THE ACTIVE INFINITIVE. 
133 
active in sense, in the following we have active infinitives that are apparently 
but not really passive in sense: JElj.Hept.: Jos. 11.6: to mergen ic hig sylle on 
bisre ylcan tide ealle gewundigean on Israela gesihbe = eras enim hac eadem 
hora ego tradam omnes istos vulnerandos in conspectu Israel; Laws, Ordal, c. 4, 
§ 1: sylle heom eallum cyssan boc; Bede 192.14: Da gehalgode ic wseter j 
scsefban dyde in baes . . . treoes, 7 sealde bam untruman drincan = 153.32: 
benedixi aquam, et astulam roboris praefati inmittens obtuli egro potandum 
(with which compare Greg. 329.3 b : Me byrste, & ge me ne sealdon drincan 
= 254.4: sitivi, et non dedistis mihi bibere); Mk. 6.37 c : we him elan syllaS 
= dabimus illis manducare. Again I am in substantial agreement with Dr. 
Shearin, 1 2 3 4 who, l. c., p. 16, declares: “ Only the active meaning of the simple 
infinitive in final function is found in Old English, as may easily be noted in the 
examples already quoted, in which the Latin original is of like voice.” The 
last clause of his statement, however, is somewhat too sweeping, as in some of 
the examples given by him and by me the Anglo-Saxon infinitive corresponds 
to a passive locution in Latin. 
Normally the final infinitive, whether uninflected or inflected, follows the 
verb that it modifies, as in Beow. 115 (GewatlSsL neosian . . . hean huses) and 
in Mat. 9.13 (soblice ne com ic rihtwise to gecigeanne = Non enim veni vocare 
justos), but occasionally it precedes it, as in Gen. 2262 (Heo ba fleon gewat 
brea 7 beowdom) and in Bede 22.18 (to gefullianne com to Rome = 292.9: 
baptizandus Romam uenerit). In many instances, the pre-positive final infini¬ 
tive in Anglo-Saxon prose corresponds to a pre-positive word (infinitive, gerund, 
or gerundive) in the Latin original, as in the example just quoted from Bede. 
In not a few instances, as Dr. Riggert, passim, suggests, pre-position seems due 
to the fact that the infinitive occurs in a dependent clause, as in Ex. 472: hwonne 
wabema stream . . . neosan come. 
As stated in Chapter V, with verbs of motion and of rest it is at times diffi¬ 
cult to decide whether an infinitive is final or predicative in use. This difficulty 
arises out of the close kinship of the two uses at the outset, — a topic discussed 
in section v of Chapter XIV. Again, at times it is difficult to determine 
whether an inflected infinitive is final or adjectival, as in Bede 150.8 (ba eft seo 
modor . . . onsende ... in G. rice to fedanne= 126.4: quos . . . misit in 
Galliam nutriendos ), with which compare Bede 76.30 b (bsette wiif forhyegab 
heora beam fedan, ba be heo cennab, 7 heo obrum wiifum to fedenne sella& 
= 55.10: eosque aliis mulieribus ad nutriendum tradant). 
I. Only the uninflected final infinitive is found with the following verbs: — 
1. Certain Verbs of Motion: — 
genaegan, approach. 
gengan, go. 
2. Certain Verbs of Rest: — 
gesittan, sit. liegan, lie. 
3. Certain Verbs of Commanding and Requesting: — 
abiddan, request. biddan, request. 
4. Certain Other Verbs: — 
gewyrean, make. scieppan, create. 
gewitan, depart. 
hladan, load, draw. 
