Download Chapter 7. Frequently looked up verbs

Chapter 7. Frequently looked up verbs
This key lists only one sense of each verb that fits the context. In a few cases, a sense is used
which is not listed in Baker’s (2007) Glossary, but which is given in BT.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
1
We often endure storms and severe winds.1
We live in London.2
They did not then wish to eat the bread, but they now wish to drink the beer.
—
“The king deprived me of my land.”
Every /man/person/ must die; he (or she) /lives/is alive/ for a short time.3
—
He did not dare to /live/remain/ in the earthen cave.
—
This nobleman is honoured over all other noblemen.4
God reveals his secrets to those who love him.5
—
She earnestly intended to preserve her virginity.6
In that year, a great battle took place in the land of the Northumbrians.7
—
We must each day partake of our food with moderation.8
—
They then began to row, and they were progressing on their way.
I went to London and bought many things.9
—
In (1), the direct object storma and rēðra winda is in the genitive case (see the Glossary entry for ġebīdan) and is
split by the verb phrase.
2
Lundenburg is a feminine athematic noun and has the dative singular Lundenbyriġ.
3
Sceorte hwīle is an example of the accusative being used in an expression of time. Note that, as man could mean
either ‘man’ or ‘person’, and as hē agrees with man chiefly as a grammatical masculine, the ‘person’ and ‘he or she’
senses are fully possible.
4
The verb is (ġe)weorþian, not (ġe)weorþan; look at the past participle forms of the verb classes these two verbs
belong to and you will see that it has to be the former.
5
A nice example of Class 2 weak-verb morphology: the 3rd person singular present indicative ends in -að, which is
a plural present indicative ending with many other verbs; and we know that þām must be plural ‘to those’ because
of the plural present indicative ending -iað. As Baker (2007: 69) notes, the -að of Class 2 weak verbs can be
confusing.
6
A change in verb complementation is necessary here: hicgan is complemented by a finite þæt-clause, while intend
takes a non-finite to-infinitive clause in this construction.
7
The Glossary in Baker (2007) does not give the sense ‘take place’, but it is given in BT, and it fits the sentence
better than the Glossary’s ‘happen’.
8
Brūcan takes a genitive direct object in (16); as Baker’s (2007) Glossary will tell you, this is the usual pattern.
9
Þinga: a partitive genitive.