CHAPTER VI. 
THE PREDICATIVE INFINITIVE WITH “WUTON .” 1 
Predicative, too, may be considered the use of the infinitive to complete 
the sense of the adhortative ( w)uton, ‘ let/ When so used in Anglo-Saxon, the 
infinitive is uninflected. Regularly, too, the infinitive is active, only three 
examples having been found of the passive infinitive so used. Whether active 
or passive, the infinitive invariably follows ( w)uton . 
Regularly the infinitive that is active in form is active in sense. 
A. THE ACTIVE INFINITIVE. 
Of the active infinitive used as the complement of (w)uton about 614 ex¬ 
amples have been found, 572 in the prose and 42 in the poetry. As in the poetry, 
so in Early West Saxon, the idiom is relatively infrequent: only 25 examples 
occur in the whole of Alfred. No example has been found in the Chronicle or 
in Waerferth. On the other hand, the construction is relatively frequent in 
the Laws , in the Blickling Homilies, and in the Gospels, and is quite frequent 
in /Elfric (about 168 examples) and in Wulfstan (about 231 examples). 
The construction is found with a large number of verbs, and these have such 
a diversity of meaning as not to admit of helpful classification. The follow¬ 
ing verbs occur approximately twenty times or more: heon, ‘be;’ biddan, 
‘ pray; ’ don, ‘ do/ ‘ make; ’ gan [gangan, -o-], ‘ go; ’ ge&encan, ‘ think/ ‘ con¬ 
sider; ’ habban, ‘have;’ healdan, ‘ hold/ 4 preserve;* lufian, ‘ love; * and 
wyrcan, ‘ work/ ‘ make/ The following verbs occur in the poems: acier- 
ran [-e-\, ‘ turn; , agan, ‘ own; 7 beorgan, ‘ protect; ’ biddan, ‘ pray; ; cuman, 
‘ come; 1 cunnian, ‘ attempt;' cweman, ‘ please; 7 cy$an, ‘ make known ; 1 
earnian, ‘ earn/ ‘ merit; ’ efstan, ‘ hasten ; 1 feogan [feon], ‘ hate;' feran, 
‘ travel; ’ gan [gangan, -o-], ‘ go;' gebeodan, ‘ offer; 7 gedon, ‘ cause; 7 getSencan, 
1 think/ ‘ consider; 7 habban, 1 have; 7 healdan, 1 hold; ; helpan, ‘ help ; 7 herian, 
1 praise; 7 hycgan, 1 think; 7 hyhtan, ‘ hope; 7 lufian, 1 love ; 7 oferhycgan, 1 de¬ 
spise; 7 oliccan, 1 please; ’ oSwendan, 1 escape ; 7 scyndan, 1 hasten ; 7 secan, 
1 seek; ’ settan, ‘ set up/ ‘ establish; , staSelian, ‘ establish ; 7 tilian, ‘strive 
for/ ‘ attempt ; 7 toweorpan, ‘ destroy ; 7 wilnian, ‘ desire ; 7 and wuldrian , 
‘ honor/ The following are found in Alfred: acrceftan, ‘ devise; 7 agi{e)fan, 
‘give; J bidan, ‘ await; ; biddan, ‘ pray;' biegan [-e-\, ‘ bend; 7 bring an, 
1 bring ; 7 brucan, 1 enjoy ; 7 cuman, ‘ come ; 7 don, ‘ do/ ‘ make ; 7 endian [ce-], 
1 end; 7 fon, ‘ begin; 7 forlcetan, ‘ leave; 7 gebetan, ‘ amend ; 7 gebiddan, ‘ pray ; 7 
geliefan [-y-], ‘ believe ; 7 gereccan, ‘account/ ‘ consider ; 7 healdan, ‘hold ; 7 
hebban, ‘ lift up ; 7 iecan [e-\, ‘ increase ; 7 Icetan, ‘ allow ; 7 secgan, ‘ say/ ‘ re¬ 
late; 7 sellan, ‘ give; 7 spyrian [-w-], ‘ inquire ; 7 and tellan, ‘ tell/ ‘ relate/ 
As the construction is quite the same regardless of the verb used, it seems 
necessary to give only a few examples: — 
1 Variant forms are uton, ( w)utan, (w)utun, uten, ute: see notes at the end of this chapter. For the 
evolution in the meaning of ( w)uton, see Chapter XIV, section vi. 
