OTHER ADVERBIAL USES OF THE INFINITIVE. 
219 
The consecutive infinitive with active verbs is found in the poetry only 
once ( Seafarer 38). In the Anglo-Saxon translations it corresponds most 
frequently to a Latin prepositional phrase made up of ad plus a gerund or gerun¬ 
dive, though occasionally to other idioms (an imperative; no Latin; a noun 
in the accusative; a noun in the dative; in + a noun in the ablative; a noun in 
the nominative; a noun in the accusative; ttZ+a subjunctive). It occurs a 
few times in the Martyrology and in the Lceceboc, and relatively frequently in 
^Elfric. It seems probable, therefore, that the Latin influence, if appreciable, 
was very slight and indirect; more probably we have the native development 
of the idiom from the inflected infinitive after verbs naturally calling for an 
inflected infinitive or for a prepositional phrase (to plus a noun). 
In the other Germanic languages the situation concerning the consecutive 
infinitive, both with adjectives and with verbs, is much the same as in Anglo- 
Saxon: see Chapter XVI, section xii. 
The Latin influence is somewhat stronger in the consecutive use of the 
infinitive after passive verbs, the Anglo-Saxon infinitive oftener corresponding 
to a Latin gerund or gerundive here than with active verbs. But, on the other 
hand, two examples are found in the poems. On the whole, therefore, the 
situation is substantiallv the same as with the consecutive infinitive after active 
verbs: the construction is chiefly a native extension of the idiom with verbs 
calling for an inflected infinitive or for a prepositional phrase, somewhat influ¬ 
enced by the Latin idiom in gerund and gerundive constructions. 
D. THE ABSOLUTE INFINITIVE . 1 
As was intimated in the citing of the examples of the absolute use of the 
infinitive above, pp. 169 ff., it is probable that, in the two examples of such 
use with the uninflected infinitive (Oros. 46.16, 17 b ), we have merely an accusa¬ 
tive and infinitive loosely connected with the remainder of the sentence. In 
the examples of the absolute inflected infinitive, in the clearer cases (hrcedest 
to secganne, hrcedest to cive&enne, and to metanne wi$), the absolute use has arisen 
from the shortening of fuller expressions (such as Boeth. 39.10: Swa hit is nu 
hra&ost to secganne be eallum etc.; Wulf. 158.16: godcunde hadas wseron nu 
lange swi(5e forsawene . . . and hrcedest is to cwe&enne etc.; see further exam¬ 
ples in Chapter VII), in which we have the inflected infinitive of necessity after 
beon , in which latter idiom, as we have seen, the infinitive was originally final 
in sense. In the less clear cases, quoted in Chapter XII, section D, we seem 
to have the abridgment of a final clause into a phrase. I think, therefore, that 
the absolute infinitive is of native origin in Anglo-Saxon, sparing though its use 
is. This statement of the origin of the absolute use of the infinitive is, I think, 
in substantial accord with that of Professor Einenkel, who, in discussing the 
prepositional infinitive of purpose, writes “ Hierher gehoren auch die Falle, wo 
ein Verbum (don so, sayn so) unterdriickt ist; und wo in Folge dessen die pra- 
positionalen Infinitive elliptisch verwendet werden; ” 2 and with that of Dr. 
Kenyon, Z. c., p. 79: “ The purpose infinitive becomes stereotyped, sometimes 
by an ellipsis that can be more or less definitely supplied.” Each of these 
scholars is writing of Middle English only. 
The absolute infinitive probably arose in the same way in the other Germanic 
languages: see Chapter XVI, section xii. 
1 See Chapter XII, p. 169. 
2 Einenkel, 1 l. c., p. 240. 
