236 THE INFINITIVE IN THE OTHER GERMANIC LANGUAGES. 
usually, when it occurs, is due to foreign influence, as in the Old High German 
Tatian 145.1: thanne thisu ellu biginnent gientot wesan = cum haec omnia 
incipient consummari. 1 See the note on the passive infinitive as subject in 
section i of this chapter and the references there given. 
“ The retained object ” with passive verbs is rare in the Germanic languages. 
Grimm, l. c., IV, p. 143, records no example from the Gothic and only one ex¬ 
ample from the Old Norse (hann kvadhst vera brautingi einn ok utlendr, fornm. 
sog. 2, 73); and only two from Old High German (N. Cap. 318 a : dannan wirt 
er sie gesaget zunden; N. Arist. 386 b : ist er gesaget ouch wesen homo). Dr. 
Rannow, l. c., p. 99, tells us that, of the 14 examples of the infinitive as retained 
object in the Latin original of Isidor, only two are kept in the Old High 
German. Professors Falk and Torp, l. c., p. 196, declare that “ En ‘ nominativ 
med infinitiv’ i strengere forstand (som passiv of ‘akkusativ med infinitiv/ 
hvorom se § 128) Andes saaledes ikke i oldnorsk; ” but they give several ex¬ 
amples that in my judgment belong here: see my quotation from them in 
section iii of this chapter. 
HI. OTHER SUBSTANTIVAL USES OF THE INFINITIVE. 
In my reading I have found only a few examples of other substantival uses 
of the infinitive in the kindred Germanic languages. They are as follows: — 
A. AS A PREDICATE NOMINATIVE. 
In Gothic : Rom. 10.6 : J>at-is£ Xristu dalap attiuhan = tovt ccttl Xpurrov 
Karayayciv ; similarly Rom. 10.7; Rom. 7.10, in which latter the Gothic infini¬ 
tive translates a Greek pronoun; with article: Mk. 9.10: hva ist pata us 
daupaim usstcmdcm f = rt ecrri to vexpwv avacrTrjcrcu ; 2 
Of this use in the Scandinavian languages, Professors Falk and Torp, l. c., 
p. 196, speak as follows: “ Som rent praedikatsord kan infinitiven kun sjelden 
forekomme: sligt er at friste Gud; dette maa kaldes at komme fra asken i 
ilden. Derimod staar det oftere som del af praedikatet. Saaledes i oldnorsk 
ved pykkja: peim potti hann vera katr. Videre ved de refleksive verber som 
betyder ‘ sige sig at vaere: ’ hon lezk vera Iceknir. Endelig undertiden, men 
yderst sjelden, ved passiv af de i § 126 naevnte verber: rytningar eru fyrirbo&nir 
at her a (det er forbudt at baere dolke); samt ved passiv af verbet sja (§ 127): 
varu senar storar eldingar fljuga or nor&ri; var pa seinn eldligr stopull folia af 
himni. Ellers anvendes ved passive verber en saetning med at: Helgi ok Svafa } 
er sagt, at vceri endrborin = siges at vaere gjenfpdt. En ‘ nominativ med infini- 
tiv’ i strengere forstand (som passiv af ‘ akkusativ med infinitiv/ hvorom se 
§ 28) Andes saaledes ikke i oldnorsk.” See, too, Lund, l. c., pp. 376-378. 
In Old High German: Tatian 327.13: wisa ist zi bigrabanne = mos est 
sepelire . 3 
In Old Saxon: Hel. 5825: see p. 233 above. 
Clearly my examples are too few to warrant any conclusion as to the origin 
of this idiom in the Germanic languages. 
1 From Wilmanns, l. c., p. 165. - 
2 From Kohler, 2 A., 1. c., pp. 421-422. In Mk. 9.10, the infinitive may be subjective, as is claimed by 
Bernhardt, 2 l. c., p. 111. s From Denecke, l. c., p. 70. 
