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Chapter II: The Problem in Old English
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 April 2026
Extract
In attempting to establish beyond a doubt the existence of the case of comparison as a comparatively frequent and idiomatic locution in Old English, I am fully aware of the not uncommon tendency of the special investigator to color the context of a given passage to conform to a favorable interpretation. This is often an unconscious habit and perhaps excusable in one who must by close examination at all times seek to discover the subtle relationships that bind the elements of thought together. I have found upon careful examination that I had fallen into such a danger many times where grammatically the case might stand in two or more relationships and where the general meaning was not especially clear. I have avoided such passages whenever I could bring semantics to the aid of syntax, but, on the other hand, I hope I have not failed to record any occurrence in which both syntax and semantics pointed to the comparative relationship.
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- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Language , Volume 5 , Issue 4-Part2: Language Monograph No. 4: The Germanic Case of Comparison with a Special Study of English , December 1929 , pp. 31 - 37
- Copyright
- Copyright © 1929 Linguistic Society of America
References
page 32 note 1 See Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch, Vol. 3; and Brugmann, Kurze Vergleichende Grammatik, sub vocibus.
page 32 note 2 Strictly speaking the comparative form ufor, a by-form of ofer (over) in Germanic, should be mentioned here also. But since it never became a preposition in OE and has a separate history down to ME as an adverb, I treat it simply as a comparative adverb.
page 32 note 3 For a discussion of the pon in the by-form ær-þan (þon), see my article, MLN 41.308. As far as Germanic is concerned þam and þan in this function overlap exactly. Whatever may be said about their function in Proto-Germanic does not affect OE usage.
page 33 note 1 And even beyond the OE period. Cf. NED under ere : Paston Letters No. 518, 2. 218 : I received the box on Friday last and non er. Tindale, John 1.15 : He that cometh after me was before me because he was yer than I. Tindale, Works 2. 235 : The flesh would be exalted and lift up on high yer than cast down.
page 34 note 1 The West Germanic double comparatives formed on this stem are not to be confused with this word.
page 36 note 1 I am not overlooking those clauses of inequality in which the verb is repeated in exactly the same form as it appears in the main clause. Even though the verb is expressed, these clauses may be considered by some as exactly equivalent to an abbreviated clause (that is, particle plus noun), which I recognize as overlapping the case in function. But there is in OE a play upon mode in clauses of comparison that lends added significance to the presence of the verb. This distinction is lost in Modern English.
Subjunctive : Forđam þu bet wast þonne ic wite hwæs ic đerf. Augustine's Soliloquies (Endter) 13.18.
Indicative : Đa cwæđ heo, ‘ Gelyfst þu þæs þæt ic þe mæge don gewisran be gode þonne þu nu eart be đam monan ? ‘ 1b. 18.14.
The extensive use of the subjunctive in this way, which is the subject of a study by the present writer to appear shortly, makes the indicative when it is expressed a much richer construction than it is in Mod. E. Since this interplay of mode cannot possibly be expressed by the case-construction, it would be wrong to reckon any clause with verb expressed as overlapping the case in function.