The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

Verb–particles in Old and Middle English 183first element, which look like prefixed verbs, but there is almost always a referenceto the uncompounded verb. Thus for awegberan ‘to carry away’ it adds:v. beran. No combinations with aweg are illustrated under beran ‘to carry’, andaweg is not listed as one of the prefixes that beran combines with (s.v. beran),from which we must conclude that Bosworth and Toller do not consider awegberanto be a verbprefix combination. Toller in his supplement (1921) clarifiesthis earlier position and states that aweg should be separated in thoseverbs listed with aweg as a first element, implying that he regards these verbsas combinations rather than as verbs with prefixes. The Dictionary ofOldEnglish (Healey et al., letter A, 1994) treats this material in similar fashion. Itdoes not list any verbs with aweg as a first element, but gives lots of illustrativequotations of the way aweg combines with certain verbs (s.v. aweg).However, it also states that ‘[t]he collocations aweg cuman, aweg fleon, aweggan and aweg gewitan have alternatively been taken as compounds’ (s.v. aweg).From all this, it is not clear what the status of aweg is. However, even thoughit is difficult to distinguish between particles and prefixes in a dead languagesuch as Old English, there are some constructions in which particles showdifferent behaviour from prefixes:1. Negation. The negative ne ‘not’ always comes immediately before thefinite verb. In the case of a particle the negative will come between the particleand the verb, as in (3a), but it will precede any prefixes there might be, asin (3b) where ne precedes the prefixed verb ahyldan (away-bend‘to alter’):(3) a. foræm hio nanne swetne wæsm for ne bringbecause she no sweet fruit forth not brings‘because it does not produce any sweet fruit’ (CP 45.341.22)b. ne on nare healfe he ne ahylde his eawasnor on neither side he not away-bent his conduct‘nor did he alter his conduct in any way’ (ÆLS Edmund) 16)2. To-infinitives. To precedes an inflected infinitive immediately. A particlewill come before to, illustrated for ut ‘out’ in (4a), but to will precede a prefixedverb as in (4b):(4) a. æt him wære alyfed ut to farennethat him was allowed out to go‘that he was allowed to leave’ (GD2 (H) 25.155.26)b. 7 hio bi micle e iere to oferfeohtanneand she is much the easier to over-fight‘and it (the city of the mind) is much easier to conquer’ (CP 38.277.21)3. Constructions with auxiliary or modal verbs. Particles, unlike prefixes, canbe separated from the verb by an auxiliary or modal verb: