THE OBJECTIVE INFINITIVE. 
191 
Twice the uninflected infinitive is found as object to ge-earnian, in Bede, 
each time answering to a Latin objective infinitive, and thrice in iElfric; and 
once inflected in iElfric. The examples are too few for a confident decision; 
but the sentences in Bede sound stiff and unnatural to me. 
Similarly with the objective infinitive after gemedemian, occurring twice 
uninflected in the Laws, and once inflected in iElfric, in each translating a 
Latin objective infinitive, decision is impossible, but my feeling is against the 
native origin. 
The objective infinitive, both uninflected and inflected, after geSristlcecan, 
occurring as it does in the Laws, is probably of native origin, although in 
Wserferth it translates a Latin objective infinitive. 
The objective infinitive, both uninflected and inflected, after gewunian, is 
probably due to Latin influence: the infinitive is not found in the poems; in 
the prose occurs chiefly in the translations, and usually renders a Latin objec¬ 
tive infinitive with consuescere or with solere. 
The objective infinitive after ondrcedan, whether uninflected or inflected, is 
probably of native origin, for, while we find in the translations the Anglo-Saxon 
infinitive corresponding usually to a Latin objective infinitive, it at times (as 
in Greg. 49.18) corresponds to a Latin finite verb without an infinitive. 
The Latin correspondents are: — for forhogian: U.: objective active infinitive, 2;— 
I.: objective active infinitive, 1; — for forhycgan: U.: objective active infinitive, 2; — I.: 0; 
— for ge-earnian: U.: objective active infinitive, 2; — I.: 0; — for gemedemian: objective 
active infinitive, 2; — I.: objective active infinitive, 1; — for ge<5ristlcecan: U.: objective 
active infinitive, 1; — I.: 0; — for gewilnian: U.: objective active infinitive, 4; — I.: ob¬ 
jective active infinitive, 2; — for gewunian: U.: objective active infinitive, 25; — I.: objec¬ 
tive active infinitive, 3; loose paraphrase, 1; no Latin, 1; —for gieman: U.: objective active 
infinitive, 3; no Latin, 1;—I.: objective active infinitive, 2;—-for ondrcedan: U.: objective 
active infinitive, 2; — I.: objective active infinitive, 2; accusative and active infinitive as 
object, 1; co-ordinated finite verb, active, 1; — for secan: U.: objective active infinitive, 2; 
— I.: objective active infinitive, 10; appositive participle, active, 1; — for tilian: U.: ob¬ 
jective active infinitive, 1; gerund in the ablative, 1; co-ordinated finite verb, active, 1; — 
I.: objective active infinitive, 11; co-ordinated finite verb (active, 3; passive, 2); subordi¬ 
nated finite verb, active, 1; loose paraphrase, 2; appositive participle, active, 1; no Latin, 3; 
•—for wil(l)nian: U.: objective active infinitive, 22; accusative and active infinitive as 
object, 1; co-ordinated finite verb (active, 6; passive, 1); subordinated finite verb, active, 
1; no Latin, 9; — I.: objective active infinitive, 19; complementary infinitive, active, 1; 
co-ordinated finite verb, active, 2; subordinated finite verb (active, 2; passive, 1); gerundial 
periphrastic, passive, 2; gerundive in the genitive, 2; de + a gerundive in the ablative, 1; 
noun in the accusative with a gerund in the genitive, 1; noun in the accusative, 1; noun in 
the accusative modified by an infinitive, 1; absolute participle, passive, 1; loose paraphrase, 
2; no Latin, 30. 
In brief, the objective infinitive, uninflected and inflected, is probably of 
native origin with group 1 (verbs of Commanding); group 2 (verbs of Permit¬ 
ting); group 3 (verbs of Mental Perception), though, no doubt, the Latin 
original occasionally accounts for the infinitive’s being inflected (as with 
geleornian) ; with fon of group 4 (verbs of Beginning, Delaying, and Ceasing); 
and with all the verbs of group 5 (verbs of Inclination and of Will) except 
possibly ge-earnian, gemedemian, and gewunian. The infinitive, both unin¬ 
flected and inflected, as the object of aginnan, beginnan, and onginnan, in 
group 4 (verbs of Beginning, Delaying, and Ceasing), is doubtless of native 
origin, though the frequency of the idiom is partly due to the Latin original. 
With the verbs of Ceasing ( ablinnan and geswican ) in group 4, the origin of the 
