186 ORIGIN OF CONSTRUCTIONS OF INFINITIVE IN ANGLO-SAXON. 
The Latin correspondents are: — for gehieran: objective active infinitive, 1; predicative 
passive infinitive with an auxiliary verb, 1; co-ordinated finite verb (active, 5; passive, 1); 
subordinated finite verb, active, 3; appositive participle (active, 5; passive, 1); no Latin, 6; 
— for geseon: objective active infinitive, 5; predicative accusative of the participle (active, 
1; passive, 1); accusative and passive infinitive, 2; no Latin, 1; — for hieran: objective 
passive infinitive, 2; subordinated finite verb (active, 1; passive, 1); predicative accusative 
of the past participle, 1; accusative and infinitive (active), 1; no Latin, 2. 
4. Verbs of Mental Perception. 1 
The objective infinitive occurs so seldom with verbs of mental perception 
that it is difficult to arrive at a positive conclusion concerning its origin in Anglo- 
Saxon. But what evidence we have seems to indicate that the idiom is, in 
the main, native. With two of the verbs concerned ( gefrignan and gehogian ), 
the objective infinitive is found only in the poetry, two out of three times in 
Beowulf. With geteon, on the other hand, the infinitive in Anglo-Saxon cor¬ 
responds to a Latin objective infinitive active, and may have been suggested 
by the Latin. With hogian, the infinitive is found four times in the poetry 
and twice in the prose (in the Soliloquies and in A51fric), in the former translat¬ 
ing a Latin accusative and gerundial infinitive. With tweogan [tweon], the 
infinitive translates a Latin accusative and future active infinitive. 
6. Verbs of Beginning, Delaying, and Ceasing. 2 
With each of the three verbs of beginning, delaying, and ceasing ( blinnan , 
forieldan, and ginnan) the objective infinitive translates, in Bede, in which 
alone it occurs, a Latin objective infinitive active. Probably, therefore, the 
objective infinitive with these verbs is due to the Latin. 
6. Verbs of Inclination and of Will. 3 
Of the verbs of inclination and of will, two ( behealdan and onmedan) are 
found with the objective infinitive only in the poetry; two ( cunnian and gegiern - 
ian) are found only in iElfric; while with five ( forefon , ge-ea3modi(g)an, 
ge&yrsti(g)an, lystan , and ivunian) the Anglo-Saxon infinitive invariably trans¬ 
lates a Latin objective infinitive active. Possibly the infinitive in the last 
group is due to the Latin. 
To sum up the matter thus far: the uninflected infinitive as object is 
doubtless a native idiom with the first four classes of verbs enumerated above 
( (1) of Commanding, (2) of Causing and Permitting, (3) of Sense Perception, 
(4) of Mental Perception (except with geteon) ); it is possibly due to Latin 
influence in the fifth class (verbs of Beginning, Delaying, and Ceasing); and 
it is partly of native origin and partly of foreign origin in the sixth class (verbs 
of Inclination and of Will). 
II. THE INFINITIVE INFLECTED ONLY. 
1. Verbs of Commanding. 4 
With only one verb of commanding ( gedihtan ) do we find the inflected 
objective infinitive, once, in Wulfstan. The infinitive seems to be a dative 
object, and the idiom here seems of native origin. 
1 Given in Chapter II, p. 31. 
3 Given in Chapter II, p. 31 
2 Given in Chapter II, p. 31. 
4 Given in Chapter II, p. 37. 
