & suaöeah for mildherotnesse wies δοηοη gecierred to smeaganne hu flaesclicum monnum gedafonode on hira burcotum & on hiera beddum to donne; 'Behold, now, how the holy man, who was so familar with the secrets of heaven, from humanity applied himself to the consideration of what was proper for carnal men to do in their chambers and beds;' = Ecce jam coelestibus secretis inseritur, et tamen per condescensionis viscera carnalium cubile, perscrutatur; 32.D. Or consider the repetitiousness that comes from his expanding the terse Latin: Magnus quippe susceptae Ecclesiee colonus, 76.C. = 293.2. Wietodlice se mwra landbegenga,, özt wxs sanctus Paulus, he underfeng öa halgan gesomnunga to plantianne & to ymbhweorfanne, 'Truly the great husbandman, that is Saint Paul, he undertook to plant and to tend the holy assembly.' Hinc rursum sponsae dicitur: 114.C. = 433.18. Be öaem is eft gecweden on öaere Salomones bee öe we hataö Cantica Canticorum, hit is gecweden: 'Therefore it is again said in the book of Solomon that we call the Song of Songs, it is said:' And, finally, consider the drowsiness that results when he packs a complicated Latin period into a single sentence, overworking donne and he while piling up nouns and inflected infinitives: 307.14. Ac hwy sceal aenigum menn öonne öyncean to orgellic öaet he onbuge to oöres monnes willan, öonne Godes agen sunu, öonne he cymö mid his maegenörymme to demanne, & his wuldor to astiewanne, he cyöde öaet he no öonne of him selfum ne demde, ac of öaem öe hine sent? 'But why then shall it seem too ignominious to any man that he yield to another man's will, when God's own Son, when he comes in his
INTRODUCTION
17
majesty to judge, and to display his glory, he made known that he did not judge of himself, but of him who sends him?' = Qua itaque conscientia dedignatur h o m o aliens voluntati acquiescere, quando Dei et hominis Filius, cum virtutis suae gloriam venit ostendere, testatur se non a semetipso judicare? 80.C. 0.2.5. A different kind of syntactic influence suggests itself in Alfred's literal translations, an influence on word order. Although Alfred repeats the familiar dichotomy of translating both word by word and according to the sense — "hwilum word be worde, hwilum andgit of andgiete" — for the most part he translates according to the sense, by paraphrasing. 18 But the short Biblical passages Gregory cites, Alfred sometimes, translates word by word; and it is in his handling of these short, syntactically independent units that we can best determine any Latin influence on word order. The way Alfred translates some of these short quotations suggests the technique of a glossator. Interlinear glosses, like the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Vespasian Psalter, were obviously made to facilitate the reading of the Latin; a gloss was about as much a dictionary as it was a literal translation. If the reader encountered an unfamiliar word he had only to glance at its meaning(s) in the line above: eftersona uutudlice ic gesium 1 gesie iuih 7 gefeaö 1 hearta iuer 7 gefea iterum autem uidebo uos et gaudebit cor uestrum et gaudium iuer 1 ne nimeö aenigmonn from iuh 17 uestrum nemo tollit a uobis M
Thus Sweet's oft-quoted remark: "... each section of Alfred's is a paraphrase rather than a translation of the corresponding piece of Latin" (I, p. xli). I would add that Sweet has attached to "translation" a much narrower meaning than is necessary to prove his point. Dewitz claims that assertion is invalid for all parts of the work, pointing to Alfred's literal translations (pp. 6-7); but Dewitz has erroneously equated "section" with "sentence" or "passage". Greenfield has circumspectly observed that "... the 'sense by sense' paraphrase predominates", what Sweet probably meant in the first place (Stanley B. Greenfield, A Critical History of Old English Literature [New York, 1965], p. 31). That Alfred paraphrases his sources is fundamental to Bacquet's treatment of the Latin; after quoting that passage from Sweet, Bacquet writes: "C'est pourquoi, nous avons traits les ceuvres alfr0diennes comme des textes independants en comparant nianmoins le detail de certains passages delicats ä l'original" (p. 48). 17 W. W. Skeat, The Gospel According to Saint John (Cambridge, 1878), p. 147. In this passage we may note a favorite practice of the glossators, that of writing a doublet or synonymous pair for a single Latin word (ic gesium 1 gesie = uidebo). Alfred frequently uses doublets in the Pastoral Care for not only Biblical quotations but also Gregory's own Latin, as in 147.19. "Sua sua ic wilnige on eallum öingum öaet ic monnum cueme & licige" 'Just as I wish that I might gratify and please men in all things' = "Sicut et ego per omnia omnibus placeo" (I Cor. 10:33) 43.D., or 225.23. "& hu se lytega dioful styreö gewinn & gefeoht betweoxn him twam" 'and how the cunning devil stirs war and fighting between those two' = "Callidus namque adversarius bellum contra duos movet" 62.A. Other examples can be found in Wack, pp. 18-21, and Dewitz, pp. 34-36. These doublets may indicate that Alfred worked from a glossed copy of the Cura Pastoralis\ see Sherman M. Kuhn, "Synonyms in the Old English Bede", JEGP, XLVI (1947), 176.
18
INTRODUCTION
The glossator does deviate from the Latin once, writing ne nimeö xnigmonn for nemo tollit. But when Alfred translates this verse (John 16:22) he follows only the construction type: 187.21. Eft ic eow geseo, & öonne blissiaö eowre heortan, & eowerne gefean eow nan inon aet ne genimö. Ί shall see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no man shall take from you your joy.' Contrary to the syntax of both the Latin and the gloss, Alfred puts the object (eow) before the verb, his possessive pronoun (eowre) before its noun; in the final clause he places the finite verb (genimö) at the end and separates zt from its object (eow). Similarly, what distinguishes Alfred's translation of the following Psalms from that in the Vespasian Psalter is his using normal English word order: (VP 50:10.)
acer
onsiene Öine fro synnum minum I16
AUERTE FACIEM
TUAM A
PECGATIS MEIS
j
— (PC 413.17.) Ahwyrf, Dryhten, öin eagan from minum synnum. 'Turn, Lord, thine eyes from my sins.' [Gregory's text reads oculos tuos for faciem tuam.] Alfred adds Dryhten, and puts the possessive pronouns (öin, minum) before their nouns. (VP 29.7.) öu forcerdes onsiene öine from me h geworden ic earn gedroefed AUERTISTI
FACIEM TUAM
A
ME / ET FACTUS
/
SUM CONTURBATUS /
= (PC 465.19.) Dryhten, öu ahwyrfdes öinne ondwlitan from me, öa wearö ic gedrefed. 'Lord, thou turned thy countenance from me, then I became troubled.' Alfred again adds Dryhten, and both he and the glossator add öu for auertisti. Alfred also puts öinne before its noun; furthermore, he does not appear nearly as concerned as the glossator is about matching up the Latin perfect passive-plus-adjective (Alfred writes wearö ic gedrefed, the glossator geworden ic earn gedroefed). (VP 128.2.) ofer
bee
minne
timbradun
synfulle
/
SUPRA DORSUM MEUM FABRICAUERUNT PECCATORES /
= (PC 153.9.) Da synfullan bytledon uppe on minum hrygge. 'The sinful built on my back.' Alfred adds only Da; yet he changes the Latin order, adverbial + verb + subject, to subject + verb + adverbial (and thus changes the emphasis), again placing the possessive (minum) before its noun. And Alfred may revise not only the Latin word order but also the sentence-type itself: 18
For the Latin as well as the Old English I follow Sherman M. Kuhn's The Vespasian Psalter (Ann Arbor, 1965). Numbers in parentheses are to Psalm and verse in Kuhn's edition.
INTRODUCTION
(VP 107.6.) halne
19
mec doa mid öa swidran öinre
SALUUM ME FAC
DEXTERA
TUA
= (PC 389.20.) Gehaele me öin sio swiöre. 'May thy right hand save me.' The glossator has maintained the original construction, imperative + object + predicative adjunct (halne mec doa = saluum me fac), using a prepositional phrase (mid da swidran dinre) as a comitative. Alfred, on the other hand, substitutes a subjunctive + object (Gehaele me), turning the ablative of means into the subject of his sentence (din sio swiöre) while still retaining the ellipsis.
0.2.6.
In concluding the discussion of Latin influence I would cite a statement by C. L. Wrenn. After dividing Old English prose style into four kinds, he describes one as "the straightforward and efficient narrative style evolved by King Alfred in his more mature writing, ..."; another as "the type of translation from Latin, which is so close and literal as to be unnatural in syntax and often unclear, such as the prentice hand of King Alfred in his version of St. Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, ,..". 19 To defend Alfred's humdrum redaction of Gregory against his Orosius or Boethius would be pointless: the style is mediocre, the argument sometimes strained or muddled. But the Pastoral Care is neither so close nor so literal as Wrenn assumes. Alfred translates word by word infrequently. His usual practice is dissolving the long Latin sentences, dense with nouns and participles, into combinations of short clauses that may preserve little more than Gregory's thesis. From this passage, for instance, he has culled the sense while rejecting both the complicated rhetoric and syntax that support it: Et gravis quidem praedicatori labor est, in communis praedicationis voce, ad occultos singulorum motus causaque vigilare, et palaestrarum more in diversi lateris arte se vertere; 122.B. = 455.3. Daet biö eac swiöe hefig broc öaem lareowe öaet he scyle on gemasnre lare, öaer öaer he eall folc aetsomne laerö, öa lare findan öe hi ealle behofigen; foröaem hira unöeawas bioö swiöe ungelice. 'It is also a very severe labor for the teacher to have to find in general instruction, when he teaches all the people together, the instruction that they all require; because their vices are very different.' Even in this close translation he has reworked three Latin clauses into six in the English: At contra, iste cum regimen appetit, attendat ne per exemplum pravi operis, Pharisaeorum more, ad ingressum regni tendentibus obstaculum fiat: 22.C. = 59.17. Da öonne öe idle beoö swelcra giefa, & öeah wilniaö öaes ealdordomes, 19
A Study of Old English Literature (London, 1967), p. 54.
20
INTRODUCTION
healden hie öaet hie mid hiera unryhtum bisenum öa ne screncen öa öe gaö on ryhtne weg toweard öaes hefonrices, swa dydon Fariseos: 'Let those who are devoid of such gifts, and yet desire preeminence, beware that they not seduce with their bad examples those who are going on the right way to the kingdom of heaven, as the Pharisees did:' From context he expands the demonstrative iste into an entire clause (Da idle beod swelcra giefa). He uses three more finite verbs (wilniad, healden, screncen) to parallel more or less the three in the Latin (appetit, attendat, and fiat respectively), and with the remaining two he translates a present active participle and a noun phrase (da de gad = tendentibus; swa dydon Fariseos = Phariszorum more). And, finally, what Wrenn terms unnatural in syntax is only that awkwardness that can result from anacoluthon, repetitiousness, or overextended concatenation.
1. THE STRUCTURE O F THE CLAUSE
1.1. THE MAJOR ELEMENTS OF THE CLAUSE
1.1.1. Of the thirty-five hundred and fifteen clauses in this corpus, almost eighty-five percent consists of both subject and structure of predication. The fifteen percent consisting of predicate alone divides into three groups: A. Clauses whose subject is in a preceding clause (three hundred and fifty examples): 187.5. sua se laece grapaö, & stracad, 'as the physician feels, and strokes,' 449.7. öa bioö utan oft swiöe wlitige geworhte, & biod innan swide fule gefylde. 'which are often made very beautiful outside, and inside are very foully filled.' B. Clauses whose finite verb is imperative (fifty-seven examples): 159.11. gesceawiad eow selfe, 'contemplate yourselves,' 291.18. Lxr öaet folc, 'Teach those people,' C. The subjectless construction, which includes impersonal verbs (one hundred and thirty-seven examples): 427.27. Be öaem is awriten on Essaies bocum: 'Concerning that it is written in the books of Isaiah:' 41.1. him gebyrede öaet he nyste hwaeöer he monn waes. 'it happened that he did not know whether he was a man at all.' The subjectless construction will be treated separately in 4.1. Eighty-two percent of all clauses contains a simple finite verb; in the remaining eighteen percent is a complex verb: a finite form plus infinitive, past participle, inflected infinitive, or present participle.
22
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
1.1.2. The Subject Except for uninflected de, the subject is always in the nominative and generally agrees in number with the finite verb. Subjects are either pronominal or nominal. Pronominal 307.9. Ne sece ic no minne willan, Ί do not seek my will,' 271.6. Daette on oöre wisan sint to manienne öa de to swiöe swige beoö, 'That in one way those are to be admonished who are too silent,' 7.8. öe we ealle gecnawan maegen, 'which we all can understand,' 159.17. öonne hie seife nyllaö ongietan hiera scylda, 'when they themselves will not perceive their sins,' Nominal 27.25. Da hierdas naefdon &git: 'The shepherds did not have understanding:' 307.20. Sona aseariaö δα twigu dsere hwurfulnesse, 'The twigs of inconstancy soon wither,' 465.4. Dryhten geöafode öast hiora msegen & hiora crseft waere gehaeft, 'The Lord permitted that their virtue and their excellence were made captive'. 167.24. foröaem under his forgiefnesse hine gefrieöode sio lufu & se geleafa & se tohopa. 'because under his forgiveness the love, the faith, and the hope protect him.' 459.13. Durh öa gemetgunge öaes hwaetes is getacnod gemetlico word, 'Through the measuring of the wheat is signified measured words,' 279.16. & suide lytel unnyttes utfleowe. 'and very little of what is useless flows out.' In four of these examples the subjects do not show number concord with their verbs. The relative de (271.6.) can be either singular or plural. When a compound subject consists of singular nouns (465.4. hiora msegen & hiora crseft or 167.24. sio lufa & se geleafa & se tohopa), the verb will be singular. And a plural nominal (459.13. gemetlico word) that follows the verb does not always agree in number. 1 1.1.3.1. The Object Objects, like subjects, are both pronominal and nominal. Pronominal 5.16. ac we him ne cunnon aefterspyrigean, 'but we cannot follow them,' 1
Compare 25.12. "sint adrifene & getaslde öa unwaran" 'the unwary ones are driven away and blamed'. The subject is plural and follows the verb, but it nevertheless agrees in number.
23
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
431.16. Hi me wundedon, & ic hit ne gefredde; T h e y wounded me, and I did not feel it;' 273.7. öe hie ealle wat, 'who knows them all,' 427.24. öaet hine eac scamige öaet he hit wyrce. 'that it may shame him that he does it.' Nominal 37.3. öaet he done kyning ne yfelode, 'that he did not injure the king,' 449.21. öaet hi openlice yfel don, 'that they do evil publicly,' 281.22. Bam slawum öonne is to cyöanne öastte oft, 'The slow then are to be told that often,' 167.5. sua oft sua we sceawiaö ura hieremonna undeawas; 'whenever we observe the faults of our subjects;' 37.17. Foröan oft öonne m o n for last done ege & da fxsdrxdnesse loses the fear and the firmness'
'For often when one
Except for invariable öe, the object appears in all oblique cases but the instrumental: 2 Genitive 47.2. hu hie oderra monna maest gehelpen? 'how they may help other men the most?' 181.24. & ne giemaö öxs ecan gefean, 'and you do not care for the eternal joys,' Dative 33.15. Hwa meahte ieö monnum raedan butan scylde, 'Who could more easily rule men without sin,' 305.18. Ac dsem anstrxcum
is to cyöanne, 'But the resolute are to be told,'
Accusative 149.6. & deö hit öeah for hneawnesse & for feohgitsunge. 'and he does it, however, because of niggardliness and avarice.' 2
Wülfing, Die Syntax in den Werken Alfreds des Grossen, I (Bonn, 1894), lists all the verbs that take their object in the genitive (pp. 11-44), dative (pp. 76-133), and accusative (pp. 149-266). I have not counted as object four examples of the dative. Three show what is usually called (in a narrow sense) the dative of interest: 275.3. "foröaem sio spraec cymö hiora cegdrum to haslo" 'because the speech comes as healing to each of them'; 451.32. "Lociaö nu öaet öios eowru leaf ne weoröe odrum monnum to biswice" 'See now that this your privilege does not become a temptation to other men'; 465.1. "hu he eallum monnum weoröfullicost & wunderlicost öuhte" 'how he might seem to all men as distinguished and as wonderful as possible'. The fourth has the dative of advantage: 449.19. "for öaere bisene hi libbaö öeah odrum monnum" 'by their example they live however for other men'. But I do count three examples of the genitive with usually intransitive verbs: 431.25. "öeah öaet mod slxpe godra weorca" 'although the mind may sleep over good works'; 431.27. "öaet mod slatpd dais öe hit wacian sceolde, & wacad does öe hit slapan scolde" 'the mind sleeps over what it ought to be awake to, and is awake to what it ought to sleep over'.
24
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
181.1. Ne öreata öu no done ealdan, ac healsa hine sua sua öinne fasder. 'Do not rebuke the old man, but entreat him as thy father.' Fifty-one examples have a prepositional object, as in 37.19. He sorgaö ymb da, 'He is concerned about them,' 463.8. foröaem simle öa craeftas winnaö wid dsem undeawum. 'because the virtues always contend against the vices.' 291.16. He cuaeö to dsem Timotheo: 'He said to Timothy:' 3 1.1.3.2. The Double Object Construction In fifty-five of the seventy-two clauses that have a double object, the indirect object takes the dative, the direct object the accusative:4 185.25. wenö, gif he hit him iewe, 'he believes, if he shows it to him,' 273.4. hwelce hie hie selfe utane eowien mannum, 'how they are to display themselves outwardly to men,' 35.17. foröamöe he him saede beforan 8am folce his undeawas, 'because he told him his faults before the people,' 453.1. Ne cweöe ge nan lad dsem deaf an. 'Do not speak any evil to the deaf man.' Fifteen of the other seventeen double object constructions have both objects in the accusative; that construction occurs only with Iseran:5 173.15. sua sua hit lange aer us ösere eadegan gemynde wer Gregorius lsrde, 'just as the man of blessed memory, Gregory, taught it to us long ago,' 459.21. foröaemöe he 5a giet nolde hi lasran da diegelnesse dsere halgan se, 'because he did not yet wish to teach them the secrets of the holy law,' 453.21. ond swa laere da slawan geornfulnesse godes weorces, 'and teach the slow the zeal of good works,' • Cwedan and sprecan account for twenty-eight of the fifty-one; ten of the examples with cwedan are part of the subjectless construction, as in 153.16. "Be öasm w s s suiöe ryhte to Ezechiele dam witgart gecueden:" 'Concerning that it was very rightly said to Ezekiel the prophet:'. Seven of the fifty-one examples depart from the usual order preposition + object and show the preposition immediately preceding the verb: 305.8. "he him sua eaömodlice & sua arlice to spraec" 'he spoke to him so humbly and so honorably'; 173.2. "öaet him mon to ascaö" 'what one asks of him'. 4 Wülfing's data show that all the verbs in these fifty-five examples regularly have the dative: accusative contrast in the double object construction (Die Syntax in den Werken Alfreds des Grossen, I [Bonn, 1894], pp. 477-488). 5 Lceran seems always to take an accusative object in the Pastoral Care. Wülfing (I, p. 126) gives one example of loeran with the dative: 303.6. "sua hwaet sua we him auöer oööe lean oööe lsera wiellen" 'whatever we wish either to blame in him or to teach him'. But here the dative may be determined by lean (which regularly takes a dative object), not lceran.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
25
One double object construction shows the indirect object in the dative, the direct object in the genitive: 29.10. "foröyöe he senegum men dzs wyscte oööe wilnode" 'because he wished or desired it to befall any man'. And one example shows a direct object (accusative) and a prepositional indirect object (dative): 175.3. "öaet he hiene selfne geöeode to eallum his hieremonnum" 'that he may suit himself to all his subjects'. The variation in the order of the objects often depends on whether an object is nominal or pronominal. The seventy-two examples divide into four groups: A. Both the direct and indirect objects are pronominal (eleven examples). All eleven show the direct object preceding the indirect: Direct Object (Pronominal) — Indirect Object (Pronominal) 41.21. öara giefa de him God for monigra monna öingum geaf, 'of the gifts that God gave them for the sake of many men,' 303.9. to gehieranne dzt him mon öonne beodan wielle. 'to hear what one would want to command them.' B. Pronominal indirect object, nominal direct object (twenty-three examples). Twenty-one of the twenty-three have the indirect object preceding the direct object: Indirect Object (Pronominal) — Direct Object (Nominal) 39.3. & him geiewde his goldhord. 'and he showed them his treasure of gold.' 161.7. öast he him gename ane iserne hearstepannan, 'that he take for himself an iron frying pan,' The two examples of direct object (nominal) preceding indirect object (pronominal): 165.23. Dxt ilce Dryhten God us bisnade öurh Moysen, 'That same thing the Lord God illustrated for us through Moses,' 25.1. & befeste he mid his lifes bisenum da lare ösem öe his wordum ne geliefen; 'and let him confirm with the example of his life the teaching to those who do not believe his words;' 6 C. Pronominal direct object, nominal indirect object (ten examples). In nine of the ten the direct object precedes the indirect object: Direct Object (Pronominal) — Indirect Object (Nominal) 273.4. hwelce hi hie innan geeowigen Gode, 'how they are to display themselves internally to God,' * Bacquet cites the first example in discussing variations in base order: "Notons encore cette phrase intdressante qui pennet de ddterminer la position du complement modal" {La structure de la phrase verbale a I'epoque alfredienne [Paris, 1962], p. 713). The position of dam in the second can be explained, in one way, by the dependent clause (de his wordum ne geliefert) that expands it.
26
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
277.23. foröaem hio setieweö hie seife suiöe opene hiere feondum, 'because it shows itself very openly to its foes,' The example of the indirect object (nominal) preceding the direct object (pronominal): 29.10. "foröyöe he xnegum men öses wyscte oööe wilnode" 'because he wished or desired it to befall any man' 7 D. Both the direct object and the indirect object are nominale (twenty-eight examples). Twenty-one have the direct object preceding: Direct Object (Nominal) — Indirect Object (Nominal) 301.26. hii doö for ege done weordscipe mannum 'because of fear they yield the honor to men' 455.29. öast he swa strangne Isecedom seile dxm seocan, 'that he give so strong a medicine to the sick man,' The remaining seven examples: Indirect Object (Nominal) — Direct Object (Nominal) 291.21. oderne he laerde gedyld, 'the other one he taught patience,' 449.22. öaet hi mid öasre licettunge oörum monnum yfle bisne ne astellen, 'that with the dissimulation they not set a bad example for other men,' Two general statements can be made about the relative position of the two objects in the double object construction: first, the pronominal object precedes the nominal in thirty of the thirty-three examples (a ratio of 10 :1); and, second, if the objects are both pronominal or both nominal, the direct object precedes the indirect in thirty-two of the thirty-nine examples (a ratio of 4:5). 1.1.3.3. The Object Complement Construction The twenty-eight object complements can be divided, following Visser,8 into either (1) direct object with objective complement, 282.23. "& öaet hus idel gemett" 'and he finds that house empty' (eight examples), or (2) direct object with predicative adjunct, 453.23. "was he da idlan ne gedo orsorge" 'so that he does not make the idle confident' (twenty examples). The other seven objective complements: 433.28. foröaem he gesihö öa gearwe öe he wende öaet he sceolde ungearwe findan. 7 Bacquet explains the position of dais by the context: "Ne cuasö he öaet/foröyöe he aenegum men Öxs wyeste oööe wilnode,/ac he witgode sua hit geweoröan sceolde" *He did not say this because he wished or desired it to befall any man, but he prophesied how it was to happen'. Here dees is marked by "deplacement par emphase" (pp. 425-26). 8 F. Th. Visser, An Historical Syntax of the English Language, I (Leiden, 1963), pp. 550-586.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
27
Him waere öonne ieöre öaet he hira ser gearra wende öonne he hira ungearra wende, & hi Öonne gearuwe mette. 'because it sees those ready whom it thought that it would find unprepared. It would then have been easier for it, if it had previously expected them to be rather ready than unprepared, and then found them ready.' 31.3. öeah ge hit aer undrefed druncen. 'although you drank it before undefiled.' 277.16. & sua nacodne hine selfne eowige to wundigeanne his feondum, 'and so exposes himself naked to the wounding of his foes,' Only in that last example (277.16.) does the objective complement precede its object. All twenty predicative adjuncts follow the object: 295.24. öonne hie ongietaö hwelcne monnan gesuencedne mid irre & mid hatheortnesse onbzrnedne, 'when they perceive a man afflicted with anger and inflamed with fury,' 439.19. foröaemöe hi licettaö hie unscyldge, 'because they pretend themselves innocent,'9 Three of the predicative adjuncts themselves are expanded with genitive complements: 35.14. & tealde hine selfne his suiöe tinwieröne. 'and he deemed himself quite unworthy of it.' 41.13. Daet is öaet hie gehealdaö hira lichoman firenlusta clsenne; 'That is that they keep their body pure from lusts;' 431.10. swa he hit ongiet nacodre dxre byrnan wserstipes, 'the more bare he perceives it to be of the breastplate of caution.' In three examples the predicative adjunct is part of a passive: 179.22. foröaem oftor mid reöre manunga beoö öa iungan nytwyrde gedone, 'because the young are more often made useful with zealous admonition,' 429.25. Da bioö genemde deade, 'They are called dead,' 459.27. he biö scyldig geteald, 'he is accounted sinful,' The six predicative adjuncts with hatan apparently take the nominative rather than the accusative:10 9
Visser, An Historical Syntax of the English Language, I (Leiden, 1963), pp. 574-75, does not list licettan with verbs of dissembling and feigning, although its use here parallels that of hiwian, as in the passages he quotes from jElfric, "Herodes hiwode hine sylfne unrotne" 'Herod pretended himself sad', and from Wulfstan, "Se man hywaö hine sylfne mihtine and unforhtne" 'The man pretends himself mighty and bold'. 10 Only the adjunct in the first example is unambiguous (se anscoda); tun could be accusative as well as nominative, and the Latin words prove nothing because Alfred usually takes them over unchanged (Cantica is nominative, Sardis genitive, and Apocalipsin, which is not in Gregory, the Greek accusative). Visser calls the nominative with hatan "a remarkable feature", and cites other clear examples (An Historical Syntax of the English Language, I [Leiden, 1963], p. 566).
28
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
45.8. & hine mon scyle on bismer hatan se anscoda. 'and one shall call him in ignominy the unshod.' 43.16. öaet mon maege siööan hatan his tun dies anscodan tun. 'that one may call his house afterwards the house of the unshod.' 433.9. öe we hataö Cantica Canticorum 'which we call the Song of Songs' [Also 433.18.] 445.19. to öaere ciricean biscepe öe Sardis hatte, 'to the bishop of the church called Sardis,' 445.34. on öaem bocum öe hatton Apocalipsin, 'in the books called the Apocalypse,' 1.1.4.1. The Complement The subjective complement, whether nominal, pronominal, or adjective, is nearly always in the nominative and usually agrees with the subject in number. 11 The nominal and pronominal complement occurs one hundred and ten times: Pronominal (only hwset or hwelc) 306.3. geöencean hwset hie selfe waeren, 'consider what they themselves were,' 173.14. Nu öonne oö öiss we rehton hwelc se hierde bion sceal; 'Hitherto we have said what the pastor is to be;' 159.14. öonne geöence ge hwset ge sien & hwelce ge sien; 'then consider what you are and who you are;' Nominal 33.19. He nolde beon cyning, 'He would not be king,' 463.18. beforan öaem Gode öe eadmodnesse lareow is, 'before the God who is the teacher of humility,' 289.11. Öaette hiera hierre sie ryhtwislic anda & manung sumre ryhtwisnesse. 'that their anger is righteous zeal and admonition about some virtue.' 289.13. öaet hiera unöeawas sien sum god crseft, 'that their vices are some good accomplishment,' 11
Four complements, two nominale and two adjectives, appear in what can be called the defining genitive: 173.18. "foröasm hie ne sint ealle ones modes & anra deawa" 'because they are not all of the same mind and of the same morals', and 307.8. "Öe simle anes willart waes & God Faeder" 'who was always of the same will with God the Father'; 157.18. "ac öu ne meaht geseon hwaet öaerinne biö gehyddes" 'but thou cannot see what is hidden inside', and 441.16. "gif hi on ÖEem cuöan gewislice ongietaö hwaet öaeron tcelwyrdes biö" 'if they perceive with certainty in the unknown what is blameworthy there'.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
29
439.30. öaet is ryht dom & mildheortnes & treowa. 'that is right judgment and mercy and faith.' Both diet as subject and hwzt/hwelc as complements are invariable. No example of a compound subject and a compound complement occurs; but we do find a singular subject with a compound complement (289.11.) and a plural subject with a singular complement (289.13). Nominal and pronominal occur with three verbs, beon, hatan, and nemnan: 301.3. he cuaeö öast aelces yfles fruma wsere ofermetta, 'he said that the origin of all evil was pride,' 291.15. Oöer hira wses haten Timotheus, O n e of them was called Timothy,' 7.18. öa boc wendan on Englisc Öe is genemned on Laeden Pastoralis, & on Englisc Hierdeboc, 'to translate the book into English that is called in Latin Pastoralis and in English Shepherd's Book,' 1.1.4.2 The Predicate Adjective The two-hundred and four predicate adjective constructions also occur with only three verbs, beon, dyncean, and weordan.12· The predicate adjective regularly agrees with the subject (unless the predicate adjective is part of the subjectless construction): 43.9. Gif Crist for us eallum dead waes, öonne weoröaö ealle men deade. 'If Christ was dead for us all, then all men will be dead.' 45 18. hu hie maegen nyttweorduste bion hiera niehstum, 'how they can be the most useful to their neighbors,' 149.16. Foröaem is micel nieddearf öaet se reccere öa öeawas & öa unöeawas cunne wel toscadan, 'Therefore it is very necessary that the ruler be able well to distinguish between vices and virtues,' The only exceptions seem to be: 449.6. öaet hi waeren gelicost deadra manna byrgennum, 'that they were most like the sepulchres of dead men,'13 439.35. öaet hi micel öyncen, 'that they seem great,' 1.1.4.3. The Simple Predicate Adjective Construction One hundred and fourteen examples have neither complement nor object: 41.18. öaet hi beoö fremsume; 'that they are benignant;' 12
But that restriction does not apply to the nineteen predicative adjectives discussed in 1.1.4.5. below. Compare 25.7. "Ac monige sindon me suiöe onlice on ungelasrednesse" 'But there are many very like me in want of learning'. We find no other example of gelicost with a plural subject. 18
30
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
455.5. foröaem hira unöeawas bioö swiöe ungelice. 'because their vices are very different.' 183.10. öaet se welega biö eaömod & sorgfull, 'that the rich man is humble and sad,' 287.24. & wierö to unbeald, 'and he becomes too timid,' 299.9. hu gewitende öa Sing sint 'how transitory those things are'14 1.1.4.4. The Complex Predicate Adjective Construction The ninety examples here divide into three groups. In the first, the predicate adjective has an inflected-infinitive complement (which sometimes has an object), 45.9. "öaet ge sien gearwe to ganganne on sibbe weg" 'that you are ready to go in the path of peace'; in the second, it has a pronominal or nominal complement, 31.14. "5a öe his unwierde waeron" 'those who were unworthy of it'; and in the third, it has a dative object, 439.1. "Ac him is öearf" 'But it is necessary for them'. A. In the twenty examples of predicate adjective with an inflected-infinitive complement, the complement always follows its adjective. Usually the complement has no object: 173.10. öylass sio earc si ungearο to beranne, 'lest the ark is not ready to be carried.' 277.24. & hio biö micle öe iedre to oferfeohtanne 'and it is much the easier to overcome' 281.4. Sie aeghwelc mon suiöe hrsed & suiöe geornful to gehieranne, 'Let every man be very ready and very anxious to hear,' Four of the twenty examples have a complement with a dative object: 455.5. & öeah biö giet earfodre xlcne on sundrum to Ixranne, 'And yet it is still more difficult to instruct each one separately,' 459.8. Foröaem sio hea lar is betere manegum monnum to helanne, & feawum to secgganne. 'Therefore the lofty doctrine is better concealed from many men, and revealed to few.' B. In thirteen examples the predicate adjective has a pronominal complement, in twenty-four a nominal complement. The pronominal complement precedes the adjective in all thirteen examples. Six of the complements are in the genitive: 31.14. Öa öe his unwieröe waeron, 'those who were unworthy of it,' 14 Gewitende also functions as predicate adjective at 299.8. Those two, plus two examples of dearfende at 327.8. and 327.9., are the only four examples of present participle as predicate adjective in the Pastoral Care. See Nickel's tabulation in Die Expanded Form im Altenglischen (Neumünster, 1966), pp. 355-357.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
31
435.2. ac hi beoö öxs öe lator öe hi oftor ymböeahtiaö; 'but they are so much the later about it the more often they deliberate about it;' Seven are in the dative: 305.8. he sceolde bion him micle öy eaömodra 'he should have been the more humble with him' 427.26. & hit him aliefedlicre öyncö 'and it seems the more lawful to him' The nominal complement, on the other hand, precedes the predicate adjective in but seven of the twenty-four examples. Like the pronominal complement, it can be either genitive or dative. Seven of the nine genitive nominals follow the predicate adjective: 431.19. öonne hit biö to gimeleas his agenra dearfa. 'when it is too heedless of its own needs.' 465.16. öa ic waes full aigöer ge welona ge godra weorca, 'when I was full both of wealth and of good works,' The two examples with the genitive preceding: 281.7. öaet hio waere unstille, yfel & deadberendes aires full, 'that it were restless, evil, and full of deadly poison.' 429.22. he biö manigra wita wyröe. 'he is deserving of greater punishment.' Ten of the fifteen dative complements follow the adjective: 45.18. hu hi msegen nyttweoröuste bion hiera niehstum, 'how they can be the most useful to their neighbors,' 301.12. öe mara is & maerra eallum gesceaftum, 'who is greater and nobler than all creatures,' Two of the five examples with the complement preceding the adjective: 45.21. Öonne beoö hie sua monegum scyldum scyldige 'then they are guilty of as many sins' 465.1. hu he eallum monnum weoröfullicost & wunderlicost öuhte. 'how he might seem the most distinguished and the most wonderful to all men.' Nine of the fifteen examples with a dative complement have {uri)gelic or onlic as predicate adjective. The complement, with one exception, follows the adjective, as in 23.23. "oööe eft his lif sie ungelic his öenunga 'or, moreover, that his life be unlike his ministration'. That one exception is noteworthy: 431.31. "£>a?m stierere biö gelicost se mon öe ongemong öisses middangeardes costungum & ongemong ösem yöum unöeawa hine agimeleasaö" 'The man is most like that steersman who takes no care of himself amidst the temptations of this world and the waves of vices'. No other example has the
32
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
antecedent of a following relative clause heading its own clause.16 Compare 431.35., four lines below: "Se biö swiöe onlic daem stioran öe his stiorroöor forliest on sae" 'he is very like the steersman who loses his helm on the sea'. C. All thirty-five examples of the predicate adjective with dative complement belong to the subjectless construction; twenty-four of the thirty-five introduce a dependent clause. All but one show the object preceding the adjective, regardless of the position of the verb: 169.14. ac him biö öearf öaet he hine genime simle be öasre leornunge haligra gewrita, 'but it is necessary for him always to collect himself by the study of the holy Scriptures,' 307.14. Ac hwy sceal znigum menn öonne Öyncean to orgellic öast he onbuge to oöres monnes willan, 'But why then will it seem to any man too ignominious that he yield to another man's will,' 305.2. he baed his fultumes, swelce him niedöerf waere; 'he asked his help, as if it were necessary for him;' The exception: 31.24 "betre him waere öaet he on laessan hade & on eorölicum weorcum his lif geendode" 'it would be better for him that he end his life in a lesser station and in earthly works'. 16 1.1.4.5. In addition to the predicate adjectives functioning as subjective complement are nineteen predicative adjectives. Four of the nineteen occur with quasi-copulas (quasipredicatives), three with stondan and one with lutian: 445.12. ne maeg hit no stille gestondan, 'it cannot remain still,' 433.15. Swa sculon öa halgan weras simle stondan gearuwe to gefeohte wiö öaem lytegan fiend, 'So holy men must always stand ready for the fight with the cunning foe,' 5.9. hu öa ciricean giond eall Angelcynn stodon madma & boca gefyldx 'how the churches throughout the whole of England stood filled with treasures and books' 153.14. eal öast öaer gehyddes lutige, 'all that lies there hidden,' 17 The remaining fifteen are, following Visser's classification, present participles that function as predicative adjuncts. 18 This kind of adjunct occurs in initial, medial, and final positions in its clause: 15
Certainly nothing in the Latin suggests that kind of construction: "In medio enim mari dormit, qui in hujus mundi tentationibus positus, providere motus irruentium vitiorum quasi imminentes undarum cumulos negligit." 114. A. " See 4.1.2. below. 17 Gehyddes is genitive singular, just as it is also in 157.18. "hwast öaerinne biö gehyddes" 'what is hidden inside'; see note 11 above. The Latin for 153.14. reads "omne quod clausuni latet" 45.A. 18 Visser distinguishes present participles as predicative adjunct from present participles as related free adjunct, as in his example from Bede: "& he mid Jay maestan gewinne mid his crycce hine wredigende ham becom" 'and with the greatest difficulty he got home, supporting himself on his stick' (An Historical Syntax of the English Language, II [Leiden, 1966], pp. 1070-73).
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
33
39.16. & suigettde he cwseö on his mode: 'and silently he spoke in his mind:' 295.11. ac bi sumum dsele arwieröelice wandigende suiöe waerlice stieran. 'but, to some extent, very carefully guide kindly and hesitantly.' 151.24. he hit him öeah suigende gessede. 'yet he silently told them of it.' 431.18. Swa biö öaet mod slsepende gewundad 'So the mind is wounded while asleep' 185.9. aeresö mon sceal sprecan asciende, 'first one must speak inquiringly,' Included in the fifteen are four examples with verbs of movement and rest; Brunner notes that with these verbs the present participle begins to replace the infinitive in later West-Saxon: 19 41.7. öa öe ne magon uncwaciende gestondan on emnum felda. 'those who cannot stand firmly on level ground.' 173.1. gif he öonne fserö secende hwaet he sellan scyle, 'if he goes seeking what he is to give them,' 429.23. Hi sculon gan libbende on helle. 'They shall go living into hell.' 429.27. öa gaö libbende & witende on helle, 'they go living and conscious into hell.' 1.2. THE ORDER OF THE MAJOR ELEMENTS
1.2.1. The following sections illustrate each type and sub-type of clause; Table 1 tabulates the frequencies. 20 The numbers at the right margin give the total for the particular type or sub-type. 1.2.2. Subject and Verb a. Subject + Verb
1293 1055
27.7. & Öaet hie fyrmest hlynigen act asfengieflum, 'and that they might recline first at suppers,' 151.10. hit is to forberanne; 'it is to be tolerated;' 183.3. se öe biö upahafen mid öy gefean & mid öy gielpe öisse worulde; 'he who is puffed up with the joys and glories of this world;' w
"Nach Verben der Bewegung und Ruhe (ae. cuman, gärt, faran, feran, standan, licgan, sittan) ist ae. der bloße Infinitiv in der Poesie und der älteren Prosa die gewöhnlice prädikative Ergänzung. Im späteren Westsächsischen kommt aber immer mehr an seiner Stelle das Part. Präs. vor, ..." (Die Englische Sprache, II, 2nd ed. [Tübingen, 1962], p. 364). ,0 In the complex verb construction, the finite verb determines the position of the verb; in the double object construction, the first object determines the position of the object.
34
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
238
b. Verb + Subject
179.15. on oöre wisan sint to manianne weras, 'men are to be admonished in one way,' 155.25. öonne ne ligeö he eallinga on öaere eoröan sua öa creopendan wuhta, 'he does not lie altogether on the earth like the creeping beasts,' 307.2. & of Öasre leohtmodnesse cymö sio twiefealdnes & sio unbieldo 'and from irresolution arise doubt and inconstancy' 1.2.3. Subject, Verb, and Object
a. Subject + Verb + Object
1405
285.21. Se wind drifeö öast wolcn. 'The wind drives the cloud.'
368
31.1. Ge fortraedon Godes sceapa gsrs 'You trod down the grass of God's sheep' 5.16. & foröaem we habbaö nu aegöer formten ge öone welan ge Öone wisdom, 'and therefore we have lost both the wealth and the wisdom,' b. Subject + Object + Verb
606
3.5. öe öone onwald haefdon öaes folces on öam dagum 'who had power over that people in those days' 163.12. öonne he öaem ryhthlicum inngeöonce his hieremonna foresaegö öa dieglan sastenga öaes lytegan feondes, 'when he warns his subjects' righteous understanding of the secret machinations of the cunning foe,' 461.27. Donne hwa öis eall gefylled haebbe, 'When anyone has fulfilled all this,' c. Verb + Subject + Object
83
29.3. ne ongit God hine. 'God does not know him.' 183.11. Foröiem sceal se lareow suiöe hraedlice wendan his tungan ongean δ art 'Therefore the teacher must very quickly direct his tongue against that' 427.16. öonne laeraö hi hit aelcne öara 'then they teach it to each of those' d. Verb + Object + Subject
17
171.1. ne tio hie mon nasfre of. 'let no man ever draw them out.' 443.24. Da ondwyrde him Dryhten: 'Then the Lord answered him:' 25.9. & öyncet him suiöe leoht sio byröen δ ass lareowdomes, 'and the burden of teaching seems very light to them,' e. Object + Subject + Verb
292
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
35
7.1. öa hie Creacas geliornodon, 'when the Greeks had learned it,' 289.24. Da monnöwaeran we sculon monian 'We must admonish the gentle' 455.7. öe mon eallum monnum forbeodan sceolde. 'which one must prohibit all men.' f. Object + Verb + Subject
39
159.12. öylses eow becume costung. 'lest temptation assail you.' 279.21. Daet tacnode se salmsceop, 'The Psalmist showed that,' 465.34. aeröacmöe him wasren geeowad öa hefonlican Öing. 'before the heavenly things would be shown him.'
1.2.4. Subject, Verb, and Complement a. Subject + Verb + Complement
269 165
306.14. He biö simle ryhtes geöeahtes geöafa, 'He is always the supporter of good designs,' 41.19. öast hi beoö reöe & straece for ryhtwisnesse. 'that they are zealous and severe for the cause of righteousness.' 161.1. öylaes he sie scyldig ealra scylda, 'lest he be responsible for all their sins,' b. Subject + Complement + Verb
58
5.7. öaette we Cristne waeren, 'that we might have been Christians,' 295.4. öe Abigail hatte 'who was named Abigail' 308.3. öaet se grund faesö sie, 'that the ground is firm,' c. Verb + Subject + Complement
15
39.16. Hu ne is öis sio micle Babilon 'How, is not this the great Babylon' 275.12. Nis hit nan wundur, 'It is no wonder,' 153.4. öonne biö hit swutol 'then is it evident' d. Complement + Subject + Verb
21
27.14. ealdormen hi waeron, 'they were princes,' 281.6. hwset öaere tungan maegen is, 'what the power of the tongue is,' 33.6. hu micel sio byröen biö öaes lareowdomes, 'how great the burden of teaching is,' e. Complement + Verb + Subject
7
36
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
153.25. Hwaet is öonne sio öyrelung öaes wages 'What then is the piercing of the wall' 175.5. hwelce sin öa inngeöoncas monna 'what the thoughts of men are' 437.12. Swiöe lytle beoö öa dropan öaes smalan renes, 'Very small are the drops of the thin rain,' f. Verb + Complement + Subject
3
25.16. forhwon beoö aefre suae öriste öa ungelaeredan 'why are the unlearned ever so rash' 175.1. For öaere ungelicnesse öara hieremonna sculun beon ungelic öa word öaes lareowes, 'Because of the difference of the subjects, the words of the teacher must be different,' 431.31. Daem stiorere biö gelicost se mon 'The man is most like that steersman' 1.2.5. Verb
230
33.13. & aer worolde ricsode on hefenum 'and he reigned in heaven before the world was' 153.8. Be öasm is swiöe wel gecueden öurh öone salmsceop, 'Concerning that it was very well said through the Psalmist,' 463.27. & orsorglice faegnaö on him selfum. 'and it rejoices confidently in itself.' 1.2.6. Verb and Object a. Verb + Object
275 146
23.11. & wolde fleon öa byröenne ösere hirdelecan giemenne. 'and I wished to flee the burden of pastoral care.' 151.22. & öafode öa scylda, 'and he tolerated the sins,' 429.12. & öeah noldon forlaetan öa öistro öaes won weorces, 'and yet they would not relinquish the darkness of the wicked deed,' b. Object + Verb 3.2. & öe cyöan hate 'and I command it be known to thee' 27.13. & him suelc oöwat, 'and he reproached them for such things,' 304.7. & hine laedde öurh öaet westen 'and he led him through the wilderness'
129
37
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE
1.2.7. Verb and Complement
43
a. Verb + Complement
36
25.8. wilniaö öeah lareowas to beonne, 'they desire, however, to be teachers,' 304.15. ac beo ure laöeow, 'but be our guide,' 45.24. & magon hiera niehstum sua nytte beon, 'and they can be so useful to their neighbors,' b. Complement + Verb
7
173.5. öonne öearf biö. 'when it is necessary.' 305.3. swelce him niedöerf waere; 'as though it were necessary for them;' 293.7. & öy unwaesömbaerran waeren. 'and thus they would be unfruitful.' 1.2.8.
Table 1 gives the frequencies of clause-types to the nearest one-half of one percent. The notation "O" is to be read as less than one-half of the one percent. TABLE I
Frequencies of Clause
Type
1.
2.
3.
Subtype
a. b. a. b. c. d. e. f. a. b. c. d. e. f.
4. 5. 6.
a. b. a. b.
SV VS SVO SOV VSO VOS OSV OVS SVC SCV VSC CSV CVS VCS V VO OV VC CV
Number in Subtype 1055 238 368 606 83 17 292 39 165 58 15 21 7 3 230 146 129 36 7
Percent of Type 82 18 26 44 6 1 21 2 61 21 6 8 3 1 100 53 47 84 16
Types Percent of Total 30 7 10 17 3 0 8 1 5 1 0 1 0 0 6 4 4 1 0
Number in Type
Percent of Total
1293
37
1405
40
269
8
230
6
275
8
43
1
2. THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
2.1. THE NOMINAL
2.1.1.
We distinguish two basic relationships within the noun phrase, equality and subordination. 2.1.2. Equality Equality can be shown either by apposition or coordination. The structure of apposition follows its head and agrees in case and number: 307.8. & God Fxder 'and God, the Father' 299.19. Öurh Essaim done witgan 'through Isaiah, the prophet' 39.2 Ezechias Israhela kyning 'Hezekiah, the king of Israel' 35.23. on Urias slaege his agenes holdes degnes 'in the murder of Uriah, his own faithful servant' 1 A personal name heads all but five of the thirty structures of apposition. Of the five exceptions, four have the name of a city (Jerusalem) and one the name of a tree: 161.3. "öa burg Hierusalem" 'the city Jerusalem' and 171.7. "of öaem treowe sethim" 'of the tree sethim'. The structure of coordination may be either a head or a modifier, as in 185.22. "his hatheortnesse & gedyrstignesse" 'his hasty temper and rashness', 155.4. "mid geornfullicre fandunge & ascunge & dreaunge" 'with careful probing and questioning and reproof', or 435.15. "for untrymnesse modes odde lichomari" 'because of weakness of mind or body', 31.19. "se ymbhwyrft disse worolde & eac monna lifes & hira gesuinces" 'the circuit of this world, and also of the life of men, and of their toil'. One 1
The only example of a non-contiguous appositive. Migne prints in morte viri 17.B., noting that some manuscripts read Urias for viri.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
39
phrase combines a coordinate head with a coordinate modifier: 303.18. "öone fruman & öone ingong öaere Öreatunga & δ sere taelinge" 'the beginning and the commencement of the blame and the reproof. 2.1.3. Subordination Modifiers are of two kinds, adjectival and genitive. The adjectival modifier agrees in case, gender, and number with its head, as in 149.22. "to ecum witum" 'to eternal punishments', 429.5. "hiora agna scylda" 'their own sins', 295.9. "öa iersigendan menn" 'the passionate men'. Included here are the numbers, although the cardinals above dreo take no inflection. The adjectival modifier may be: Demonstrative 5.5. "for öisse worulde" 'on account of this world' Adjective 29.3. "Unwise lareowas" 'Foolish teachers' Numeral 291.14. "twegen gingran" 'two disciples' Past Participle 171.11. "©a anbestungne saglas" 'the inserted poles' Present Participle 39.18. "öa suigendan stefne" 'The silent voice' Noun 39.13. "se Babylonia cyning" 'the Babylonian king' Indefinite Pronoun 161.23. "wghwelc syn" 'every sin' Intensive Pronoun 304.7. "God self" 'God himself' The demonstrative and the adjective are the most common adjectival modifiers, the noun and the indefinite pronoun the least common (but the noun is frequently a genitive modifier). Five phrases have a noun as adjectival modifier, and eleven have (xg)hwelc.Hwelc combines with another adjectival in two phrases: 157.11. "hwelc eorölic Öing" 'some earthly thing' and 157.16. "hwelc dieglu scond" 'a certain dark secret'. The genitive modifier is independent of the case, gender, and number of its head.2 The functions of the genitive case can be subdivided into many categories, but only two will be necessary here: the possessive genitive, 3.14. "hiora öeniga" 'their rituals', and the partitive genitive, 5.11. "hiora nan wuht" 'nothing of them'. In a noun phrase containing one genitive modifier, this modifier may be: Noun 281.10. "on domes daege" 'at the day of doom' Pronoun 167.4. "mid urum freondum" 'with our friends' Demonstrative 303.5. "hwsethwugu dzs" 'something of that' But noun phrases with two or more genitive modifiers can have a sublevel of expansion. Frequently a phrase itself functions as a genitive modifier, or, more exactly, the head of a phrase functions as a genitive modifier. Consider for example 306.13. "öaes wisan monnes mod" 'the wise man's mind'. The phrase has a head (mod) and a genitive modifier (dzs wisan monnes). The structure of modification is itself composed 1
The division between adjectival and genitive modifiers is not without inconsistency, for some forms of the possessive pronoun take the adjective inflection (min, ure, din, and eower). Those possessives, along with the uniflected forms his, hiere, and hiera, are treated as genitive modifiers.
40
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
of a head (monnes) and two modifiers {dzs and wiscm). On that level öses and wisan are adjectivals, depending on monnes for case and number. Some other examples: 303.19. for öaere licunga dxre heringe & dxre olicunga 'for the pleasure of the praise and the flattery' 41.11. mid miclum giefum monegra crxfta ά mxgene 'with great gifts of many virtues and powers' 185.18. ymb sumes dear/an & sumes earmes monnes ryht 'concerning the cause of some needy and poor man' Four phrases have three levels of expansion: 157.4. ealle öa heargas Israhela folces 'all the idols of the people of Israel' 308.11. dxre leohtmodnesse undeawes nanwuht 'nothing of the vice of levity' 433.13. öa öistro dxre blindnesse urre tidernesse 'the darkness of the blindness of our frailty' 457.2. öa adle dxra undeawa monigra monna 'the diseases of the vices of many men' 2.1.4. The Order of the Modifiers Three general statements can be made: 1. The adjectival modifier usually precedes its head. 429.20. Se öegn "The servant' 173.4. öa halgan gewritu 'the holy scriptures' 7.4. Ond eac ealla odrx Cristnx öioda 'And also all other Christian nations' The adjectival modifier (except self) never follows its head unless the phrase contains at least one other modifier, either adjectival or genitive, as in 37.8. "his geteowne öegn unsynnigne" 'his faithful and innocent servant'. 2. Phrases containing both adjectival and genitive modifiers show two consistent patterns. A. If the genitive modifier is not a possessive pronoun, the adjectival will precede and the genitive will follow: 33.20. da weorömynde cynehades 'The honor of being king' 283.2. mid dxre lustbsernesse ures modes 'with the desire of our heart' 43.8. öone Hlaford & done hean Hierde eallra gesceafta 'the Lord and high Shepherd of all creatures'
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
41
B. When the genitive is a possessive pronoun, this pronoun will usually precede the head: 273.2. his agene uncysta 'his own vices' 439.12. of hira aegnum maegene 'of their own power' 451.32. öios eowru leaf 'this your privilege' 3. If a phrase contains only genitive modifiers, these modifiers will usually precede the head: 39.4. Godes ierre 'God's anger' 175.1. strongra monna maegen 'the vigor of strong men' 279.25. dxre ryhtwisnesse fultum & midwyrhta 'the support and helper of virtue' But when the genitive modifier is a partitive genitive, it usually follows its head. The noun that is a partitive genitive nearly always follows the head, as in 27.22. "fela wundra" 'many wonders', while the demonstrative that is a partitive genitive follows without exception, as in 299.14, "JElc dara" 'Each of them'. Yet the pronoun that is a partitive genitive follows in less than one-half the examples, as in 157.23. "monige hira" 'many of them'. We turn now to a discussion of those three statements. 2.1.5. The adjectival modifier never follows its head unless the phrase contains one other modifier, adjectival or genitive, or the adjectival modifier is self. Just three examples with self occur: 25.11. from öaere dura selfre öisse bee 'from the very door of this book' 33.11. se wealhstod self Godes & monna 'the mediator himself between God and men* 304.7. God self'God himself' The noun, the demonstrative, and the indefinite pronoun precede without exception; and adjective can precede or follow, but self always follows. Sixteen phrases (excluding the three with self) show an adjectival following the head. These sixteen, with one exception, subdivide into two groups: A. Phrases with numerical adjectives (eight examples)3 B. Phrases with two or more adjectives, none of which is numerical (seven examples). A. In the eight examples with numerical adjectives, five have eall and one each has monig, sum, and feower. The five with eall·. * I use the label numerical adjective not only for the numerals but also for eall, ale, sum, feawa, monig, and oder.
42
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
5.20. öa bee eallz 'all the books' 39.11. öaet inngeöonc eall 'all the inner thought' 181.23. iower lufu eall 'all your love' 447.33. 5a deglan scylda ealla 'all the secret sins' 455.7. öa unöeawas ealle 'all the vices' But eall does not follow the head if there is a genitive modifier following or if the phrase contains oder·. 157.4. "ealle Öa heargas Israhela folces" 'all the idols of the people of Israel'; 39.24. "ofer ealle oöere menn" 'above all other men'. The variation therefore is in structures with adjectival modifiers: 455.7. "öa unöeawas ealle" 'all the vices' or 3.10. "ealle öa öiowotdomas" 'all the services'. Eall precedes in six examples and, as we saw above, follows in five. The remaining three examples in this group: 29.17. to hefegum byröenum manegum 'to many heavy burdens' 155.6. sume duru onlocene 'a certain open door' 169.20. feower hringas xlgyldene 'four rings of pure gold' We find four additional examples of monig with another adjectival and two of sum; here monig and sum precede the head, as in 273.18. "monige unnytte geöohtas" 'many unprofitable thoughts', and 285.9. "sum nytwyröe weorc" 'a certain useful work'. No other examples of a numeral with another adjectival occur. B. Of the seven phrases with two or more adjectives, none numerical, just one has non-coordinate adjectives: 37.8. "ymb his getreowne öegn unsynnigne" 'around his faithful and innocent servant'. The Latin has simply devotum militem 17.B. The other six examples point up an important characteristic of the noun phrase: two adjectival modifiers, neither numerical adjectives nor demonstratives, are usually coordinate. 433.22. gode stencas & yfele 'good and bad odors' 461.4. opene lare & swutole 'open and clear doctrine' 171.8. stronge & unadrotene lareowes & durhwuniende 'teachers strong, vigorous, and steadfast' In addition to those six are nine examples with the coordinate modifier preceding the head, as in 27.20. "se eca & se diegla dema" 'the eternal and unseen judge'. And one example has two adjectival modifiers, neither a numerical adjective nor a demonstrative, that are not coordinate or split: 161.23. "frecenlice wiöerwearde unöeawas" 'dangerous, perverse vices'. That translates a noun modified by another noun in the genitive, vitiorum ... adversitas 47.A. Thus all but two of these seventeen phrases (37.8. and 161.22.) have coordinate modifiers.4 4
One of the seventeen translates a similar Latin construction: 433.22. "gode stencas & yfele" =
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
43
And one example does not fit into either group: 175.6. "sumere hearpan strengas adenede" 'the stretched strings of some harp'. That is the only instance of a genitive modifier (sumere hearpan) preceding the head while an adjectival (adenede) follows. The Latin has "in cithara tensiones stratae chordarum" 49.D.; that tensiones strata follows in cithara may have suggested the position of adenede. 2.1.6.
With phrases containing both adjectival and genitive modifiers, we must distinguish those whose genitive is a possessive pronoun from those where it is not. Phrases with a possessive pronoun regularly have both modifiers preceding the head, as in 39.18. "mid mine agne msegene & strengo" 'with my own might and strength', or 463.33. "eowres segnes öonces" 'of your own strength'. In just five of the forty examples is the adjectival not agen: 301.10. se ure fiond 'he our foe' 301.12. se ure Aliesend 'he our Redeemer' 451.32. dios eowru leaf 'this your privilege' 25.7. his godan weorc 'his good works' [Also 445.18.] If the adjectival modifier is an adjective, it follows the possessive pronoun; if a demonstrative, it precedes. Phrases whose genitive modifer is not a possessive pronoun generally have the order Adjectival + Head + Genitive 157.8. mid ungerisenlicum gewilnungum dissa worolddinga 'with improper desires of earthly things' 169.5. da bebodu halegra gewrita 'the commands of the holy scriptures' Sometimes both genitive and adjectival modifier precede the head when the genitive is not a possessive pronoun. Eleven examples have a genitive, not a possessive pronoun, preceding the head. Four are the same kind: Adjectival (demonstrative) + Genitive (noun) + Head 31.16. öone Cristes cuide 'the speech of Christ' 297.10. mid öy speres orde 'with the point of the spear' 433.8. on öaem Salomones bocum 'in the books of Solomon' 433.18. on öasre Salomones bee 'in the book of Solomon' "odores fetoresque" 114.C. The rest translate a head with a single modifier; thus 447.32. "se uplica Dema & se eca" = "superna sententia" 119.D., 27.20. "se eca & se diegla dema" = "internus judex" 14.C.
44
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
We find eight other phrases with identical constituents, but the genitive modifier follows the head, as in 7.15. "sio lar Lxdengediodes" 'the knowledge of the Latin language', or 175.6. "öa inngeöoncas monna" 'the thoughts of men'. The remaining seven examples with a genitive, not a possessive pronoun, preceding the head: 161.16. Godes öaet hefonlice wundor 'the heavenly wonder of God' 429.8. se degla Godes dom 'the secret judgment of God' 47.3. se ancenneda Godes sunu 'the only born son of God' 431.29. on öaere ilcan Salmonnes bee 'in the same book of Solomon' 307.6. mid oderra manna ryhtum spellum & larum 'with the good arguments and advice of other men' 283.19. dses suiöe micelne hunger 'very much hunger for it' 307.16. Godes agen sunu 'God's own son' We can omit 307.16. "Godes agen sunu" from further consideration because it is a fixed construction: agen never occurs alone, nor does it ever follow its head. One other phrase has the same constituents as the first four in this group, and there the genitive follows the head: 459.20. "from öa;re dieglan spraece Dryhtnes" 'from the secret conversation of the Lord'. Nothing parallels exactly 161.16. "Godes öaet hefonlice wundor"; in the Latin the two modifiers follow the head, "gloria patriae coelestis" 46.D. We find no parallel for 307.6. "mid oöerra manna ryhtum spellum & larum" or for 283.19. "öass suiöe micelne hunger". Phrases having both adjectival modifier(s) and a single genitive (noun) show a variation between two orders: Adjectival(s) + Head + Genitive (eight examples) Adjectival(s) + Genitive + Head (seven examples) But 307.16. "mid oöerra manna ryhtum spellum & larum" is exceptional; no other examples have an adjectival and a genitive preceding the head, when the genitive is not a single noun. We do find five with an adjectival preceding and a noun-headed genitive following, as in 285.20. "öa wiöerweardnesse unryhtwisra monna" 'the opposition of unrighteous men'. 2.1.7. In phrases containing genitive modifiers alone, the modifier not a partitive genitive normally precedes the head: 173.20. manegra cynna wyrta & grasu 'herbs and plants of many kinds'
45
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
308.11. ösere leohtmodnesse undeawes nanwuht 'nothing of the vice of levity'
5
But if this modifier is a partitive genitive, it normally follows the head, as in 157.23. "Monige hira" 'Many of them' or 439.34. "lytel godes" 'little of what is good'. The noun that is a partitive genitive nearly always follows its head; but a pronoun that is a partitive genitive follows the head in less than half the examples. A. Phrases with one genitive modifier. This modifier can be: Noun 29.1. Godes bebodu 'God's commands' Adjective 289.16. nane wuht nyttwyrdes 'nothing of what is useful' Pronoun 307.14. minne Faeder 'my father' Demonstrative 451.25. aelcum dara 'each of them' 1. Forty-eight phrases have a head and genitive noun or adjective. In forty the genitive precedes: 185.1. Saules ungewitfullnes 'Saul's madness' 33.19. to rode gealgan 'to the gallows of the cross' 275.17. sprzce tiid 'a time for speaking' 169.3. for Godes lufum 'for the love of God' In the other eight, where the noun is a partitive genitive, the modifier follows, as in 171.25. "hwaethwugu gsesdlices" 'something spiritual', or 5.1. "aenigne . . . lareowa" 'any teachers'. Thus a single noun not a partitive genitive precedes its head, while the partitive genitive follows. 2. Thirty-seven phrases consist of head and genitive pronoun. Twenty-six of these have possessive pronouns; in twenty-three the possessive pronoun precedes its head: 27.14. mines donees 'by my will' 35.18. his unöeawas 'his faults' 435.10. mid eowrum searum 'with your designs' The one phrase that shows the possessive following occurs three times: 37.16. "sunu min" 'my son' [also 273.8., 287.11.]. Twice the Latin has fili (17.C., 75.B.), once fili mi (72.A.). Besides these twenty-six examples with a possessive pronoun are eleven with pronouns that are partitive genitives. Unlike the noun in the partitive genitive, the pronoun tends to precede its head. In seven of the eleven the pronoun precedes : e 5.12. hiora nan wuht 'nothing of them' 6
Although nanwuht is adjective + noun, I treat it as a unit. It appears in various forms in the MS.: nawuht (283.8.), nan wuht (5.12.), nane wuht (307.13.), but most frequently as nanwuht. • Two examples of a partitive genitive with an adjectival also occur. In both the partitive genitive is a pronoun: once it precedes, 5.20. "hiora öa naenne dael" 'no part of them', and once it follows, 7.5. "sumne dal hiora" 'some part of them'.
46
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
275.4. hiora aegörum 'to each of them' 459.14. hira . . . ma 'more of them' 433.10. eower aelc 'each of you' The four examples with the pronoun following: 3.17. Swae feawa hiora 'So few of them' 157.23. Monige hira 'Many of them' 291.15. Oöer hira O n e of them' 304.2. Öearfe . . . hiera 'the need of them' 3. Fourteen phrases consist of head and genitive modifier that is a demonstrative. The demonstrative, always a partitive genitive, follows its head. In eleven of these phrases the demonstrative functions as a pivotal element introducing a dependent clause headed by de : 299.12. JElc öara de biö geeaömed 'Each of those who is humbled' 33.7. öylaes aenig hine underfon dürre öara de his unwieröe sie 'lest any one of them dare undertake it who is unworthy of it' 303.5. hwaethwugu dses de him licige 'something of that which pleases them'7 The other three examples: 167.17. öset on sumere darα weoröe genered 'that in one of them he may be saved' 273.13. & aefter aelcum darα toflewö 'and afterwards is dissipated by each of them' 449.28. öonne ne helpaö hi mid oörum öara nauht hira niehstum 'then they do not help their neighbors at all with the latter things' B. Phrases with two genitive modifiers. Five kinds of phrases contain two genitive modifiers: Demonstrative + Noun 29.3. for dxs folces synnum 'for the people's sins' Adjective + Noun 305.15. oderra monna geöeahtes 'of the counsel of other men' Pronoun + Noun 39.8. & his Deman ierre 'and the anger of his Judge' Two Coordinate Nouns 159.1. of untrymnesse modes oööe lichoman 'of weakness of mind or body' 7
All eleven have the demonstrative immediately preceding the de. In one example with head and genitive pronoun the pronoun likewise introduces a dependent clause, but the pronoun and the de are split: 23.13. "& ic eac laere öaet hira nan öara ne wilnie de hine unwaerlice bega" 'and I also advise that none of them desire them who might manage it rashly'. This passage loosely translates "ut et hxc qui vacat, incaute non expetat" 13.A.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
47
Adjective + Demonstrative 451.20. on ealra dara gewitnesse 'in the cognizance of all of those' 1. Head and (Demonstrative + Noun). Fifty-five examples. The structure of modification either precedes or follows the head, but within it the demonstrative precedes the noun. The modifier precedes the head in forty-seven of the fifty-five, as in 25.22. "d%s modes laeceas" 'physicians of the mind', or 159.21. "for dxs lareowes öreaunga" 'because of the teacher's reproof'. Two of the examples have coordinate heads: 279.25. ösere ryhtwisnesse fultum & midwyrhta 'the supporter and helper of virtue' 291.8. mid ösere culfran bilewitnesse & mannöwaernesse 'with the simplicity and gentleness of the dove' In four of the eight examples of Head + (Demonstrative + Noun), the noun is a partitive genitive: 31.16. "asnigne dissa ierminga" 'any of these wretches', or 167.19. "to anra dara burga" 'to one of the cities'. The partitive genitive preceding the head (from the forty-seven examples above): 303.2. "dara goda sum" 'some of the good qualities'. 8 Since the partitive genitive is a relatively fixed construction, the variation is between the forty-six examples of (Demonstrative + Noun) + Head and the four examples with the structure of modification following, as in 25.11. "from onginne disse sprsece" 'from the beginning of this discourse', and 279.13. "fruma ösere towesnesse" 'the cause of the discord'. 2. Head and (Adjective + Noun). Twenty-five examples. In all but one the modifier precedes the head: 41.12. for oderra monna öearfe 'for the need of other men' 167.6. mid arfsesööes ingeöonces lare 'with the instruction of pious thoughts' 455.14. of yfles blodes flownesse 'from the flow of bad blood' 173.20. manegra cynna wyrta & grasu 'many kinds of herbs and plants' The exception: 289.12. "& manung sumre ryhtwisnesse" 'and admonition about some virtue'. 9 3. Head and (Possessive Pronoun + Noun). Twenty-seven examples. In all but two examples the structure of modification precedes: 43.11. ures flsesces lustum 'the lusts of our flesh' 8
Five examples in the entire corpus have a noun that is a partitive genitive preceding its head. The other four examples are found in phrases with three genitive modifiers (section C below). 9 The entire passage: 289.11. "öaette hie ful oft wenaö öaette hiera hierre sie ryhtwislic anda & manung sumre ryhtwisnesse" 'that they very often think that their anger is righteous zeal and admonition about some virtue' = "irae s u s stimulum justitias zelum putant" 76.A. Since ryhtwislic anda apparently translates justitia zelum, & manung sumre ryhtwisnesse would be Alfred's addition.
48
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
149.20. for his goda mierringe 'because of the waste of his property' 279.f 3. his tungan stemne 'the sound of his tongue' 35.11. his lareowes Öeawum & larum 'the teacher's example and instruction' The two exceptions: 301.8. "fruma ures forlores" 'the cause of our perdition', and 429.14. "on gewitnesse hirayfela" 'in witness of their evils'.10 When we consider the second and third kinds of phrases together, Head and (Adjective + Noun), Head and (Possessive Pronoun + Noun), we see that the predominant order is Structure of Modification + Head. Those two kinds comprise fifty-two phrases, wherein just three have the modifier following. 4. Head and (Two Coordinate Nouns). Five examples. In these five are three different orders. Three have the structure of modification following the head: 159.1. of untrymnesse modes oööe lichoman 'of weakness of mind or body' 435.15. for untrymnesse modes odde lichoman 'because of weakness of mind or body' 271.7. to fela idles & unnyttes 'too much of what is useless and unprofitable' In one the modifier precedes, 157.6. "hearga & idelnesse gefera" 'the companions of idols and vanity', and in one the modifier is split, 427.33. "Sodomwara hream & Gomorwara" 'the shouting of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah'. 11 5. Head and (Adjective + Demonstrative). Two examples. In both the modifier precedes its head: 451.20. on ealra dara gewitnesse 'in the cognizance of all of those' 45.6. zlces öara god 'the advantages of each one of those' C. Phrases with three genitive modifiers. Of the twenty-four examples, nineteen have a structure of modification consisting of Demonstrative + Adjective + Noun: 161.16. ösere uplican sibbe gesiehö 'the sight of the exalted peace' 173.15. ösere eadegan gemynde wer 'the man of the blessed memory' 439.11. after dies dearlwisan Demon dome & edleane 'according to the judgement and requital of the severe judge' The modifiers in the remaining five are of four kinds: (Demonstrative + Noun + Noun) 308.11. ösere leohtmodnesse unöeawes nanwuht 'nothing of the vice of levity' 10 "Fruma ures forlores" translates a similar construction, "Occasio igitur perditionis nostra" 78.B., although the order of the modifiers is reversed in the English. But the source for "on gewitnesse hira yfela" is a clause, not a noun phrase: "hanc contra se in testimonium vertunt" 113.A. 11 The Latin perhaps suggests the order in "hearga & idelnesse gefera" ( = "idolorum servitus" 45.C.), but certainly not that in "Sodomwara hream & Gomorwara" ( = "Clamor Sodomorum et Gomorrhas" 112.C.).
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
49
(Adjective + Noun + Noun) 291.13. sanctus Paulus lare sume 'some of Saint Paul's instructions'12 (Possessive Pronoun + Adjective + Noun) 35.23. his agenes holdes öegnes 'his own faithful servant' and 307.13. nane w u h t . . . mines agnes donees 'nothing of my own will' (Adjective + Adjective + Noun) 289.20. sumes ryhtwislices andan wielm 'the fervor of some righteous zeal' Four of the twenty-four phrases have the structure of modification following the head: 25.23. nane w u h t . . . dara gxstleeena beboda 'nothing of the spiritual precepts' 167.2. to anra dara dreora burga 'to one of the three cities' 307.13. nane w u h t . . . mines agnes donees 'nothing of my own will' 465.7. onwald . . . dxs beswincenan modes 'power over the deceived mind' The modifier in the first three of those four is a partitive genitive. The phrases with one genitive modifier and those with two adjectival modifiers include a single example of a noun that is a partitive genitive preceding its head (303.2. "öara goda sum"). In this group with three genitive modifiers we have four examples of a noun that is a partitive genitive preceding its head: 167.16. to dara dreora burga anre 'to one of the three cities' 167.18. to dara dreora burga sumere 'to some of the three cities' 291.13. sanctus Paulus lare sume 'some of St. Paul's instructions' 308.11. dxre leohtmodnesse undeawes nanwuht 'nothing of the vice of levity' Thus in just five examples does a noun that is a partitive genitive precede its head. 2.1.8. Summary In phrases with adjectival modifiers the modifier(s) usually precedes the head ("da halgan gewritu"). Nineteen examples (less than five percent of the total) have the modifier following the head: eight are with a numerical adjective ("öa unöeawas ealle"), three with self (which never precedes), and five with a coordinate structure of modification ("gotfe stencas & yfele"). In phrases containing both adjectival and genitive modifiers, the adjectival usually precedes and the genitive usually follows ("da bebodu halegra gewritu"). The general exceptions are the genitive that is a single noun, which precedes the head in about one18 The Hatton MS. reads scs paulus, but Sweet prints sancte Paules for the Cotton MS. The name is certainly genitive singular in Gregory: "si in medium Pauli magisterium proferamus" 76.B. Compare 306.7., where sanctus Paulus is object of the preposition durh: "ac to öaem anstraecum is gecueden öurh sanctus Paulus" 'and it is said to the irresolute through Sant Paul' ( = "Illis per Paulum dicitur"
80.A.).
50
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
half the examples ("Öone Cristes cuide"), and the genitive that is a possessive pronoun, which nearly always precedes ("his godan weorc"). In phrases containing only genitive modifiers, the modifiers precede the head in about ninety percent of the examples ("selces mannes mod"). The position of the partitive genitive varies: if a noun, it follows its head in about ninety percent of the examples ("fela wundra"); if a demonstrative, it follows without exception ("iElc öara"); if a pronoun, however, it precedes its head in about sixty percent of the examples ("eower aelc"). In conclusion, we can schematize the structure of the noun phrase in four oversimplified formulas: 1. Head Adjectival Modifier: Adjectival + Head 2. Head and both Adjectival and Genitive Modifier: a. Adjectival + Head + Genitive b. Adjectival + Genitive (single noun) + Head c. Genitive (possessive pronoun) + Adjectival + Head 3. Head and Genitive Modifier: Genitive + Head 4. Partitive Genitive: a. Head + Noun b. Head + Demonstrative c. Pronoun + Head or Head + Pronoun 2.2. THE PRONOMINAL
2.2.1.
We must distinguish pronoun phrases headed by a non-personal pronoun from those headed by a personal pronoun. Both kinds have about the same functions as the noun phrase, except that neither functions as subjective complement or as adverbial. 2.2.2. Pronoun phrase headed by a non-personal pronoun Ten examples, all with a partitive genitive. The noun or adjective that is a partitive genitive follows the head in six of seven examples: 39.5. hwaet mxrlices & wundorlices 'anything famous and wonderful' 457.21. Hwseöres . . . dara yfela 'Which of the evils' 459.30. aeghwelc dsera halgena lareowa 'each one of the holy teachers' 451.2. hwaet. . . weorca 'what kind of works' 155.24. hwaet ryhtlices & gerisenlices 'anything righteous and proper'
51
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
167.3. hwelc dara niehstena dxs ofslxgenan 'one of the neighbors of the slain man' The partitive genitive that precedes: 37.15. "on anes hwaem" 'in each one'. We also find one example each of a pronoun and a demonstrative. In both the partitive genitive precedes: 457.22. "swxdres swaeöer" 'whichever of which', and 443.26. "dara hwset" 'something of those'. 2.2.3. Pronoun phrase headed by a personal pronoun The modifier, either eall or self, is adjectival. It follows the head: 39.17. "ic self" Ί myself', 449.26. "hie selfe" 'themselves', 277.13. "ut of him selfum" 'out of himself', 7.8. "we ealle" 'we all', 273.7. "hie ealle" 'them all', 43.9. "for us eallum" 'for us all'. But when eall combines with dis, eall once precedes: 169.3. "Ac eall diss aredaö se reccere suiöe ryhte" 'But all this the ruler arranges very rightly'. The other three examples have eall following the head: 5.8. Da ic öa dis eall gemunde 'When I remembered all this' [Also 5.18.] 461.27. Donne hwa dis eall gefylled haebbe, 'When anyone has fulfilled all this,'13 Occasionally, but only with self, the head and its modifier are split, as in 427.19. "öaet hi hit selfe dydon" 'that they themselves did it'.
2.3. THE COMPLEX VERB
2.3.1. Seven hundred and forty clauses, or approximately twenty-one percent of the total, have a complex verb. The relative frequency of the four kinds of complex verb constructions : Finite verb and infinitive
46 %
163.2. ac he him sceal eac cydan 'but he must also show them' Finite verb and past participle
37 %
29.1. ne bid he oncnawen from Gode. 'he is not acknowledged by God.' Finite verb and inflected infinitive
15%
305.10. Daette on oöre wisan sint to manianne Öa anwillan, 'That in one way the steadfast are to be admonished,' 11
The Latin seems to have prompted eall diss in 169.3. ( = omne hoc 48.C.). Two of the examples of dis eall (5.8. and 5.18.) come from Alfred's Preface; the third (461.27.) translates omnibus 125.A.
52
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
Finite verb and present participle
2%
443.26. hu Dryhten wses sprecende of hefonum to his ehtere, 'how the Lord was speaking from heaven to his persecutor,' About ninety-one percent of all those constructions have one of six verbs as the finite form: beon, sculan, magan, willan, weordan, or habban. Beon occurs with the past participle, inflected infinitive, and present participle; weordan and habban with the past participle; sculan, magan, and willan with the infinitive.
2.3.2. Finite verb and infinitive14 Eleven verbs occur with the infinitive, but just three {sculan, magan, willan) occur regularly. We distinguish constructions having finite verb and infinitive, with or without an object, from those having a transitive verb, object, and infinitive complement (the accusative-with-infinitive). A. Finite verb and infinitive, with or without object. Some examples, in descending order of frequency: sculan 35.7. on öaem gesuincum he sceal hine selfne gedencan, 'in adversity he must remember himself,' magan 153.15. dxt he mxge hwilum ongietan micel of lytlum. 'that he may sometimes be able to infer much from little.' willan 31.14. Ac hie woldon seife fleon Öa byröenne sua micelre scylde, 'But they wished of their own accord to flee the burden of so great a sin,' cunnan 7.13. οδ öone first öe hie wel cunnen Englisc gewrit arsedan: 'until that they are well able to read English writing:' 14
Morgan Callaway, Jr.'s The Infinitive in Anglo-Saxon (Washington, D.C., 1913) remains the basic work, if for no other reason than the vast amount of data he assembles. But his elaborate classifications, although undoubtedly useful, have only a general relevance here; and many of his conclusions must be modified in light of such studies as Behaghel's Deutsche Syntax, II (Heidelberg, 1924), pp. 304-372 passim, and Bock's "Studien zum präpositionalen Infinitiv und Akkusativ mit dem toInfinitiv", Anglia, LV (1931), 114-249. Also to be mentioned are two works on the auxiliaries: Ewald Standop, Syntax und Semantik der modalen Hilfsverben im Altenglischen: magan, motan, sculan, willan (Bochum, 1957), and Andr6 Tellier, Les verbes perfecto-presents et les auxiliares de mode en anglais ancien (Paris, 1962).
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
53
onginnan 447.4. Ac swa swa öaet cealde aerest ongind wlacian, 'And as that which is cold begins to be lukewarm,' dearr 467.16. öylaes hi dyrren ofermodgian for öaem aeöelestum weorcum, 'lest they presume to be proud because of the noblest works,' motan 167.17. öaet he mote libban; 'that he be able to live;' wilnian 43.1. öe hie wilniad synderlice habbatt. 'which they wish to have privately.' hatan 3.1. iEIfred kyning hated gretan Waerferö biscep his wordum luflice & freondlice; 'King Alfred bids greet Bishop Waerferth with his words lovingly and friendly;' durfan 457.29. öaet he ne dyrfe his hlaford ondrasdan, 'that he need not fear his lord,' dencan 451.17. öe he öaer cweman dencd 'whom he intends to please there' In seventeen examples the finite verb governs two infinitives (which may both have an object), as in 3.14. "öe hiora öeninga cuöen understondan on Englisc, oööe furöum an aerendgewrit of Laedene on Englisc areccean" 'who could understand their rituals in English, or, furthermore, translate a letter from Latin into English'. And once a finite verb governs four infinitives: 461.22. jErest he sceal wrecan on him selfum his agnu yfelu & öa hreowsian, & siööan oöerra monna cydan & wrecan. 'First he must punish in himself his own evils, and repent of them, and then point out and punish those of other men.' B. Transitive verb, object, and infinitive complement. Only Isetan (nine examples) and hatan (two examples) occur. Following Callaway, we can call all eleven examples the (active) predicative infinitive with accusative subject :15 Isetan 171.1. & Ixt hi stician öaeron; 'and let them remain there;' " The Infinitive in Anglo-Saxon (Washington, D.C., 1913), pp. 107-120. Callaway's tables (pp. 304-308) show that three other verbs form this construction in the Pastoral Care: forlcetan 'allow', gemetan 'meet, find', and geseon 'see'. He counts a total of seventeen examples with loetan, but cites just one with hatan (279.19.). He does not include 306.4. (loetan) or 443.24. (hatan), and I have not found these two passages in any of his tabulations.
54
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
289.2. öonne mon Ist toslupan öone ege & öa lare 'when one lets the fear and the instruction slip away' 279.13. se öe his tungan stemne on unnyttum wordum Ixtt toflowan. 'he who allows the voice of his tongue to be dissipated in useless words.' 306.3. öonne ne leten hie no hie eallinga on aelce healfe gebigean, ne furöum no awecggan, 'then they would not at all let themselves be inclined on every side, nor even be moved,' hatan 443.24. Dryhten, hwaet hxtst öu me donl 'Lord, what dost Thou bid me do?' 279.19. se öe öone disigan hztt geswugian. 'he who commands the fool to be silent.' The finite verb precedes its infinitive in about sixty-six percent of the examples. The verb follows the infinitive only in dependent clauses: 173.1. hwaet he sellan scyle, 'what he is to give,' 187.1. öaet he snidan wile, 'which he wishes to cut,' 45.1. & hiere wel rxdan cunne. 'and can rule it well.' But in seventeen of the two hundred and forty-nine dependent clauses the verb precedes the infinitive: 41.11. Ac monige siendun mid miclum giefum monegra crasfta & maegene geworöode, fordonde hie hie scoldon monegum tzcan, 'But many are distinguished with great gifts of many virtues and talents, because they ought to teach them to many,' 149.21. Oööe eft se öafetere, se öe wile forgiefan öaet he wrecan sceolde, O r , again, the assentor, who is willing to pass over what he ought to punish,' 467.14. öaet hi hi for öaem miclum Öingum ne maegen to upahebban, da hwile de hi ne magon gebetan öxt lytle; 'that they may not exalt themselves too much on the strength of the great things, while they cannot amend the little;' And in the seventeen examples of finite verb with two infinitives, only once does the verb not precede both infinitives: 149,19. "öe he healdan scyle oööe dazlan" 'what he ought to keep or give away'.
2.3.3. Finite verb and past participle Two hundred and sevenry-four examples. Three verbs govern the past participle: beon, weordan, and habban. Beon and weordan form the passive of transitive verbs,
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE ie
often with an agentive introduced by mid or öurh. twenty-five times, weoröan twenty-five:
55
Beon occurs two hundred and
beon 45.7. Se bid eac mid ryhte oöre fet anscod, 'He is also rightly shod on one foot only,' 35.6. hit bid geeadmedd. 'it is humbled.' 161.9. to öaem is gecueden: 'to whom it is said:' 163.15. mid hu scearplicum costungum we sint aeghwonon utan behrincgde, 'with how sharp temptations we are outwardly surrounded on all sides,' 163.23. Durh öa pannan is getacnod se wielm öaes modes, 'by the pan is signified the fervor of the spirit,' weordan 167.17. öast on sumere öara weoröe genered, 'that in one of them he may be saved,' 447.18. & for δ asm weoröe utaspiwen. 'and therefore be vomited up.' 455.15. Foröasm oft öa oferbliöan weordad gedrefde for ungemetlicre onettunga, 'For often the sanguine are dispirited because of immoderate precipitation,' 461.29. Oft eac öa lareowas weordad onstyrede mid diegelre blisse, 'Often also the teachers are excited by secret joy,' 451.30. & öurh öaet wurden astyrede mid öaera costunga 'and through that be disturbed by some temptation' In twenty examples the finite verb has two past participles, as in 159.7. "öaet he sie onstyred & onxled mid öasm andan his hieremonna unöeawa" 'that he is excited and inflamed with indignation at the vices of his subjects'; once weoröan has three: 302.10. "weoröaö Öonne unmidlode sua & aöundene geniedde mid hiera upahaefenesse" 'they become then so unrestrained and inflated and pressed by their pride'. Twice the passive combines in a coordinate construction with a predicate adjective: 183.11. & se waedla biö upahxfen & selflice. 'and the poor man is puffed up and conceited.' 305.8. he sceolde bion him micle öy eaömodra & his larum öe suiöur underöied. 'the more humble he should have been with him, and the more obedient to his advice.' And six examples combine an auxiliary with beon and a past participle: 18
Although not in that part of the text discussed here, the one example of beon with the past participle of an intransitive verb should be noted: 99.6. "For öysum was geworden öaette Paulus" 'Therefore it happened that Paul'. (Cited by Wülfing, Die Syntax in den Werken Alfreds des Grossen, II [Bonn, 1897], p. 21.)
56
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
153.23. Hwaet elles meahte beon getacnod öurh Ezechiel buton öa scirmenn, 'What else could be signified by Ezekiel but the rulers,' 161.24. & suae suae se here sceolde bion getrymed onbutan Hierusalem, suae sculon beon getrymed öa word öaes sacerdes ymbutan öaet mod his hieremonna. 'And as the army was to be arrayed around Jerusalem, so are the words of the priest to be arrayed round the mind of his subjects.' The past participle usually agrees with the finite verb; thus 165.3. "Mid öisse pannan hierstinge waes Paulus onbxrned" 'With the frying of this pan Paul was inflamed' and 27.18. "ac mid hira agenre gewilnunge hie biod onbxrnede" 'but with their own desire they are inflamed', or 465.20. "öa weard ic gedrefed" 'then I was afflicted' and 455.15. "Foröaem oft Öa oferbliöan weordaö gedrefde" 'For often the sanguine are dispirited'. The difference between beon and weordan as auxiliaries for the passive seems to be one of both aspect and individual style. Quirk and Wrenn, for example, write that beon was used in durative expressions, weoröan in perfective expressions, but note t h a t " . . . there was much free variation, ignoring aspect, and writers seem often simply to have preferred one or the other auxiliary".17 Habban complements beon and weordan by forming the pluperfect of transitive verbs: 165.20. öaet he his hieremonna mod suiöur gedrefed hxfd 'that he has afflicted the minds of his subjects' 183.9. Foröaem oft se welega & se waedla habbad sua gehweorfed hira Öeawum 'Because often the rich man and the poor man have so changed their natures' 285.4. öaet he ryhte lade funden hxbbe. 'that he has found a good excuse.' Compare the use of durhdyrelian with beon in building the passive and habban the pluperfect: 157.14. "öaet aeresö bid se wah durhdyrelod" 'that the wall is first pierced' — 155.3. "Da ic hxfde öone weall durhdyrelod" 'When I had pierced the wall'. But in one of the twenty-four examples habban forms the pluperfect of an intransitive verb: 185.11. "öaet he ryhte gedemed hxbbe" 'that he has judged rightly'.
17
An Old English Grammar, 2nd ed. (London, 1958), pp. 80-81. Brunner maintains much the same position, calling beon a Zustandspassivum, weoröan a Vorgangspassivum. And to that he adds: "Da ein Zustand meist das Ergebnis eines Vorganges ist, ist die Unterscheidung zwischen beiden Fügungen nicht leicht, zumal sich das Zustandspassivum mit dem Perfektum berüht. Der persönlichen Auffassung ist daher bei der Ausdeutung der in den Texten vorkommenden Passiva weiter Spielraum gelassen" (Die Englische Sprache, II, 2nd ed. [Tübingen, 1962], p. 286). Klaeber emphasizes the stylistic in his "Eine Bemerkung zum altenglischen Passivum", Englische Studien, LVU (1923), 187195. Miss Frary follows Klaeber in her dissertation, Studies in the Syntax of the Old English Passive with Special Reference to the Use of Wesen and Weordan (Baltimore, 1929); thus her differentation of beon and weordan in the Pastoral Care: "In many passages, the choice of beon or weordan seems to be a matter of emphasis, ... Where emphasis is on the specific action, weordan is used; but where the Statement is felt to be one of general application, beon is preferred" (p. 25).
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
57
The past participle with habban is usually invariable, but in three examples it agrees with the direct object:18 159.8. & haebbe hine selfne forgietenne. 'and has forgotten himself.' 303.10. öonne we hie aeresö gefangnu habbaö, 'when we have first caught them,'19 153.18. Da ic öa done wah durhdyreludne hafde, 'When I had pierced the wall,' With that last passage compare 155.3., where the past participle remains uninfected. Both beon and habban follow the participle in dependent clauses, as in 39.7. "öa öe him underöiedde bioö" 'those who are subject to him', and 5.20. "& öa bee eallac befullan geliornod hsefdon" 'and had fully learned all the books'. In the twenty-one clauses with beon and two participles, however, the finite verb never follows both even in dependent clauses: 5.9. asröaemöe hit eall forhergod wxre & forbserned, 'before it had been all ravaged and burned,' 181.11. öu öe eart mid öy storme & mid öaere yste onwend & oferworpen, 'thou who art prostrated and thrown over with the storm and the whirlwind,' Thirty-seven of one hundred seventy-eight dependent clauses have beon preceding the participle: 157.10. öffit hit wxre atiefred, 'that it was painted,' 165.2. öonne se anda öe for ryhtwisnesse bid upahzferil 'than the zeal that is roused in the cause of righteousness?' 183.3. se öe bid upahafen mid öy gefean & mid öy gielpe öisse worulde; 'he who is puffed up with the joy and with the glory of this world;' But habban precedes its participle in just one of fourteen dependent clauses: 43.21. "foröon he nsefde gefylled öagiet öone rim his gecorenra" 'because he had not yet filled up the number of his elect'. Weordan always precedes it participle in dependent as well as non-dependent clauses: 169.10. öaet he weorde onbryrd & geedniwad to öaem hefonlican eöle. 'that he is inspired and regenerated for the heavenly region.' 18
As regards the agreement of the past participle with habban and beon Quirk and Wrenn say: "Where the participles agree — in the one case with the object, and in the other case with the subject — we have a survival from the time when they had predicative adjectival function rather than a tense function ..." (An Old English Grammar, 2nd ed. [London, 1958], p. 78). 11 Wülfing cites gefangun instead of gefangnu (Die Syntax in den Werken Alfreds des Grossen, II [Bonn, 1897], p. 54); yet the Hatton MS. reads gefangnu. Cosijn notes another nom. pi. neut. in -u in the Cotton MS., 234.7. "forösmjje his lac WEeron onfongnu & his naeron" 'because his offerings were accepted and his own were not', where the Hatton reads onfangne (Altwestsächsische Grammatik, II [The Hague, 1886], p. 100).
58
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
459.7. öylaes se rap his modes weorde to swiöe aöened, 'lest the rope of his mind be overstretched,' 169.23. öaet ne wyrd nasfre forrotad; 'that never becomes rotten;' 2.3.4. Finite verb and inflected infinitive One hundred and thirteen examples. Twenty-two verbs occur with the inflected infinitive. Beon is the most frequent, accounting for almost three-fourths of the examples. Many of the remaining twenty-one verbs occur only once or twice. We distinguish two groups here. In the first is the finite verb and infinitive alone, as in 275.10. "Foröaem is sio tunge gemetlice to midliganne" 'Therefore the tongue is to be moderately bridled'. In the second, finite verb, infinitive, and object, the object is either object of the verb and infinitive together, as in 299.4. "Dasm eaömodum is to cyöanne" 'It is to be made known to the proud' or 445.8. "öaet hie tiohhiaö to donne" 'that which they determine to do', or the object is object of the verb alone, and this object has an infinitive complement, as in 271.15. "foröaem hie hie seife nidaö to healdonne ungemetlice swigean" 'because they compel themselves to preserve excessive silence'. Both groups always have the finite verb preceding the infinitive. A. Finite verb and inflected infinitive alone. Sixty-five examples. Sixty-two are of a kind, what Callaway calls "the inflected infinitive [with beon] denoting necessity or obligation and passive in sense" :20 151.10. hit is to forberanne; 'it is to be tolerated;' 171.8. Sua sindon to seceanne stronge & unaörotene lareowas 'So strong and vigorous teachers are to be sought' 441.6. ne sint hi no to Iserenne 'they are not to be taught' 305.10. Daette on oöre wisan sint to manianne öa anwillan, 'That in one way the steadfast are to be admonished,' 21 In three of the sixty-two the finite verb governs two infinitives, as in 181.6. "Da waedlan sint to frefranne & to retanne" 'The poor are to be consoled and cheered'. Eight belong to the subjectless construction: 20
The Infinitive in Anglo-Saxon (Washington, D.C., 1913), p. 98. Sint to manianne occurs in thirty-nine of the sixty-two examples, always translating the periphrastic passive, admonendi sunt. Thus "öaette on oöre wisan sint to manianne öa anwillan" = "Aliter admonendi sunt pertinaces" 79.D. In the part of the text studied here only twice is admonendi sunt not translated with sint to manianne: 175.12. mon sceal manian and 289.23. we sculon monian. Callaway notes that just one example of sint to manianne in the entire text does not render the periphrastic passive: 265.14. "Ongean öast öonne sint to monianne öa menn öe suingellan ne magon forwiernan ne na gelettan hiera unryhtwisnesse" 'On the other hand, the men are to be admonished whom chastisement cannot hinder or restrain from their wickednesse' = "At contra hi, quos ab iniquitatibus nec flagella compescunt" 70.C. (The Infinitive in Anglo-Saxon [Washington, D.C., 1913], p. 201). ai
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
59
29.6. öonne is to geöencanne hwaet Crisö self cuasö on his godspelle, 'then is to be considered what Christ himself said in his gospel,' 293.14. Eac is to wietanne öaette hwaethwugu biö betweoh öaem irsiendan & öaem ungeöyldgan, 'It is also to be known there is a difference between the passionate and the impatient,' The other three of the sixty-five have predicative infinitives of intransitive verbs: 273.3. Öaet hie geornlice tiligen to wietanne 'that they eagerly strive to understand' 307.16. öonne he cymd mid his masgenörymme to demanne, 'when he comes in his majesty to judge,' 447.17. Foröasm se cealda öencö to wearmianne, 'Therefore the cold one thinks to become warm,' B. Finite verb, inflected infinitive, and object. Forty-seven examples. 1. The object in thirty-nine of the forty-seven is object of the finite verb and infinitive together. These thirty-nine subdivide further into two kinds. Sixteen are part of the subjectless construction, closely related to the eight examples in group A that are also part of that construction. Compare: Group A 151.8. Eac is to wietanne öaette hwilum biö god 'It is also to be known that sometimes it is good' Group Β 306.19. Foröy us is to wietanne öaet we magon hie sua iöesö mid öreaunga gebetan, 'Therefore it is to be known to us that we can most easily reform them with reproof,' The object in the sixteen is dative, as in 299.4. "£)a?m eadmodum is to cyöanne" 'It is to be made known to the proud', or 305.15. "flam unbealdum is to cyöanne" 'It is to be made known to the irresolute'. Bacquet determines the base order for this construction to be dative object + beon + inflected infinitive.22 Thus three examples here show a marked order: 287.3. Ongean öaet is to cyöanne ösem öe beoö to hrade, 'On the other hand it is to be made known to those who are too hasty,' 455.10. Foröaem is to giemanne diem lareowe 'Therefore the teacher is to observe' 455.28. Forösem is Özm Ixce swiöe geornlice to giemanne 'Therefore the physician must very carefully observe'23 aa
La structure de la phrase verbale a Vipoque alfredienne (Paris, 1962), p. 580. Bacquet comments: "... on observera que le complement au datif tient ici la place reservde au sujet nominal ou pronominal dans la d&larative ä verbe personnel. Quant au verbe, il occupe la seconde place dans le schema 616mentaire" (p. 581). 23 In just one of these three does the Latin suggest the marked order: 455.10. "Forösem is to giemanne öaem lareowe" = "Curandum est itaque praedicatori" 122.B. Nothing in the Latin corresponds to
60
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
The other twenty-three examples have subject, finite verb, and infinitive with dative or accusative object: 185.17. Foröaem com Nathan to cidanne δ fem cyninge Dauide, 'Therefore Nathan came to rebuke king David,' 187.6. öonne he cymö öone untruman to snidanne, 'when he comes to cut the patient,' 441.17. Donne hi leorniaö mid fulre estfulnesse öa soöan god to secanne, 'When they learn to seek the true with full affection,' The relationship between these and their three correspondents in Group A is clear when we consider this example, where cymö governs the infinitive of both an intransitive verb (to demanne) and a transitive (to xtiewanne): 307.16. "öonne he cymö mid his maegenörymme to demanne, & his wuldor to stiewanne" 'when he comes in his majesty to judge, and to display his glory'. 2. The object in eight examples is the object of the finite verb, and this object has an infinitival complement. In seven of the eight the infinitival complement itself has an object or object clause: 443.9. se ilea God hine eft aweahte to onliesanne da gehxftan on helle, 'the same God aroused him afterwards to release the captives in hell.' 445.29. öonne ne g»lö us nan öing te fullfremmanne da godan weorc 'then nothing hinders us from accomplishing the good works' 451.28. öa öa he sumum liefde to öiegganne öxtte he nolde dxt hi ealle digden, 'when he allowed some to partake of what he did not wish that they all partake of,' And one example has beort with a locative: 301.13. "he hine gemedomode to bionne betwiux deem Ixsdum & dxm gingestum monnum" 'he humbled himself to be among the most insignificant and the least of men'. 2.3.5. Finite verb and present participle Fifteen examples, all with beon\2i 427.22. hit bid fleonde, 'it is fleeting,' 287.3. "Ongean öset is to cyöanne öasm" (the Latin begins "At contra, praecipites dum bonorum actuum pneveniunt tempus," 75.B.), and 455.28. "Foröaem is öasm laece swiöe geornlice to giemanne" = "Studet igitur qui medetur," 122.D. 21 Nickel counts forty-nine examples in the entire text, including four functioning as predicate adjectives (Die Expanded Form im Altenglischen [Neumünster, 1966], pp. 355-57). In two examples, not in the part discussed here, the present participle occurs with weordan: 405.25. "Din eagan weordad gesionde öinne bebiodend, & öin earan gehiraö under baec" 'Thine eyes shall see thy commander, and thine ears shall hear behind thee' (weordad gesionde — erunt... videntes, gehiraö = audient 105.B.); 413.2. "Dinra synna ne weorde ic gemunende, ac gemun öu hiora" Ί will not remember thy sins, but do thou remember them' (ne weorde ic gemunende = memor non ero, gemun du = tu ... memor esto 107 .D.).
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
61
287.9. To swelcum monnum Salomon wzs sprecende, 'To such men Solomon was speaking,' 171.9. öa simle sculon bion bodiende ymbe öa anmodnesse ösere halgan gesomnunga, 'who are always to be proclaiming the unanimity of the holy assembly,' Once the present participle combines with a past participle, 169.11. "Ac his mod bid suiöe iedegende & suiöe abisgad mid eorölicra monna wordum" 'But his mind fluctuates greatly and is very disturbed by the words of earthly men', and once with a predicate adjective, 149.14. "Oft mon bid suiöe wandigende aet aelcum weorce & suiöe Ixtrsede" 'Often one is very hesitating in every action, and very slow'. All nine examples in non-dependent clauses show the finite verb preceding the participle, as in 149.12. "Oft mon bid suiöe rempende, & raesö suiöe dollice on aslc weorc & hraedlice" 'One is often very hasty, and rushes very senselessly and rashly into all his actions'. But in the six dependent clauses, twice the participle precedes the verb: 429.24. Da öe libbende biod, hi witon & ongietaö hwaet ymb hi gedon biö; 'Those who are living know and understand what is being done with them;' 445.15. buton mon simle swincende & wyrcende sie god weorc oö ende, 'unless one continues toiling and doing good works up to the end.' 2.3.6. Summary We distinguish four kinds of complex verbs: finite verb with infinitive, past participle, inflected infinitive, or present participle. Each of the first three has two subdivisions. Finite verb with infinitive we divide into verb and infinitive, with or without object ("hi onginnen öa wunda lacnian" or "öaet cealde onginö wlacian"), and verb, infinitive, and infinitive complement, or the accusative-with-infinitive construction ("mon last toslupan öone ege & öa lare"). Finite verb with past participle we divide into beon or weordan with participle, which forms the passive of transitive verbs ("biö se wah öurhöyrelod"), and habban with participle, which (with one exception) forms the pluperfect of transitive verbs ("ic heefde Öone weall öurhöyrelod"). And the finite verb with inflected infinitive we divide into verb and infinitive ("hit is to forberanne") and verb, infinitive, and object; in that second kind we distinguish verb and infinitive with object ("Daem eaömodum is to cyöanne") from verb with object plus infinitive complement ("se ilea God hine eft aweahte to onliesanne öa gehaeftan on helle"). Finite verb with present participle, however, has only beon and participle ("To swelcum monnum Salomon waes sprecende"). The eleven verbs that take the infinitive are in complementary distribution with the three that take the past participle. £>encan and wilnian are the only verbs besides beon that occur with both infinitives: 451.17. "öe he öxr eweman dened öaet he hit for Gode dyde" 'whom he thinks to please there that he did it for God' and 447.17. "Foröaem
62
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE
se cealda öencö to wearmianne" 'Therefore the cold one thinks to become warm'; 43.1. "öe hie wilniad synderlice habbari" 'which they wish to have privately' and 453.32. "ond swa wilnigen to oleccanne öaem godum" 'and so desire to soothe the good'. With infinitive, past participle, and present participle, the finite verb always precedes the non-finite form in non-dependent clauses, and usually follows it in dependent clauses. But seven percent of the dependent clauses shows the order finite verb -f- infinitive; twenty-one percent shows finite verb + past participle; and thirty-three percent shows finite verb + present participle. The finite verb precedes the inflected infinitive without exception.
3. THE ADVERBIAL MODIFIER
3.1.1. The term adverbial modifier includes a variety of forms with a greater variety of functions. In the adverbial modifier we distinguish the adverb or adverb phrase (7.19. hwilum 'sometimes' or 159.25. to hnesclice 'too gently'), the nominal (275.18. hwelcum tidum 'at what time'), and the prepositional phrase (457.34. to sumre hwile 'for a certain time'). Following Quirk and Wrenn we can divide the adverbial into three broad but workable categories: adjective modifiers, verb modifiers, and clause modifiers.1 3.2.1. The Adjective Modifier Only adverbs and adverb phrases. The adjective modifier immediately precedes its adjective: 151.5. Hu gesceadwis se reccere sceal bion on his öreaunga 'How discreet the ruler must be in his reproving' 175.25. öa öe beoö to hrade; 'those who are too hasty;' 37.4. öe hine on sua heardum wraece gebrohte, 'who brought him into such painful exile,' 305.8. he sceolde bion him micle dy eaömodra 'he should have been the more humble with him' 37.1. he wearö eft sua ungemetlice graedig öaes godan dea^es, 'he became so immoderately eager for the death of the virtuous man,'
3.3.1. The Verb Modifier Only adverbs and adverb phrases. 1 An Old English Grammar, 2nd ed. (London, 1958), pp. 91-92. Quirk and Wrenn, however, speak of sentence modifiers rather than clause modifiers.
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In about eighty percent of the examples the verb modifier immediately precedes the finite form: 159.12. Suelce he openlice cuaede: 'As if he had openly said:' 23.14. & se öe hi unwxrlice & unryhtlice gewilnige, 'and he who desires them rashly and unrighteously,' 23.17. oööaet hio fxstlice gestonde on öaem solore öses modes 'until it firmly stands on the floor of the mind' 35.22. & öast suide wselhreowlice gecyöde 'and he showed that very cruelly' Or, with complex verbs, the adverbial immediately precedes the non-finite form, especially in dependent clauses: 45.20. Gif him öonne God ryhtlice & strxclice deman wile, 'If God then determines to judge them righteously and severely,' 159.24. ond öaet he his hieremonna yfelu to hnesclice forberan ne sceal, 'and that he is not to suffer too gently the sins of his subjects,' 165.16. öonne he to suide & to dearllice öreapian wile his hieremenn, 'when he will reprove his subjects too severely and too harshly,' 31.13. ac mid öam beoö synna suide gebraedda öe hie beoö sua geweoröade. 'and with that sins become very widely extended because they are so much honored.' 151.8. öaette hwilum biö god wserlice to miöanne his hieremonna scylda 'that sometimes it is good carefully to conceal the sins of his subjects' 153.12. Ac manegu diglu öing sindon nearolice to smeageanne, 'But many hidden things are to be considered narrowly,' 445.15. buton mon simle swincende & wyrcende sie god weorc oö ende, 'unless one is always toiling and doing good works up to the end.' The other twenty percent shows the modifier, usually at least one word away from the verb, in initial, medial, or final position in the clause:2 Initial 169.6. öonne singallice öisse eorölican drohtunge gewuna wile toweorpan, 'which the habit of this earthly condition is ever about to destroy,' 443.1. unnyt he plantode on hi öa word δ sere halgan lare. 'unprofitably he planted in them the words of holy instruction.' 1
Initial also includes the position immediately following any kind of conjunction.
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Medial 277.1. & öonne sio stemn gesceadwislice öone muö ontyne, 'and when the voice is to open the mouth prudently,' 302.20. öastte mon maeg oft öy bet öa ofermodan öreatian, 'that one can often rebuke the proud better, 185.12. Öonne secge him mon suide gedseftelice for his agnum scyldum, 'then one tells him very adroitly, because of his own sins,' Final 157.22. ö s t Öu meaht geseon eall öaet yfel openlice 'that thou can openly see all the evil' 435.7. Foröaem ne taelde Dryhten 5a twa scylda gelice. 'Therefore the Lord did not blame the two sins equally.' 45.12. öonne haebbe we begen fet gescode suiöe untxllice; 'then we have both feet shod very blamelessly;' 3.4.1. The Clause Modifier All three groups, adverb or adverb phrase, prepositional phrase, and nominal, function as clause modifiers; but the diversity within this category makes it necessary to treat each group separately. 3.4.2. Adverb or Adverb Phrase The clause modifier that is an adverb or adverb phrase usually stands near the beginning of its clause. Compare these two examples, where simle as verb modifier precedes stician and simle as clause modifier immediately follows the subordinator: 171.17. öaet hie sculon simle stician on Öam hringum, 'that they should always remain in the rings,' 171.22. öaette simle öa ofergyldan saglas sceolden stician on öaem gyldnum hringum, 'that always the gold-cased poles should remain in the golden rings,' In these examples the clause modifier heads it clause: 157.17. Feorrane öu meaht geseon, 'From afar thou can see,' 5.9. xrdxmöe hit eall forhergod waere & forbaerned, 'before it all had been ravaged and burned,' 304.5. öy ieöelicor biö sio upahaefenes to gode gehwierfed, 'the more easily the pride is turned to good,'
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Neither adverbs nor adverb phrases as clause modifiers are common. Most examples with a single adverb have either oft or dser. Oft regularly takes initial position, as in 29.23. " O f t öonne se hirde gxö on frecne wegas" 'Often when the shepherd goes by dangerous ways', or 461.24. "Alrest hi sculon eowian on hiora agnum weorcum" 'First they must display in their own works'. But the locative dser can stand both initially and medially: 43.20. όχτ hie me geseoö. 'there they will see me.' 153.21. & geseah dser öa anlicnessa eallra creopendra wuhta & ealra anscunigendlicra nietena, 'and I saw there the images of all the reptiles and all the loathsome beasts,' 153.14. eal dxt dser gehyddes lutige, 'all that lies there hidden,' The locative adverb phrase also stands initially and medially: 171.4. binnan diem is tobraedd Godes folc, 'within which is spread God's people,' 299.24. Dryhten ongiet suide feorran öa heahmodnesse. 'The Lord perceives pride from very far away.' 301.19. öonne biö heo afeorrod suide feor from δ sere soöan heanesse. 'then it is estranged very far from the true loftiness.' The non-locative too, unlike oft, appears medially as well as initially, as in 275.24. "öaet we suide wxrlice gecope tiid aredigen" 'that we arrange very cautiously a proper time', or 304.1. "Oft we magon eac 5a upahaefenan dy bet gelaera to urum willan" 'Often we can better teach the proud as we wish'. No examples have an adverb or adverb phrase functioning as an attributive. Sweet translates 153.19. "Gong inn, geseoh Öa scande & öa wierresta öing öe öas menn her doö" as 'Go in, and see the shame and most wicked things which the men here do', but his interpretation of her as attributive to öas menn finds support neither in the context nor in the original: "Ingredere, et vide abominationes pessimas, quas isti faciunt hie" 45.A.3 3.4.3. Nominal The thirty examples further subdivide into the instrumental, the locative, the temporal, the adverbial of manner, and the adverbial of extent. A. Instrumental. Eighteen examples. Nine are in the genitive: 35.18. öa he him aer hiera donees gestieran ne meahte; 'since he could not control him before with their approval;' * A few lines later Alfred must again render this passage (from Ez. 8:9): 155.8. "Gong inn, & geseoh öa heardsaelöa & öa sconde öe öas her doö." That Sweet correctly translates — 'Go in, and see the wickedness and abominations which they do here.'
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445.5. Sonne Sonne hi forlaetaö hiora willes & hiora gewealdes öa god 'when they relinquish of their own will and accord the good things' 431.26. & wilnaö öaet hit sie oferdruncen his agnes willan. 'and desires that it be drunk of its own will.' Seven are in the dative: 33.19. & his agnum willan he com to rode gealgan. 'and of his own will he came to the gallows of the cross.' 173.16. se waes odrum noman genemned Nanzanzenus, 'he was by another name called Nazianaenus,' And two are in the instrumental: 39.23. & sua dy dearlan dome he forleas his mennisce. 'and so by the severe punishment he lost his state of man.' 453.17. & gaeö gehalre ecgge forö. 'and goes forth with an uninjured edge.' B. Temporal. Five examples. Two are in the instrumental: 169.4. & selce dxge geornfullice smeaö öa bebodu halegra gewrita, 'and every day meditates zealously on the commands of the holy Scriptures,' 431.2. öaet hi xlce dxge beoö on öaem gefeohte öisses andweardan lifes. 'that every day they are in the fight of this present life.' Two are in the dative: 275.18. hwelcum tidum him gecopust sie to sprecanne, 'at what time it is the most profitable for him to speak,' 281.12. auöer oööe eft uferran dogore oööe Sonne, 'either in the past or afterwards.' And one is in the accusative: 169.19. "ealne dseg öaet biö min smeaung" 'the whole day that is my contemplation'. C. Locative. Four examples. Three are clearly dative: 39.15. & hine oöhof innan his geöohte eallum odrum monnum, 'and extolled himself in thought above all other men,' 275.21. Gesete Dryhten hirde minum muöe 'May the Lord put a guard over my mouth' 277.12. suelce hit eall lytlum riÖum torinne, 'as if it were all dispersed in little rivulets,' One example is perhaps genitive: 37.5. "he genom his loöan aenne laeppan" 'he took a lappet from his coat'. D. Manner. Two examples, both dative:
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23.17. sua suae on sume hlaedre, stsepmzlum near & near, 'as if on a ladder, step by step, nearer and nearer,' 279.2. Oft öonne öaet hefige mod glit niöor & niöor stsepmxlum on unnyttum wordum, Often then the heavy mind slips down lower and lower, by degrees, into useless words,' E. Extent. One example, in the accusative: 171.6. "sticiaö eallne weg inn on 5am hringum" 'they remained always inside the rings'. The nominal thus appears in all four oblique cases: dative (fourteen examples), genitive (nine examples), instrumental (four examples), and accusative (two examples). Only three are ambiguous: 453.17. gehalre ecgge, 281.12. uferran dogore, and 37.5. his lodan.* The nominal, no matter which of the five subdivisions it belongs to, has no regular position in the clause. Of the thirty examples, four are initial, seventeen medial, and nine final. 3.4.4. Prepositional Phrase The prepositional phrase also has no regular position in the clause, but, like the nominal, it tends to medial and final position. Less than fifteen percent appears in initial position; the remaining eighty-five percent divides almost equally between medial and final positions. The three usual functions of the prepositional phrase are the instrumental, temporal, and locative, but the instrumental is by far the most common: 5 Instrumental 165.3. MidÖisse pannan hierstinge waes Paulus onbsrned, 'With the frying of this pan Paul was inflamed,' 31.18. Burh da cweorne is getacnod se ymbhwyrft öisse worolde 'By the mill is signified the circuit of this world' 151.20. öa he öurh Öone witgan cuaeö: 'when he spoke through the prophet:' 431.11. öa öe mid hrsedlice luste bioö oferswiöde, 'those who are overcome by sudden desire,' 4
Wülfing does not list lodan in his discussion of cases (Die Syntax in den Werken Alfreds des Grossen, I [Bonn, 1894]); but Cosijn calls it genitive {Alt-westsächsische Grammatik, II [The Hague, 1886], p. 45). Wülfing lists both ecgge and dogore as datives (I, pp. 143, 144); Cosijn also lists ecgge as dative (II, p. 27), although he does not mention dogore. I have followed Wülfing and Cosijn in resolving those three. 5 These three comprise almost eighty percent of the examples. The remainder includes such categories as the adverbial of reason (285.5. "For ciele nele se slawa erian on wintra" 'Because of cold the sluggard will not plow in winter'), the adverbial of purpose (303.12. "öonne he bietre wyrta deö to hwelcum drence" 'when he makes bitter herbs into some kind of draught'), the adverbial of respect (445.16. "Be deem waes gecweden öurh Salomon öone snotran" 'Concerning that it was said through Solomon the wise'), and the adverbial of manner (306.2. "gif hie be oenegum dale wolden geöencean hwaet hie selfe waeren" 'if they considered at all what they themselves were').
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169.14. oööaet he afielö of his agnum willan; 'until he falls of his own will;' 283.15. & ne gehaeft hit na mid dam gesuincium godra weorca, 'and do not restrain it with the labors of good works,' Temporal 173.14. Nu öonne od diss we rehton hwelc se hierde bion sceal; 'Now hitherto we have said what the pastor is to be;' 459.31. öe on distrum niehtum crawaö. 'that crow in dark nights.' 305.17. forösem hie mon xt selcum cierre masg for hira leohtmodnesse of hiera agnum geöeahte awendan. 'because through their want of resolution one can on every occasion move them from their own determination.' 285.6. ac he wile biddan on sumera, 'but he will beg in summer,' 429.17. hi gehrinö her sumu wracu xr dxm ecum witum 'some punishment affects them here before the eternal punishments' Locative 25.11. From dxre dura self re disse bee, öast is from onginne öisse spraece, sint adrifene & getaelde öa unwaran, 'From the very door of this book, that is, from the beginning of this discourse, the unwary are driven away and blamed,' 169.5. Öaette on him sie upparsred se craft öaere giemenne 'that in him be exalted the power of the care' 161.3. & writ on hiere öa burg Hierusalem. 'and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.' 449.8. öa Öe hira god eowiaö beforum monnum, 'those who show their goodness before men,' 433.11. Donne mon haefö his sweord be his dio, 'when one has his sword by his thigh,' A prepositional phrase composed of preposition and a pronoun may have the preposition split from its pronoun. Compare: 185.3. "Forösem öonne se unclaena gaesö becom on Saul" 'Therefore, when the unclean spirit came on Saul' and 183.24. "öonne him se wiöerwearda gassö on becom" 'when the evil spirit came upon him'. In ten of the nineteen examples the head introduces a relative clause: 304.14. & to öaem londe de ic on geboren waes. 'and to the country in which I was born.' 449.14. Hi sellaö wiö to lytlum weoröe öaet dxt hi meahton hefonrice mid gebyeggan: 'They sell for too small a price that with which they could buy the kingdom of heaven:' 459.24. & dxr öonne befeolle on oööe oxa oööe esol, 'and an ox or an ass should fall in there,'
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Usually the preposition immediately precedes the finite verb (or, with complex verbs, the non-finite form), as in 161.17. "hu monega costunga 6xs lytegan feondes him on feallad" 'how many temptations of the crafty foe fall on him' or 443.19. "naes him no öa giet to gecweden" 'it had not yet been told him'. But in one example the preposition follows the verb (459.24. above), in one it follows its object, 163.9. "Beraö hire to hlaed" 'Bring a mound against it', and in two it stands final in the clause: 161.5. "& beraö hiere hlaed to" 'and bring a mound against it', and 449.11. "ac wenen him maran mede to" 'but expect a greater reward for themselves'. The prepositional phrase has two functions almost unique among the adverbial modifiers. As a locative or as an adverbial of purpose or reason it can expand beon (ten examples) :e 3.13. öaet swiöe feawa waeron behionan Humbre 'that there were very few on this side of the Humber' 45.23. gif hi ongemong monnum beon wolden. 'if they had wanted to be among men.' 149.8. & biö öeah for gielpe ma öonne for lufan. 'it is however more for vanity than for charity.' 149.15. & wenaö menn öset hit sie for suarmodnesse &for unarodscipe, 'and men believe that it is because of stupidity and cowardice,' Once a simple adverb has that function: 157.16. "gif öaer hwelc dieglu scond inne biö" 'if there is any shameful secret inside'. And in four examples the prepositional phrase functions as an attributive to a nominal: 7 153.19. öa iewde he me ane duru beinnan öxm wealle, 'then he showed me a door inside the wall,' 155.20. Da creopendan wuhta beinnan dam wage getacniaö öa ingeöoncas 'The creeping beasts inside the wall signify the thoughts' 445.9. Ac xlces mannes mod on öys middangearde haefö scipes Öeaw. 'But the mind of every man in this world has the nature of a ship.' 155.23. Da nietenu Sonne öe he geseah binnan ösem wage getacnigeaö öonne mon hwast ryhtlices & gerisenlices geöencö, 'The beasts that he saw inside the wall signify that when one thinks something righteous and proper,' 8 6
In seven examples a prepositional phrase also expands weordan, but that prepositional phrase is not adverbial: 451.32. "öaet öios eowru leaf ne weoröe oörum monnum to biswice" 'that this your privilege does not become a temptation to other men'. ' An attributive adverb is of course no more a clause modifier than is an adjective; I cite the four examples here only as a matter of convenience. 8 Obviously these last two examples are ambiguous. For 445.9. "aelces mannes mod on öys middangearde" the Latin suggests a clause modifier rather than an attributive: "In hoc quippe mundo humana anima quasi more navis est contra ictum fluminis conscendentis:" 118.C. But in the second, 155.23. "Da nietenu ... binnan öasm wage", the context argues for an attributive just as the Latin does: "Animalia quoque sunt intra parietem," 45.C.
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3.4.5. Summary The three groups of adverbial modifiers, adverb or adverb phrase, nominal, and prepositional phrase, have three basic functions: A. Adjective modifier (adverb or adverb phrase) B. Verb modifier (adverb or adverb phrase) C. Clause modifier (adverb or adverb phrase, nominal, and prepositional phrase). The position of the modifier varies according to kind. The adjective modifier immediately precedes its adjective ("öa Öe beoö to hrade" or "sua ungemetlic graedig δ ass godan deafjes"). The verb modifier immediately precedes the finite form, or nonfinite form with complex verbs, in about eighty percent of the examples ("& öaet suiöe wxlhreowlice gecyöde" or "& to öearllice öreapian wile his hieremenn"). The remaining twenty percent shows the modifier in initial, medial, and final position ("unnyt he plantode on hi öa word öaere halgan lare" or "öonne secge him mon suiöe gedzftelice for his agnum scyldum" or "öaet öu meaht geseon eall öaet yfel openlice"). Adverbs or adverb phrases as clause modifiers are initial or medial ("öy ieöelicor biö sio upahaefenes to gode gehwierfed" or "eal öaet dxr gehyddes lutige"). Nominale, which further subdivide into five kinds and appear in all four oblique cases, tend to medial and final position ("öaet he xlce dsge beoö on öaem gefeohte öisses andweardan lifes" or "öaet hit sie oferdruncen his agnes willan"); four of the thirty examples are initial, seventeen medial, and nine final. The prepositional phrase, which has three usual functions, also tends to medial and final position ("öa öe mid hrsedlice luste bioö oferswiöde" or "hi gehrinö her sumu wracu a?r dzm ecum witum"). Less than fifteen percent appears in initial position, while forty-one percent appears in medial position and forty-four percent in final. The prepositional phrase has two functions nearly unique among the adverbial modifiers : it can expand beon ("öaet swiöe feawa waeron behionan Humbre") and it can be an attributive to a nominal ("öa iewde he me ane duru beirman ösem wealle").
4. CLAUSE TYPES
4.1. THE SUBJECTLESS CONSTRUCTION
4.1.1. Of the one hundred and thirty-seven examples of the subjectless construction, only twenty-eight have what is usually called an impersonal verb. Seven of these verbs occur. Eighteen of the twenty-eight examples introduce a dependent clause. A. gebyrian 'happen, occur'. Nine examples, all introducing a dependent clause. In three we find the verb alone, as in 455.8. "O/i eac gebyred öaette sume bioö to ungemetlice bliöe for sumum gesielöum" 'Often also it happens that some are too immoderately glad because of some good fortune'. The other six have a dative object that usually precedes the verb: 41.1. "him gebyrede δχί he nyste hwaeöer he monn waes" 'it happened to him that he hardly knew whether he was a man at all' or 39.6. "Oft donne kwxm gebyred öaet he hwaet maerlices & wundorlices gedeö" 'Often when it happens to someone that he does something famous and wonderful'. But the one nominal object follows the verb, as does the pronominal expanded by a relative clause: 287.23. Foröaem oft gebyreö dxm mondwseran 'For it often happens to the gentle' 457.18. Oft eac gebyreö dazm öe him segöer öissa ondraedaö, 'Often also it happens to him who dreads both of them,' B. dyncan 'seem, appear'. Nine examples, six introducing a dependent clause. Three consist of verb with a preceding dative object, as in 285.4. "donne him öyncd öast he ryhte lade funden haebbe" 'when it seems to him that he has found a good excuse'. The other six have, in addition to a dative object, a predicate adjective (four examples) or noun (two examples): 449.13. & him öaer genog öyncö. 'and it seems to him enough there.' 7.6. Foröy me öyncö betre, 'Therefore it seems better to me,'
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177.19. öe him öyncö micel earfoöu & micel gesuinc to habbanne, 'those to whom it appears a great hardship and a great trouble to hold it,' C. (for)scamigan 'make ashamed'. Four examples, each with a preceding accusative object. Three of the four introduce a dependent clause, as in 151.17. "&hie forscamige öaet hie eft sua don" 'and it may shame them that they ever did thus'. The one exception: 165.5. "öaet me foröaem ne scamige" 'that it thereby does not make me ashamed'. D. lystan 'please, desire'. Three examples, none introducing a dependent clause. Each has an accusative object (preceding the verb if pronominal, following if nominal) with infinitive complement-plus-object: 279.5. JEt aerestum lyst done monn unnyt sprecan be odrum monnum, 'At first it pleases the man to talk frivolity about other men,' 279.6. & Sonne aefter firste hine lyst tselan & slitan dara lif butan scylde 'and then after a time it also pleases him to blame and to backbite their lives without any fault' 285.8. öaet hine ne lyste sum nytwyrde weorc wyrcean. 'that it does not please him to do any useful work.' E. spowan 'succeed, prosper'. In the one example the dative object precedes: 3.8. "& hu him öa speow aegöer ge mid wige ge mid wisdome" 'and how they prospered with war and with wisdom'. F. anhagian 'be possible'. The one example has a preceding accusative object with infinitive complement-plus-object: 289.16. "öaet hie ne anhagaö none wuht nyttwyröes don" 'that it is not possible for them to do anything useful'. G. ofdyncan 'displease'. In the one example the dative object precedes: 161.2. "öonne him hiera na ne oföyncö" 'when he is not at all displeased with them'.
4.1.2. The one hundred and nine examples without an impersonal verb subdivide into eight kinds; ninety-eight of the one hundred and nine introduce a quotation or a dependent clause. A. Verb. Thirty-two examples. Twenty-four have either cwedan or awritan, and introduce both direct and indirect quotations: 157.10. Foröy wses suide wel gecueden öaet hit waere atiefred, "Therefore it was very well said that it was painted,' 275.11. Be dxm is awriten: Se wisa suigaö, 'Of which it is written: The wise man is silent,'
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The other eight introduce dependent clauses: 165.16. Ond oft eac gelimpeö, Öonne he to suiöe & to öearllice öreapian wile his hieremenn, 'And it also often happens that, when he will reprove his subjects too severely and too harshly,' 437.27. Donon cymd oft öaette öaet mod him asrest na ne ondraet öa lytlan scylda, 'Whence it often happens that the mind at first does not fear the little sins,' 171.14. Da saglas is beboden öaet scoldon beon mid golde befongne. 'It is commanded that the poles were to be cased in gold.' 1 B. Verb and dative object. Twenty-two examples, twelve of them with prepositional objects. Nineteen introduce quotations or dependent clauses: 439.23. Be dxm wxs gecweden on öxm godspelle to Fariseum öaet hi wiöbleowen öaere fleogan, 'Therefore it was said in the gospel to the Pharisees that they blew away the fly,' 161.8. Hwaet tacnaö öonne Ezechhiel se witga buton öa lareowas, to dsem is gecueden: Genim öe ane tigelan, 'What does Ezekiel the prophet signify but the teachers, to whom it is said: Take a tile,' 161.13. öe him beboden wxs Qxt hi scolden öa ceastre Hierusalem on awritan, 'on which they were commanded to draw the city Jerusalem,' The other three examples: 3.2. öaet me com swiöe oft on gemynd, 'that it has very often come into my mind,' 37.21. Him bid sua sua öam menn öe biö abisgod on faerelde mid oörum cierrum, 'He is like the man who is occupied on a journey with other affairs,' 151.2. öaette foröy to ungemetlice ne sie geliöod öaem scyldgan, 'that therefore the guilty man be not let off too easily,' C. Beon and adjective or noun complement. Thirteen examples, twelve introducing dependent clauses. Eleven of the thirteen have a predicate adjective, usually cynn or (nied)0earf, that follows the verb: 45.2. öonne is cynn öaet him spiwe öaet wif on öaet nebb, 'then is it proper for the woman to spit in his face,' 461.14. Swa is dearfbaet se lareow aerest awecce hine selfne, 'So it is necessary that the teacher first arouse himself,' 457.22. Foröy is betere öaet mon laete sume hwile weaxan öaet idelgielp, 'Therefore it is better that one let the vainglory increase for a time,' 1
That the subject of the dependent clause {Da saglas) precedes the verb construction is perhaps due to the Latin order: "Qui auro quoque jubentur operiri," 49.B.
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The one example not introducing a clause is a dependent clause itself, and shows the usual order of verb in final position: 173.5. "öonne hi suiöe hraedlice bioö gearwe to laeranne öaette donne dearf bid" 'when they are very quickly ready to teach that when it is necessary'. The only example with a noun complement: 171.25. "öonne is suide micel scand gif he öonne fasrö secende hwaet he sellan scyle" 'then it is a very great shame if he goes to seek what he is to give them'. D. Beon and inflected infinitive. Eight examples, all with the infinitive following the verb and all introducing a dependent clause: 302.20. Eac is to geöencanne öaette mon maeg oft öy bet öa ofermodan öreatian, 'It must also be considered that one can often better rebuke the proud,' 306.18. Eac is to wietanne öaette sume unöeawas cumaö of oörum unöeawum 'It is also to be known that some vices come from other vices' E. Beon with predicate adjective and dative object. Sixteen examples, eleven introducing dependent clauses. Twelve examples have (nied)dearf'. Seven (all non-dependent clauses) have the order object + beon + (nied)dearf; each introduces a dependent clause: 167.16. him bid nidöearf öaet he fleo to öara öreora burga anre, 'it is necessary for him that he flee to one of the three cities,' 439.1. Ac him is dearf öaet hi for öaere orsorgnesse ne öurhtion hefigran scylda, 'But it is necessary for them that they not commit more grievous sins,' Two dependent clauses have as usual the verb in final position: 305.2. he baed his fultumes, swelce him niedderf wzre; 'he asked his help, as if it were necessary for him;' 305.6. he sceolde beon öaere spraece sua micle gefaegenra sua him mare dearf wxs, 'he should have been so much the gladder about his speech the more need he had,' One of the remaining three examples, the second clause in a temporal correlation, has the object following the verb: 467.5. Donne us fullicost oleccaö Öa craeftas & öa maegenu, öonne is us micel dearf öaet 'When the virtues and the excellent deeds most fully flatter us, then it is very necessary that' The other two, both dependent clauses with object preceding the verb, have complements consisting of inflected infinitive and object or object clause: 283.25. öonne he agaelö & forielt öast weorc de him nieddearf wzre to wyrceanne, 'when he hinders and delays the work that is necessary for him to do,'
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273.3. diet him nis na dxs anes dearf to denceanne hwelce hie hie selfe utane eowien mannum, 'that it is not only necessary for them to consider how they are to display themselves outwardly to men,' In addition to these twelve examples with (nied)dearf are three with betere, one with ieöre. All introduce dependent clauses: 445.32. öset him wxre betere öaet hi no soöfaestnesse weg ne ongeaten, 'that it were better for them that they did not known the road of truth,' 31.22. Se öonne to halgum hade becymö, & öonne mid yflum bisnum oööe worda oööe weorca oöre on won gebringö, betre him wxre öaet he on laessan hade & on eorölicum weorcum his lif geendode; 'He who attains holy orders, and with bad examples, either of words or of works, brings others into error, it were better for him that he end his life in a humbler station and in earthly works ;'2 433.29. Him wsere dome ieöre öaet he hira ser gearra wende 'It would have been easier for it if it had previously expected them to be ready' F. Beori with inflected infinitive and dative object. Sixteen examples, all introducing a dependent clause. Twelve have the usual order object + verb + infinitive: 441.11. Foröy him is serest to cyöanne hu idel öaet is öaet hi lufiaö & hu unnytt, & sidöan him is to reccanne hu nyttwyröe öaet is öaet hi forlaeten habbaö. 'Therefore it is first to be made known to them how vain and how useless that is that they love, and then they are to be told how useful that is that they have relinquished.' 459.6. Psem lareowe is to wietanne öaet he huru nanum men mare ne beode öonne he acuman maege, 'It is to be made known to the teacher that he is by no means to impose on any man more than he can bear,' Two of the remaining four have a final object, one of which is expanded by a relative clause: 287.3. Ongean diet is to cyöanne ösem öe beoö to hrade, 'On the other hand, it is to be made known to those who are too hasty,' 455.10. Foröxm is to giemanne ösem lareowe öaet he swa swiöe stiere ösere unrotnesse 'Therefore the teacher is to observe that he should very carefully restrain the sadness' In the other two the verb stands initially: 439.31. Nis us nawht recceleaslice to gehiranne öaet he nemde öa undiorestan wyrta 'We must not hear without attention how he mentioned the least valuable plants' 2 The only example with the object standing behind the predicate adjective. That order may have been suggested by the Latin, since Alfred is translating closely at this point: "Qui ergo ad sanctitatis speciem deductus, vel verbo caeteros destruit, vel exemplo; melius profeeto fuerat," 16.B. In a passage a few lines above (31.17.) him ware betere = expedit ei 16.A.; but Migne notes that some MSS. read melus erat ei.
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455.28. Fordsem is deem Izce swide geornlice to giemanne öaet he swa strangne laecedom seile öaem seocan, 'Therefore the physician must be very careful that he give to the sick man a medicine so strong,' G. Beon with predicate adjective and object with inflected infinitive. Two examples, both object clauses: 275.12. oö he ongiet öxt him bid nyttre to sprecanne. 'until he perceives that it is more profitable for him to speak.' 275.17. Foröaem is gesceadwislice to öenceanne hwelcum tidum him gecopust sie to sprecanne, 'Therefore it is to be sagaciously considered at what time it is the most profitable for him to speak,'
4.2. ELLIPSIS A N D PARATAXIS
4.2.1. Elliptical constructions, or, perhaps better, echo constructions, fall into three general groups: A. A finite verb in one clause echoes a structure of predication in a preceding one, as in 277.7. "öonne hit flowan ne mot öider hit wolde" 'when it cannot flow where it would'. B. A nominal in a phrase or clause echoes a structure of modification in the preceding clause, as in 307.9. "Ne sece ic no minne willan, ac mines Fseder" Ί seek not my will, but that of my Father'. C. A construction lacking a finite verb echoes a structure of predication in the preceding clause, as in 183.3. "Öaet he ongiete hwa earm sie, hwa eadig" 'that he know who is poor, who rich'. 4.2.2. Five verbs echo a structure of predication in a preceding clause: sculan (six examples) 165.20. öaet he his hieremonna mod suiöur gedrefed haefö öonne he scolde, 'that he has afflicted the minds of his subjects more than he ought,' 291.22. & Timotheus, he ongeat hatheortran öonne he sceoldel 'and Timothy, he perceived to be hastier than he ought to be?' magan (five examples) 445.10. Daet scip wile hwilum stigan ongean öone stream, ac hit ne mxg, 'The ship sometimes tries to ascend against the current, but it cannot,'
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281.23. öonne we nellaö hwaethwugu nytwyröes don, öonne öonne we magon, 'when we will not do something useful when we can,' willan (five examples) 35.7. on öaem gesuincum he sceal hine selfne geöencean, öeah he nylle. 'in adversity he must consider himself, even if he is unwilling.' 275.9. öonne he hine maeg gehslan, & nylel 'when he can cure him and will not?' dyrfan (three examples) 305.13. öaet hie bet ne truwien him selfum öonne hie dyrfen, 'that they must not trust in themselves more than they ought,' 302.12. oööe öa öe hie öreatigan sceoldon suiöur öreatiaö öonne hie sceolden. 'or threaten those whom they ought more than they ought.' don (seven examples) 293.3. he underfeng öa halgan gesomnunga to plantianne & to ymbhweorfanne, sua se ceorl decf his ortgeard. 'he undertook to plant and to tend the holy assembly, as the laborer does his orchard.' 427.28. Hi laerdon hira synna swa swa Sodome dydon, 'They proclaimed their sins as the men of Sodom did,' 4.2.3. In twenty-three examples a nominal echoes a structure of modification in the preceding clause: 291.6. Foröaem us aetiede se Halga Gassö aegöer ge on culfran onlicnesse ge on fyres, 'Therefore the Holy Ghost appeared to us in the form both of a dove and of fire,' 451.10. he us getacnode for hwelcum öingum we sceolden ure godan weorc helan, & for hwelcum we hi sceolden cyöan; 'he taught us for what reasons we are to hide our good works, and for what reasons we are to make them known;' 301.24. öaet sume menn onderfoö eaömodnesse hiw, sume ofermodnesse, 'that some men receive the appearance of humility, some of pride,' 461.22. direst he sceal wrecan on him selfum his agnu yfelu & öa hreowsian, & siööan oderra monna cyöan & wrecan. 'First he must punish in himself his own evils, and repent of them, and then point out and punish those of other men.' 3 " A few examples show a similar construction, wherein the entire object of a preceding transitive verb is echoed with another transitive verb, as in 187.5. "sua se laece grapaö, & stracaö, & hyt his seax & hwxt, aeröonöe he stingan wille" 'just as the physician feels, and strokes, and hides his knife, and whets it, before he pierces*, or 441.4. "on oöre öa öe hit onginnaö, & no ne geendiad" 'in another way those who begin it, and do not accomplish it'.
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4.2.4. The most common of these three constructions is that which lacks a finite verb and echoes a structure of predication: 163.23. Durh öa pannan is getacnod se wielm öaes modes, & durh dset isern dxt mmgen dara dreatunga. 'By the pan is signified the fervor of the spirit, and by the iron the power of reproofs.' 285.1. öonne öynceaö him sumu weorc suiöe hefug, sumu suiöe unwzrlico, 'then some works seem to him very arduous, some very imprudent,' 31.18. Durh öa cweorne is getacnod se ymbhwyrft öisse worolde & eac monna lifes & hira gesuinces, & durh done sxgrund hira ende & se sidemesda demm. 'By the mill is signified the circuit of this world, and also of men's lives, and their toil, and by the bottom of the sea their end and the last judgement.' 459.18. öy ic sceal sellan eow giet mioloc drincan, nalles flzsc etan. 'therefore I must still give you milk to drink, not meat to eat.' A protracted example occurs in chapter XXIII: the formulaic list of thirty-six varieties of preaching that begins part III of the Cura Pastoralis: 175.12. On oöre wisan mon sceal manian weras, on oöre wif; & on oöre wisan ealde, on oöre gionge; & on oöre wisan earme, on oöre eadige; & on oöre wisan öa bliöan, on oöre öa unrotan; 'In one way one must admonish men, in another women; in one way the old, in another the young; in one way the poor, in another the rich; in one way the cheerful, in another the sad;' That list follows the Latin closely: Aliter Aliter Aliter Aliter
namque admonendi sunt viri, atque aliter feminas. juvenes, aliter senes. inopes, aliter locupletes. lasti, aliter tristes. 50.C.
The pairs are repeated, in slightly modified form, as headings for the next thirty-five chapters (XXIV through LIX). Thus "& oöre wisan ealde, on oöre gionge" becomes 179.19. XXV. Daette on oöre wisan sint to monianne Öa iungan, on oöre öa ealdan. 'That the young are to be admonished in one way, in another the old.'
4.2.5. Parataxis Following S. O. Andrew, we distinguish between parataxis as simply the lack of grammatical subordination, something usually suggesting amateurish or awkward writing, and parataxis as that rhetorical device by which subordination is made im-
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plicit in the juxtaposing of non-dependent clauses.4 Here we will be concerned only with the rhetorical device, the device used, for example, in Unferö's famous taunting of Beowulf: Git on waeteres seht seofon niht swuncon; he pe xt sunde oferflät, hxfde märe mxgen. 'You two in the water's realm toiled for seven nights; he outdid you at swimming — he had greater strength.'5 Andrew's discussion shows parataxis to be more characteristic of the later prose (jElfric's Homilies, for instance) than of the earlier. He cites four passages from the Orosius, three from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but just one from the Pastoral Care (which does not occur in that part of the text discussed here): 256.18. öaet waes öaet he spraec oöer oöer he sprecan wolde 'that he spoke other than he intended' 6 The text does have seven examples of parataxis, one with sellan and six with a negative of beon. The example with sellan and one of those with nses would be what Andrew says "is equivalent to an adverbial clause of Reason or Purpose" (p. 88): 449.14. Hi sellaö wiö to lytlum weoröe öaet öaet hi meahton hefonrice mid gebycggan: sellad wiö manna lofe. 'They sell for too small a price that with which they could buy the kingdom of heaven: they sell it for the praise of men.' 443.19. öa him Ö£et leoht com of hefonum, & hine gebregde: nzs him no da giet to gecweden hwset he mid ryhte öonon forö don scolde, 'when the light came to him from heaven and terrified him: he was not yet told what was right for him to do in the future,' The other five with nses would be, in Andrew's terminology, "equivalent to a defining clause" :7 27.15. hi ricsiaö of hira agnum dome, nses of dses hiehstan deman, 'they rule through their own power, not through that of the highest judge,' 27.14. Hie ricsedon, nses deah mines donees', 'They reigned; it was not however of my will;' 4
Syntax and Style in Old English (Cambridge, 1940), p. 87. As regards the first kind of parataxis, one naturally thinks of the early parts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, particularly the Cynewulf and Cyneheard entry at 755. 6 Fr. Klaeber, ed., Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, 3rd ed. (Boston, 1950), 11. 516-518. β See pp. 88-90; the passage from the Pastoral Care is on p. 90. Andrew has quoted the Cotton rather than the Hatton manuscript. The Hatton reads "oöer oöer d