62 
THE OBJECTIVE INFINITIVE. 
standan, ‘ understand/ + be or ymbe; warenian, 1 shun/ + from or wi6) or 
(2) with certain verbs followed by a prepositional phrase ( beotigan, 1 threaten/ 
4 - to; elcian, 1 delay/ + to; gehyhtan, 1 hope/ + on; giernan, 1 desire/ + oefter; 
higian, 1 strive for/ + to; murnan, ‘ lament/ + cefter or for; sierwan, ‘ plot/ 
+ ymb; smeagan, ‘ meditate/ + be or on or ymb; &eahti(g)an, ‘consult/ + embe). 
While to us of to-day a few of these infinitives (as with beotigan, giernan, under - 
standan, and warenian) at first appear as direct objectives, we soon see that 
this is unnecessary with the two former; and the other infinitives appear to us 
as genitival, datival, or instrumental in sense, as with the corresponding phrases 
made up of a preposition and a noun. 
(c) With certain verbs having the object in the genitive {elcian, 1 delay/ 
also followed by to+ a dative). The infinitive at first appears as an accu¬ 
sative objective, but later is seen to be an adverbial genitive or dative- 
instrumental. 
(d) With certain verbs having the object in the dative ( gedihtan, 1 direct/ 
and wi&sacan, 1 refuse ’)• To the modern Englishman the infinitive appears 
with the former as a true dative objective; with the latter, as an accusative 
objective, as would the dative noun therewith. 
(e) With certain verbs having a double (occasionally a triple) regimen: — 
(aa) Those governing the accusative or the genitive ( adrcedan, 1 fear; ; 
anbidian, 1 await; ’ an&racian, 1 fear; ’ behatan, 1 promise; ’ bodian, 1 preach;' 
ge&encan, 1 think; 7 giernan, 1 desire; ’ habban, 1 have; ’ reccan, ‘ care for; ; 
weddian, ‘ contract; ’ and witan ( nytan ), ‘ know * (‘ know not ’)), with which 
the infinitive appears to the modern reader as accusative objects rather than 
genitive objects, as would also the noun in the genitive. 
(bb) Those governing the accusative of the person and the genitive of the 
thing (gcelan, 1 hinder from; ’ teon, 1 accuse ’), in which the infinitive after 
gcelan appears to us moderns as a genitive of separation; that after teon, as a 
genitive of specification. 
(cc) Those governing the genitive or the dative ( geliefan (also accusative), 
‘ believe; ’ getilian (also accusative), ‘ attempt/ ‘ strive for; ’ onfon (also accu¬ 
sative), ‘ undertake; ’ wandian, 1 delay; ’ and wi&cwe&an, 1 refuse ’). The 
infinitive with geliefan appears to us as a dative or an accusative objective; 
that with getilian, as the dative of the end toward which; that with onfon and 
widcwe&an, as an accusative objective; and that with wandian, as the genitive 
of specification. 
(dd) Those governing the dative of the person and the genitive of the thing 
{forwiernan, 1 prohibit; ’ wiernan, 1 desist from; ’ and wi&cwe8an, ‘ refuse ’)• 
The infinitive with the two former appears to us of the present day as a geni¬ 
tive of separation; with the latter, as an accusative objective, as would the 
noun in the dative. 
2 . Not a few times, however, the inflected infinitive appears to us moderns 
as a direct object. This is more or less true, as already pointed out, with a few 
of the verbs treated under 1 above. But the feeling for the direct objective 
is perhaps somewhat stronger when the inflected infinitive is found as object:— 
(a) With certain verbs governing an accusative of the direct object. Sev¬ 
eral of these are compounds whose simplex governs another case than the ac¬ 
cusative or another case beside the accusative ( a&encan, 1 think/ ‘ attempt ; 1 
forgieman, ‘ neglect; ’ forgiemeleasian, 1 neglect; ’ oferhogian, ‘ despise; ’ un- 
