ADDENDA. 
339 
“17. In absolute or independent construction, with subject expressed (in nominative) or 
omitted: in exclamations expressing astonishment, indignation, sorrow, or (after 0 or other 
interjections) longing.” 
Again, no example is given from Anglo-Saxon, but compare my comment on 
Oros. 45.15-16, p. 169 above. The earliest example given by the Dictionary 
is dated 1450, and is from the Coventry Mysteries, viii. 77: “I to bere a childe 
that xal bere alle mannys blyss ... ho my the have joys more?” 
“18. With infinitive immediately following the subject, in vivid narrative, equivalent 
to a past tense indicative; almost always with go and verbs of like meaning.” 
No example is given from Anglo-Saxon, but the following is from Layamon’s 
Brut, 21655: “ Ah Arbur com sone mid selere strengbe, And Scottes to fleonne 
feor of ban aerde.” See my note concerning supposed examples of the his¬ 
torical infinitive in Anglo-Saxon, p. 6, above. 
As implicitly stated already, I should put under group IV the infinitive 
with auxiliary verbs and the infinitive of necessity with beon (wesan), although 
the Dictionary puts the former under the substantival (objective) use and the 
latter under the adjectival use. 
Besides these four chief groups, the Dictionary has another group, “V. 
Peculiar constructions,” subdivided as follows: — 
“19. To was formerly often used with the second of two infinitives when the first was 
without it, especially after an auxiliary, with words intervening between the infinitives. 
(See also note s. v. than, conj. 1 )” 
The earliest example given is from Layamon’s Brut, 1220: “Swa he gon 
slomnen & ber sefter to slepen.” For a somewhat similar phenomenon in 
Anglo-Saxon, see pp. 77 and 147 above. 
“20. Occasionally an adverb or adverbial phrase (formerly sometimes an object or predi¬ 
cate) is inserted between to and the infinitive, forming the construction now usually (but 
loosely) called ‘split infinitive.’ (See Onions, Advanced English Syntax, 177.)” 
The earliest example given is from the Cursor Mundi, 8318 (Cott. & Fairf.): 
“To temple make he sal be best.” See p. 148 above, where I have given a 
brief note on this construction in Anglo-Saxon. 
“21. Used absolutely at the end of a clause, with ellipsis of the infinitive, which is to be 
supplied from the preceding clause. Rare before 19th century; now a frequent colloquialism.” 
The earliest example given is from the fourteenth-century Minor Poems from 
Vernon Manuscript, xxxiii. 74: “Be soules of synners, . . . ber to take and 
resseyue so As tSei on eorbe deserueden to.” See, at the beginning of the 
present note, the quotation from Mr. Olaf Johnsen and my comment thereon. 
“22. Instead of the dative infinitive, the gerund in -ing was sometimes used after to: 
probably originating in a phonetic confusion of -en and -in(g), but later perhaps with the 
notion of a future action (cf. 11a); as to coming = ‘to come/ or ‘coming:’ see also come, v., 
32 P (after c). Obsolete.” 
The earliest example given is from Wyclif, Num. 32.7: “Thei doren not passe 
into the place that the Lord is to gyuynge to hem.” 
M. C., Jr. 
