258 THE INFINITIVE IN THE OTHER GERMANIC LANGUAGES. 
XII. OTHER ADVERBIAL USES OF THE INFINITIVE. 
A. THE CAUSAL INFINITIVE. 
I have not found a clear example of the causal infinitive with verbs in 
Gothic. The infinitive after ogan, ‘ fear/ may be considered causal, but to 
me, as to Dr. A. Kohler 2 (l. c., p. 438), it seems objective; and faurhtjan, Tear/ 
according to Dr. Kohler, is not found with an infinitive. 
Concerning the causal use of the infinitive with adjectives in some of the 
Scandinavian languages, see the passage quoted from Falk and Torp in the 
preceding section of this chapter, p. 257. 
Nor have I found more than a few clear examples of the causal infinitive 
with verbs in Old High German. Wavering between the objective and the 
causal use are the infinitives after forhten , found once uninflected and once 
inflected: Tatian 84.13 : forhta imo tharsb faren = timuit illo ire; 1 — ib. 76.35: 
ni curi thu forhtan zi nemanne = noli timere accipere. 2 Betolon, in Tatian 208.21 
(betolon seamen mih - mendicare erubesco 3 ), may denote cause. In Isidor 39.8 
(lustida sic chihoran = delectantur audire 4 * ), chihoran is doubtless subjective. 
But in the following passages from Otfrid, given by Erdmann, 1 1. c., p. 210, we 
seem to have genuine causal infinitives in the genitive: V, 7.21: mag unsih 
gilusten weinonnes; V, 23.138: er sih lade forahtennes — 1 sich beschwere durch 
Furchten/ In Murb. H. 20.8 (tod farloranan sih einun chuere = mors perisse se 
solam gemat h ) we have a preterite participle instead of a predicative infinitive 
after a verb of emotion. 
In Tatian 339.20 (mit ferennu quamun = navigio venerunt 6 ) we have an in¬ 
strumental infinitive, but this belongs more properly under the Infinitive with 
Prepositions. 
Possibly we have a causal infinitive in -nes (- ndes ) in these Middle High 
German passages given by Wilmanns, l. c., p. 125: Der tiuvel irret dich betendes 
(= betennes); er irret dich bihtendes; Der Kiinec sich vragens sumte niht; — and 
with an adjective in: Du wirst niemer vehtens sat. 
Nor do I find a causal infinitive in Old Saxon. The infinitive after ruokan 
in the following is probably objective: Hel. 61.11: ne ruokit gi te truone . . . ne 
ruokit te gerone . . . ne ruokit herta te settane = nolite sperare . . . concupiscere 
. . . apponere? 
Our statistics are too meager to warrant a confident opinion as to the origin 
of the causal infinitive in the Germanic languages. The two examples of the 
uninflected infinitive in Old High German correspond to the Latin infinitive; 
the two examples of the genitive infinitive in - nes , in Otfrid, may be of native 
origin, occurring as they do after verbs governing a genitive with nouns. The 
double construction with forhten , as already stated, probably arises from the 
double regimen of that verb. 
1 From Denecke, l. c., p. 19. 
2 From Denecke, l. c., p. 64, who adds: “ Vielleicht ist die Anwendung von zi hier begiinstigt worden durch 
die Abneigung vor zwei nebeneinander stehenden reinen Infinitiven,” — a hypothesis which seems very doubtful 
to me. More probably the double construction with forhten results from the double regimen of that verb, which 
is followed by an accusative and a genitive (Delbriick, 2 1. c., p. 34). 
8 From Denecke, l. c., p. 36. 4 Ibidem, p. 46. 
6 Ibidem, p. 34. 8 Ibidem, l. c., p. 56. 7 From Steig, l. c., p. 492. 
