Appendix C. 
ADDENDA. 
Just as the preceding pages were about to go to press, two articles appeared 
that call for an additional note. 
In the latest issue of Englische Studien (vol. XLVI, p. 8), Mr. Olaf John- 
sen has the following note concerning the infinitive in Anglo-Saxon: 
“In Anglo-Saxon I have come across one instance of the infinitive mark to being used 
elliptically, that is with the infinitive understood from the foregoing: 7 gif us hwa abylg< 5 , 
Sonne beo we sona yrre, 7 willaS cFaet gewrecan gif we magon, Seah we beotiaS to, ‘though 
we threaten to’ ( Blick . 33).” 
Possibly, as claimed by Mr. Johnsen, we have here an elliptical infinitive; if 
so, it stands alone in Anglo-Saxon literature so far as my observation goes. 
As the editor of the Blickling Homilies , Dr. Richard Morris, indicates, the 
text of the passage in question is defective. The earliest examples hitherto 
cited of the elliptical infinitive are centuries later: see Borst, 2 1. c., pp. 413-418; 
Jespersen, 2 1. c., § 211; and the New English Dictionary , as cited below. With 
Professor Toller, in his “Supplement” to Bosworth-Toller’s Anglo-Saxon 
Dictionary , sub v. beotian, I consider that to belongs to beotiad , not to an infini¬ 
tive to be supplied from the preceding part of the sentence. 
The second article is that on to in the most recently published fascicle of 
the New English Dictionary ( Ti-Tombac ), “B. To before an infinitive (or 
gerund),” pp. 87-90. 
Concerning the differentiation of the uninflected infinitive and the inflected 
infinitive and the subsequent confusion of the two forms, there is given this 
interesting statement, under “History,” p. 87: 
“Originally, to before the dative infinitive had the same meaning and use as before 
ordinary substantives, i. e. it expressed motion, direction, inclination, purpose, etc., toward 
the act or condition expressed by the infinitive; as in ‘he came to help (i. e. to the help of) 
his friends/ ‘he went to stay there/ ‘he prepared to depart (i. e. for departure)/ ‘it tends to 
melt / ‘he proceeded to speak / ‘looking to receive something.' But in process of time this 
obvious sense of the preposition became weakened and generalized, so that to became at 
last the ordinary link expressing any prepositional relation in which an infinitive stands to 
a preceding verb, adjective, or substantive. Sometimes the relation was so vague as scarcely 
to differ from that between a transitive verb and its object. This was especially so when 
the verb was construed both transitively and intransitively. There were several verbs in 
Old English in this position, such as onginnan to begin, ondroedan to dread, bebeodan to bid, 
order, bewerian to forbid, prevent, geliefan to believe, Sencean to think, etc.; these are found 
construed either with the simple (accusative) infinitive, or with to and the dative infinitive. 
There was also a special idiomatic use (sense 13a) of the infinitive with to as an indirect 
nominative, where logically the simple infinitive might be expected. From these beginnings, 
the use of the infinitive with to in place of the simple infinitive, helped by the phonetic decay 
and loss of the inflexions and the need of some mark to distinguish the infinitive from other 
parts of the verb and from the cognate substantive, increased rapidly during the late Old 
English and early Middle English period, with the result that in modem English the infini¬ 
tive with to is the ordinary form, the simple infinitive surviving only in particular connexions, 
where it is very intimately connected with the preceding verb (see below). To a certain 
extent, therefore, i. e. when the infinitive is the subject or direct object, to has lost all its 
meaning, and become a mere ‘sign' or prefix of the infinitive. But after an intransitive 
verb, or the passive voice, to is still the preposition. In appearance, there is no difference 
between the infinitive in ‘he proceeds to speak / and ‘he chooses to speak; 1 but in the latter 
to speak is the equivalent of speaking or speech, and in the former of to speaking or to speech. 
In form, to speak is the descendant of Old English to specanne; in sense, it is partly the rep¬ 
resentative of this and largely of Old English specan .” 
335 
