THE PASSIVE INFINITIVE. 
125 
B. THE PASSIVE INFINITIVE. 
The passive infinitive with accusative subject as subject of an active verb 
is found a few times (7 in all) with the following verbs: — 
gebyrian, befitting: 
r Gosp.: Mk. 8.31*’ g , already quoted on p. 124 above under Mk. 8.31 b > c . — 
Mk. 13.10: And on ealle beoda aerest gebyraS beon baet godspel gebodud = Et 
in omnes gentes primum oportet prcedicari evangelium. *— L. 24.47: bus gebyrede 
Crist bolian, and by briddan daege of deabe arisan; and beon bodud on his 
naman dcedbote and synna forgyfenesse on ealle beoda = sic oportebat Christum 
pati, et resurgere a mortuis tertia die; et prcedicari in nomine ejus poenitentiam, 
et remissionem peccatorum in omnes gentes. 
gedafenian, befitting: 
Bede 294.11: baette swelces modes wer ma gedafonade beon to biscope 
gehalgad, bonne cyning waere = 225.24: quia talis animi uirum episcopum magis 
quam regem ordinari deceret . 
lician, be pleasing: 
7?ede338.11 a> b : ba licede ^aem . . . foreseonde . . . ba . . . sawle . . . ademde y 
asodene beon = 256.14: placuit . . . prouisori . . . animam . . . examinari. 
Once we have a passive infinitive with accusative subject as subject of a 
passive verb, in Bede 70.32: by laes on him gesegen sy ba Sing onwrecen beon, 
in baem heo burh unwisnesse gesyngodon aer fulwihtes baebe = 51.24: ne in eis 
ilia ulcisci uideantur, in quibus se per ignorantiam ante lauacrum baptismatis 
adstrinxerunt. 
For the predicative infinitive with accusative subject in the other Germanic 
languages, see Chapter XVI, section viii. 
Occasionally in Early West Saxon and frequently in Late West Saxon, the 
predicative infinitive with accusative subject is supplanted by the predicative 
present participle with accusative subject, and I heard her sing becomes I 
heard her singing, — a topic discussed in Chapter XV. 
NOTES. 
1. Ambiguous Infinitives. — It may be that, in Mat. 8.21 b (Drihten, alyfe me serest to 
farenne and bebyrigean minne feeder = Domine, permitte me primum ire, et sepelire patrem 
meum) and in Luke 9.59 (alyf me aeryst bebyrigean minne feeder = permitte mihi primum ire, 
et sepelire patrem meum), we have an accusative and predicative infinitive, but I am inclined 
to believe that we have rather a dative (me) and an objective infinitive, for in the only in¬ 
stance in which we have aliefan followed by an infinitive plus a pronoun whose case is cer¬ 
tain, in AElf. L. S. 102.227 (cTara alyfde se casere heora cristendom to healdenne ), we have the 
dative case. — Me and an infinitive occur after other verbs, but in most cases it is clear whether 
the accusative or the dative is intended from the construction of the verb with other pro¬ 
nouns or with nouns. 
2. Future Active Infinitive. — We have a kind of future infinitive active in the following: 
Bede 406.21: Done . . . riim wintra hiene hcebbende beon, he . . . forescegde = 294.23: se 
numerum annorum fuisse habiturum . . . prcedicere solebat; ib. 190.30: ne getreowe me 
onfoendebeon = 153.14: m e accepturum esse confidam; ib. 430.24: Mid "Sy ic unc wende inngon- 
gende beon = 308.4: in cuius amoenitatem loci cum nos intraturos sperarem. 
3. Alternation of Participle and Infinitive. — Occasionally we find the predicative present 
participle alternating with the predicative infinitive active, as in: Bened. 25.20: tSylaes be 
God on senigne timan us geseo bugende to yfele and to nahte gehweorfan = 50.17: ne nos 
