CHAPTER XI. 
THE INFINITIVE WITH ADJECTIVES , 1 
A. THE ACTIVE INFINITIVE. 
Usually the active infinitive that modifies an Adjective is inflected, but 
occasionally it is uninflected. There are 241 examples of the former to 6 ex¬ 
amples of the latter. Of the inflected infinitive, 217 examples occur in the prose, 
rather widely distributed, in Early West Saxon and in Late West Saxon, and 
24 examples in the poetry. Of the six uninflected infinitives, four are found in 
the prose and two in the poetry. Although Dr. Riggert, l. c., p. 71, declares 
that “ Ein reiner Infinitiv in Verbindung mit einem Adjektiv ist in der ae. 
Poesie nicht zu belegen,” he practically withdraws this statement in his com¬ 
ment on Guthlac, 1. 1050. In discussing the simple infinitive of purpose after 
verbs of motion, he adds, l. c., p. 44: “ Anzufiihren ist hier endlich Gu. 1050, wo 
ic eom si&es fus als Ausdruck der Eile aufzufassen ist und demgemass mit dem 
reinen Infinitiv steht; Gu. 1050: ic eom sibes fus upeard niman edleanan georn 
in Sam ecan gefean, sergewyrhtum geseon sigora frean.” 
To me the active infinitive with adjectives seems almost, if not quite, ex¬ 
clusively active in sense. Dr. Farrar, however, l. c., pp. 16 and 19, contends 
that the infinitive is passive in the following: Bede 174.22: wundro, . . . Sa 
Se nu to long to secgenne syndon = 143.30: sed haec nos ad alia tendentes, suis 
narrare permittimus; Greg. 173.11: Ne brede ge no Sa stengeas of Saem hringum, 
Sylaes sio earc sie ungearo to heranne = 126.28: Ut ad portandam arcam nulla 
mora prcepeditat. Undoubtedly each of these infinitives may be translated as 
if passive, but I see no necessity therefor in either sentence. The Latin in the 
second sentence seems to me distinctly to suggest that to heranne is to be taken 
as active, not passive, in sense; and with the former sentence should be com¬ 
pared Greg. 239.10 (nawuht nis iedre to gesecgenne, ne eac to [ge]hefanne tionne 
so<5 = 180.21: Nil autem est ad defendendum puritate tutius, nil ad dicendum 
veritate facilius), in which ad dicendum likewise suggests the active sense for 
to {ge)secgenne. More doubtful than the two cases cited by Dr. Farrar, in my 
judgment, are the following: — Oros. 80.11, 12 a - b : SwatSeahseo . . . menegeo 
t>ges folces waes ba iedre to oferwinnanne ‘Sonne heo us sie nu to gerimanne oSSe 
to geliefanne - 81.7, 8: Huic tarn incredibili temporibus nostris agmini, cujus 
numerum nunc difficilius est adstrui, quam tunc fuit vinci; Greg. 459.9 a * b : 
sio hea lar is betere manegum monnum to helanne , & feawum to secgganne 
= 392.7, 8: Alta enim quseque debent multis audientibus contegi, et vix paucis 
aperiri. However, despite the presence of the Latin passive infinitives in 
these sentences, I see no necessity for considering the corresponding infinitives 
in Anglo-Saxon as passive; it seems to me that the utmost that we can say is 
this: the infinitives may be passive in sense, but are probably not. 
The general contention of the preceding paragraph is supported, it seems 
to me, by what we know of the infinitive with adjectives in Greek. In his 
1 Also sporadically with a few Adverbs. 
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