CHAPTER XIV. 
ORIGIN OF THE CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE INFINITIVE 
IN ANGLO-SAXON. 
L THE SUBJECTIVE INFINITIVE . 1 
A. THE ACTIVE INFINITIVE. 
1. With an Active Finite Verb. 
The active infinitive, whether uninflected or inflected, as the subject of 
active verbs was probably an idiom native to Anglo-Saxon. For we find: — 
1. That about 34 examples occur of the subjective infinitive in the poems, 
of which 8 are uninflected and 26 are inflected. Of this total, several examples 
are found in Beowulf , all with beon plus an adjective except in one instance. 
2. That while, in the prose translations, the Anglo-Saxon subjective infini¬ 
tive corresponds nearly a fourth of the time to a Latin infinitive that is the 
subject of a finite verb, about half the time it corresponds to various other 
idioms; and in numerous cases the subjective infinitive is found without any 
Latin correspondent. It should be added, however, that, in the case of no 
Latin correspondents, the Anglo-Saxon subjective infinitive occasionally is 
identical with an infinitive that elsewhere has a Latin infinitive as its original; 
and that, in the case of some of the Latin correspondents other than a sub¬ 
jective infinitive (as, for example, with the other uses of the infinitive indicated 
below and with the uses of the gerund and the gerundive), some, though not, 
perhaps, a determining, influence is exercised by the Latin original. It is 
noteworthy, too, that the Latin expressions containing an adjective are usually 
rendered by an inflected infinitive in Anglo-Saxon. In a word, the Latin in¬ 
fluence is probably stronger than a first glance at my statistics would lead one 
to suppose. 
The Latin chief correspondents are: an infinitive that is the subject of a finite verb (U. 2 : 
24,1.: 7) or of a finite verb + an adjective (U.: 1,1.: 13). About half the time it corresponds to 
various other idioms, as follows: an objective infinitive, U.: 4, I.: 2; an infinitive as predicate 
nominative, U.: 0,1.: 2; a predicative infinitive with an auxiliary verb, U.: 0,1.: 1; an accu¬ 
sative and infinitive as subject to a finite verb, U.: 9, I.: 5; an accusative and infinitive as 
subject to a finite verb + an adjective, U.: 0, I.: 5; an accusative and infinitive as object, 
U.: 8, I.: 3; a gerundial periphrastic, U.: 0, I.: 4; a gerund in the genitive, U.: 1, I.: 0; a 
gerund in the ablative, U.: 1, I.: 0; a gerund in the accusative, U.: 0, I.: 1; an adjective 
+ an infinitive, U,: 0, I.: 1; an adjective + ad + a gerund in the accusative, XJ.: 0, I.: 1; an 
adjective + est -f a supine in -u, XJ.: 0, I.: 3; an adjective -f a noun in the ablative, XJ.: 0, I.: 
2; an adjective -f a supine in -u, XJ.: 0,1.: 1; an adjective -f est without an infinitive, XJ.: 0, 
I.: 4; an indicative-f the adverb facile, XJ.: 0, I.: 1; opus est -f an wi-clause, XJ.: 0, I.: 1; a 
relative clause with est + an adjective, XJ.: 0, I.: 1; a passive indicative with an ablative 
phrase, XJ.: 0, I.: 1; an indicative active, XJ.: 2, I.: 1; an adhortative subjunctive, XJ.: 0, 
X.: 2; a noun in -io, XJ. 7, I.: 0; a noun in the genitive, XJ.: 1, I.: 1; a noun in the accusative, 
XJ.: 1, I.: 0; a noun in the ablative, XJ.: 2; I.: 1; a substantivized past participle -fan in¬ 
dicative, XJ.: 0,1.: 1; a prepositional phrase + a verb, XJ.: 1, I.: 1; a loose paraphrase, XJ.: 
0, I.: 5; no Latin, XJ.: 17, I.: 43. 
1 Cf. Chapter I, pp. 7 ff. 
183 
2 U. = uninflected; I. = inflected. 
