106 THE PREDICATIVE INFINITIVE WITH “BEON” (“WESAN”). 
healdan, hold, preserve: 
Oros. 46.17 a : ober set ham beon heora lond to healdanne = 47.17: reginae 
. . . quae . . . vicissim curam belli et domus custodiam sortiebantur. 
onfon, receive: 
A. S. Horn. & L. S. II: 13.266: Uton . . . tilian <5set we syn clsene and 
unwsemme Sam to onfonne (or the infinitive may modify the adjectives instead 
of syn?). 
sceawian, see, examine: 
Greg. 131.21: Da recceras sceolon bion beforan Ssem folce sua sua monnes 
eage beforan his lichoman, his weg & his stsepas to sceawianne = 92.28: ut 
recta pedes valeant itinera carpere, haec procul dubio caput debet ex alto 
providere. 
tregian, grieve: 
Chron. 239 b , 1104 E c : quoted under gremian above. 
Segnian, serve: 
Wcerf. 281.20: ac Sysum wees set his moder 7 his brober to Segnienne 
— 341 C: Huic ad serviendum mater cum fratre aderat. 
For the predicative infinitive with the verb to be in the other Germanic lan¬ 
guages, see Chapter XVI, section vii. 
NOTES. 
1. The Predicative Infinitive with “ Beon ” (“ Wesan ”) in a Series. —In the following 
passages we have a series of two infinitives with beon (wesan) in which the first is inflected but 
the second is not: Mlj. Horn. I. 400 b h 2> quoted on p. 103; Mlj. L. S. 336.222, 223, quoted 
on p. 98; ib. 376.181, 183, quoted on p. 102; Bede 78.24, 26, quoted on p. 98. In the 
following passages we have a series of inflected infinitives: Mlj. Horn. I. 498 t1,2 ; — Bede 
66.4 a ’ b ; 430.32 a - b ; — Bened. 5.8 a - b ; — Boeth. 72.27 a - b * c ; — Greg. 183.3 a > b ; — Lcece. 25.30 a ’ b ; 
— Laws 14 a * b ’ c ; 46 a ' b ; 474 a ’ b ; — Wcerf. 108.32 a - b ; 239.26, 27; 348.9^ b ; 349.27 a ’ b . 
2. Predicative Infinitives Becoming Absolute. — In Bede 88.23 (Ono se mon bib, (Sees be 
swa to ewedenne sy, seghwaeber ge gehsefted ge freo = 62.1: Ecce itaque homo est, ut ita 
dixerim , captiuus et liber etc.), in Boeth. 39.10 (Swa hit is nu hra&ost to seeganne be eallum Sam 
woruldgesaeltSum = 42.63: concludere . . . licet), and in Wulf. 158.16 (and hreedest is to 
cweSenne) and 204.2 (and raSest is to soeegenne), we have inflected predicative infinitives of 
necessity on the way to becoming absolute in use. Cf., too, Boeth. 41.3 (Daet is nu hradost 
to seeganne , Sset ic wilnode weorSfullice to libbanne etc. = 0). 
3. Predicative Inflected Infinitive without “ To.” — In Laws 442 (2), quoted on p. 101 
above, we have, in one manuscript, an inflected infinitive of necessity without to. 
4. The Inflected Infinitive with “ Habban.” — As stated in Chapter II, p. 43, occasion¬ 
ally the inflected infinitive with habban denotes obligation or futurity. See the examples 
there given, and compare the statement of Wilmanns, who, l. c., p. 128, after speaking of the 
infinitive of obligation after the verb to be, adds: “ Ahnliche Bedeutung nimmt haben mit dem 
Inf. mit zu an: Tat. c. 138.8: ih haben thir sihwaz zi quedanne, habeo tibi aliquid dicere.” 
5. A Mixed Construction occurs in Greg. 23.1 (Dsette hwilum Sa leohtan scylda beoS 
beteran to forlcetan (sic! but Cotton MS.: to forlcetonne) = 388.21: Quod aliquando leviora 
vitia relinquenda sunt): the inflected infinitive may be considered as predicative with beoS or 
as modifying the adjective beteran; but, although I have put it under the former head, it 
really belongs under each. 
