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In the works of Elfric, in whom Latin influences were so strong, we find surprisingly little trace of this idiom. I have noted only two clear examples: ÆH. 1.550. 8 Dauid, sede, on his cynesetle ahafen, hine sylfne geswutelode pearfan on gaste; 1. 596. 35 he ne geswicỡ soo to bodigenne, nu twegen dagas cucu hangigende. Of these participles, the latter is more purely concessive; the former is concessivetemporal, and resembles the concessive use of the temporal clause.

Several clearly concessive participles occur in the Gospels. Two passages will illustrate the form of sentence in which they appear: M. 13. 13 lociende hig ne geseop and gehyrende hig ne gehyrap (Vulg.: videntes non vident, et audientes non audiunt); L. 5. 5 ealle niht swincende we naht ne gefengon (per totam noctem laborantes nihil cepimus). Other instances: Mk. 4. 12 (two); 9. 47: L. 8. 10 (two). Gehihtende (L. 6. 35), which Callaway (loc. cit.) regards as concessive, and hiwgende (L. 20. 47) are perhaps rather modal, or modal with a tinge of concession. pendende (L. 12. 25), which might possibly be viewed as concessive, I should consider instrumental.

THE ABSOLUTE PHRASE.

Callaway has already pointed out (The Absolute Participle, p. 21) that the absolute participle is rarely used concessively in Old English. The Latin ablative absolute (ibid., p. 36) is normally rendered by a subordinate finite verb; and it is only under the influence of the Latin ablative absolute that a concessive construction of this form could arise, since no absolute participle occurs in Old English without a direct or indirect prototype in Latin (ibid., p. 51). Indeed, the

concessive relation cannot be definitely indicated by so vague a construction as the absolute phrase. The appositive noun or participle, which, being balanced against some other word, more readily expresses antithesis, can suggest concession more clearly. And in fact the examples of the concessive absolute phrase to be found in Old English can usually be reduced to the category of attendant circumstance,' which in some contexts has an added concessive force.

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Of the seldom-used instrumental absolute construction, I have observed no examples with concessive meaning. Such examples of the dative absolute as seem to me to bear the concessive interpretation are here cited. The following involved sentence contains an absolute participial phrase of temporal-concessive force: BH. 472. 21 Swa swa Brittas... ono pa gelyfendum eft Angelfolcum 7 purh eall well ontimbredum 7 gelæredum on reogole rihtes geleafan, hi nu gyt heora ealdan gewunon healdað (Sicut... Brettones ... credentibus iam populis Anglorum, et in regula fidei ... instructis, ipsi adhuc inueterati...); though now the English believe and are thoroughly grounded and instructed in the rule of faith.' In John 20. 26 we find: Se Hælend com, belocenum duron. Similar phrases occur in Elfric. For example: ÆH. 1. 222. 12 Se de com deaðlic to ðisum middangearde, acenned þurh beclysedne innoð þæs mædenes, se ylca, butan tweon, dada he aras undeadlic, mihte belocenre drih faran of middangearde; 'even though the tomb were closed.' It is noteworthy here that the absolute construction balances a prepositional phrase, purh beclysedne innod, which is not concessive; and in modern speech we should be likely to replace the absolute participle by a prepositional phrase with concessive implication—from a sealed tomb.' In the following

sentence, I should regard both participial phrases as absolute, and as shown by the context to be concessive: ÆH. 1. 230. 12 þæt Cristes lichama com inn, beclysedum durum, sede weard acenned of dam mædene Marian beclysedum innode. Other examples: ÆH. 1. 230. 15, 24; 458. 27; perhaps also 1.440. 30 for wærscipe gehealdenum geleafan.

ADVERBS WITH THE VALUE OF CLAUSES.

Aside from fordy, already discussed, there is very little if any use in Old English of adverbs in place of concessive clauses. The nearest approach to such a substitution that I have found is in the balanced adverbs of the following sentence: Wulf. 271. 6 and þæt ure hlaford læte asmeagean be æghwylcum ende Englalandes ealle þa manfullan, þe nellað geswican, and pances ode unpances hig to rihte gebigean oððe mid ealle of earde adrifan. This of course suggests the construction which has descended to us in the form willy-nilly: ÆH. 1. 532. 7 we sceolon, wylle we, nelle we, arisan. The phrase of Wulfstan may be interpreted 'Whether they will or no,' and is probably equivalent to a concession of that form.

In another passage two contrasted adverbs appear, not forming a concessive construction, but explaining the meaning of an indefinite concession; ÆH. 1. 588. 29 þæt du dyssere lare fylian wylt, swa hu swa hit gewurde, sylfwilles odde neadunge, þæt he on rode gefæstnod wære. In the following sentence, the adverb and adverbial phrase, which at first sight bear some resemblance to a disjunctive concession, simply specify different methods: Chron. 217. 10 he... begeat swide mycelne sceatt of his mannan þær he mihte ænige teale to habban odde mid rihte odde elles.

In sentences like the following, the adverb das retains its causal meaning: ÆH. 1. 156. 19 Ac hwæt dyde se blinda, þaþa þæt folc hine wolde gestyllan? He hrymde das de swiðor. The relation is not perfectly defined; but the implication is that the call for help grew more importunate because of, not in spite of rebuke.

CHAPTER IX.

GENERAL SURVEY.

This study may fitly be closed by a rapid general treatment of the material analyzed in separate chapters, with a view to setting forth the broad characteristics of Old English prose, so far as they may be discerned from that material.

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The first topic to be considered is the relation of concessive expressions to the main aspects of sentencestructure. A review such as we have made leaves a strong impression of the explicit character of Old English syntax. There is far less compression of clauses, far less merging of a subordinate idea in the structure of the main sentence, in Old English than in Modern English. A concessive clause here and there, however, omits the verb. Examples: ÆH. 1. 94. 6 Ac gehwylce halgan andbidodon on Abrahames wununge buton tintregum, þeah on helle-wite, oðþæt se Alysend com; perhaps also LS. 2. 440. 252 ne mæg ic hine oferswiðan fordon swa deadne? In the inverted clause, suppression of the verb was plainly an impossibility, so long as word-order remained an essential feature of the constrnction. There are no concessions in Old English corresponding to the familiar absolute phrase, 'day or night.' On the other hand, the usual form of the swa swa... swaeder construction is with but one verb instead of the possible two. In one passage there is no verb: Lchd. 3. 186. 4 swefen, swa wæder swa god swa yfel, gefremminge hit hæfð.

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