66 
THE OBJECTIVE INFINITIVE. 
confusion between inflected and uninflected infinitive rests upon the double 
regimen of the verb, and confusion is peculiarly easy to arise either with in¬ 
finitive or with noun. The only instance of the infinitive with this verb in 
the poetry is uninflected. 
(cc) Those governing the genitive or the dative ( geswican, ‘ stop/ 1 desist 
from:' cf. 1 (c) ). Of the very slight difference between the two kinds of infini¬ 
tive here, arising from the double (or triple) regimen of geswican, I have already 
spoken in 1 (c) above. This verb is not found with an infinitive in the poetry. 
(dd) Those governing the genitive or the dative or the accusative (gewil(l)~ 
nian, ‘ desire ’)• The double construction here, also, rests on the triple regi¬ 
men of the verb; and the difference between the two infinitives is a matter of 
phraseology rather than reason, as also with the noun in different cases. This 
verb is not found with an infinitive in the poetry. 
(ee) Those governing the accusative or the instrumental ( fon, ‘ undertake/ 
‘ begincf. 1 (c); gewunian, ‘use/ ‘bewont’)- Of the double construction 
with fon, due to its regimen, I have already spoken in 1 (c). The twofold 
construction with gewunian is likewise due to its double regimen. 
2 . At times, however, we find the objective infinitive both uninflected and 
inflected after verbs not having a double regimen, as in the following groups: — 
(a) With a few verbs governing the accusative of the direct object ( aginnan, 
1 begin/ beginnan, 1 begin/ ‘ undertake/ ‘ attempt; ’ findan, ‘ find/ ‘ strive; ’ 
forhogian, ‘ despise/ ‘ neglect; ’ forhycgan, * 1 despise/ ‘ neglect; ’ ge-earnian, 
‘ deserve/ ‘ earn; ’ leornian, 1 learn; ’ myntan, ‘ think/ ‘ intend; , onginnan, 
‘ begin/ ‘ undertake/ ‘ attempt ’)• Several of these verbs are compounds 
whose simplex governs another case besides the accusative (forhogian, forhycgan, 
ge-earnian), — a fact that may account for the double construction with the 
compounds. 
As to the compounds of ginnan 1 (aginnan, beginnan, and onginnan), they 
constitute apparent rather than real exceptions to the principle stated in 1 
above, for, while I have found no instance of these verbs governing any case 
except the accusative in Anglo-Saxon, Professor Delbriick, in his Synkretismus, 
p. 38, tells us that both the accusative and the genitive are found with biginnan 
in Old Saxon, that in Old High German the genitive is very common with 
biginnan, and that the genitive was probably at the outset the normal case in 
the West Germanic languages with the ginnan compounds. It may be, there¬ 
fore, that these compounds had a double regimen in Anglo-Saxon, though not 
so recorded in the dictionaries; and that the use of the two infinitives is due to 
this double regimen. It should be added that not only the uninflected infini¬ 
tive in - an but also the genitive infinitive in -annes are found after biginnan in 
Old High German. 2 In Middle High German, too, beginnan is followed by 
both the uninflected infinitive and the inflected infinitive. 3 That, when in¬ 
flected, the objective infinitive is in close proximity to, usually in juxtaposi¬ 
tion with, beginnan, but that, when uninflected, it is usually remote therefrom, 
is an interesting but puzzling fact. This fact seems to me, however, to tend 
to prove the contention of Professor Delbriick that, in all probability, the 
1 Cf. Dr. H. Willert, 2 1. c., p. 104: “ Nicht erklaren kann ich mir, warum ginnan [sic for beginnan ?] und ongin¬ 
nan neben zahlreichen reinen Infinitiven vereinzelt auch den mit to aufweisen und warum beginnan den.letzteren 
bevorzugt.” * See Erdmann, 1 l. c., I, p. 210; Wilmanne, l. c., p. 125. 
1 See Monsterberg-Munckenau, l. c., pp. 106, 114-120. 
