The Verb to be in the West Saxon Gospels and the Lindisfarne Gospels
-
Christine Bolze
Abstract
This paper examines the distribution and use of the twofold present tense paradigms of the Old English verb bēon ‘to be’ in the late West Saxon Gospels (WSG) and the Northumbrian gloss to the Lindisfarne Gospels (LiGl). The analysis confirms the frequently claimed semantic distinction of the paradigms. It furthermore shows that the choice of a form of OE bēon mostly depended on the tense and mood of its Latin equivalent, but it also illustrates that the translators of the two Gospel versions took the context into account. Quantitative differences of the forms in the two manuscripts are due to multiple glosses in Lindisfarne, the use of alternative forms to OE bēon in the West Saxon Gospels and the partly different morphology of the verb in Northumbrian.
Abstract
This paper examines the distribution and use of the twofold present tense paradigms of the Old English verb bēon ‘to be’ in the late West Saxon Gospels (WSG) and the Northumbrian gloss to the Lindisfarne Gospels (LiGl). The analysis confirms the frequently claimed semantic distinction of the paradigms. It furthermore shows that the choice of a form of OE bēon mostly depended on the tense and mood of its Latin equivalent, but it also illustrates that the translators of the two Gospel versions took the context into account. Quantitative differences of the forms in the two manuscripts are due to multiple glosses in Lindisfarne, the use of alternative forms to OE bēon in the West Saxon Gospels and the partly different morphology of the verb in Northumbrian.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- * haitan in Gothic and Old English 17
- Incipient Grammaticalisation 41
- Passive auxiliaries in English and German 71
- Causative habban in Old English 101
- Remembering ( ge)munan 127
- The emergence of modal meanings from haben with zu -infinitives in Old High German 151
- Hearsay and lexical evidentials in Old Germanic languages, with focus on Old English 169
- Markers of Futurity in Old High German and Old English 195
- The Verb to be in the West Saxon Gospels and the Lindisfarne Gospels 217
- Aspectual properties of the verbal prefix a - in Old English with reference to Gothic 235
- Þǣr wæs vs. thâr was 263
- On gain and loss of verbal categories in language contact 289
- Index 313
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- * haitan in Gothic and Old English 17
- Incipient Grammaticalisation 41
- Passive auxiliaries in English and German 71
- Causative habban in Old English 101
- Remembering ( ge)munan 127
- The emergence of modal meanings from haben with zu -infinitives in Old High German 151
- Hearsay and lexical evidentials in Old Germanic languages, with focus on Old English 169
- Markers of Futurity in Old High German and Old English 195
- The Verb to be in the West Saxon Gospels and the Lindisfarne Gospels 217
- Aspectual properties of the verbal prefix a - in Old English with reference to Gothic 235
- Þǣr wæs vs. thâr was 263
- On gain and loss of verbal categories in language contact 289
- Index 313
