Cover not available
Part of
Explorations in English Historical Syntax
Edited by Hubert Cuyckens, Hendrik De Smet, Liesbet Heyvaert and Charlotte Maekelberghe
[Studies in Language Companion Series 198] 2018
► pp. 259–282

Chapter 10
A study of Old English dugan

Its potential for auxiliation

| Chiba University, Japan

This study examines how the Old English preterite-present verb dugan ‘to avail’ developed into a modal auxiliary of ability (‘can’) in Middle English. Two factors in the Old English period play a role in this auxiliation process: (i) the influence of the modal precursor magan (meaning ‘to be strong’ as a lexical verb and ‘can’ as a modal) (> Modern English may) and (ii) the textual characteristics of medical texts. Dugan shares with magan a number of morphological and semantic properties. Furthermore, in medical texts, Old English dugan is attested as a lexical verb with the to-infinitive; magan as well is attested as a lexical verb and as a modal followed by the bare infinitive. It is argued that dugan starts combining with the bare infinitive because of the analogy with magan after the medical manuscripts were passed on to the Middle English period.

Keywords: preterite-present verb, modal auxiliary, auxiliation, infinitive, medical texts
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Old English dugan : Its etymology
  • 3.Auxiliation of pre-modals
    • 3.1Some formal features of the modals
    • 3.2Evaluative readings
  • 4.Old English dugan
    • 4.1Verse texts
    • 4.2Homiletic prose
    • 4.3Medical prose
  • 5.Middle English and Modern English periods
    • 5.1Middle English douen
    • 5.2Scots dow ‘can’
  • 6.Germanic cognates of Old English dugan
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • List of abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 13 August 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.198.11kai
References (55)

Dictionaries

BT
= Bosworth, Joseph / Toller, Thomas N. (ed.) 1898 [Many reprints]. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary: Based on the Manuscript Collections of the late Joseph Bosworth. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
BTS
= Toller, Thomas N. (ed.) 1921 [Many reprints]. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary: Based on the Manuscript Collections of the Late Joseph Bosworth . Supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
DOE
= Cameron, Angus, Amos, Ashley C., Healey, Antonette di Paolo et al. (eds) 2007 The Dictionary of Old English: A to G Online. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. [URL]
DOEWC
= Healey, Antonette diPaolo, Wilkin, John P. & Xiang, Xin (eds) 2009 The Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. [URL]
DOST
= Craigie, William A. (ed.) 1931–2002 A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, 12 Vols. London: OUP.Google Scholar
LIV2
= Rix, Helmut (ed.) 2001 Lexikon der Indogermanischen Verben: Die Wurzeln und ihre Primärstammbildungen, 2nd edn. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert.Google Scholar
MED
= Kurath, Hans, Kuhn, Sherman M., Reidy, John & Lewis, Robert E. (eds.) 1952–2001 Middle English Dictionary. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press. [URL]
OED
= Simpson, John A. & Weiner, Edmund S. C. (eds) 1989 Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn. (1st edn. by James A. H. Murray et al. 1928) 20 Vols. Oxford: OUP. CD-ROM Version 4.0 (2009).Google Scholar

Editions

Behaghel, Otto & Taeger, Burkhard
(eds) 1996 Heliand und Genesis [Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 4], 10th edn. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bethurum, Dorothy
(ed.) 1957 The Homilies of Wulfstan. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Brooks, Kenneth R.
(ed.) 1961 Andreas and the Fates of the Apostles. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Clubb, Merrel D.
(ed.) 1925[rpt. 1972] Christ and Satan: An Old English Poem [Yale Studies in English 70]. New Haven CT: Archon Books.Google Scholar
Cockayne, Oswald
(ed.) 1865 Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England [Rolls Series 35], Vol 2. London: Longman.Google Scholar
D’Ardenne, Simonne R. T. O.
(ed.) 1961 Þe Liflade ant te Passiun of Seinte Iuliene [EETS, o.s. 248]. London: OUP.Google Scholar
Dobbie, Elliott van K.
(ed.) 1953 Beowulf and Judith [The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records 4]. New York NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Erdmann, Oskar & Wolff, Ludwig
(eds) 1962 Otfrids Evangelienbuch [Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 49], 4th edn. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Evans, Gwynne B.
(ed.) 1974 The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Fulk, Robert D., Bjork, Robert E. & Niles, John D.
(eds) 2008 Klaeber’s Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, 4th edn. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Morris, Richard
(ed.) 1874–1892 [rpt. 1961–1966] Cursor Mundi (EETS, o.s. 57; 59; 62; 66; 68; 99; 101). 7 Vols. (Vol. 6: 1892) London: OUP.Google Scholar
von Steinmeyer, Elias
(ed.) 1963 Die kleineren althochdeutschen Sprachdenkmäler [Deutsche Neudrucke, Reihe Texte des Mittelalters]. 2nd edn. Berlin: Weidmann.Google Scholar

Studies

Birkmann, Thomas
1987 Präteritopräsentia: Morphologische Entwicklungen einer Sonderklasse in den altgermanischen Sprachen [Linguistische Arbeiten 188]. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cavill, Paul
1999 Maxims in Old English Poetry. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer.Google Scholar
Chadwick, Hector M.
1912[rpt. 1967] The Heroic Age. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Dickins, Bruce
1915 Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Cuyckens, Hubert, Davidse, Kristin & Vandelanotte, Lieven
2010 Introduction. In Subjectification, Intersubjectification and Grammaticalization, Kristin Davidse, Lieven Vandelanotte & Hubert Cuyckens (eds), 1–26. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eitelmann, Matthias
2013 Remembering (ge)munan: The rise and decline of a potential modal. In Comparative Studies in Early Germanic Languages: With a Focus on Verbal Categories [Studies in Language Companion Series 138], Gabriele Diewald, Leena Kahlas-Tarkka & Ilse Wischer (eds), 127–150. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Olga
2003 The development of the modals in English: Radical versus gradual changes. In English Modality in Context: Diachronic Perspectives [Linguistic Insights 11], David Hart (ed.), 17–32. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Franz, Wilhelm
1939 Die Sprache Shakespeares in Vers und Prosa, 4th edn. Halle/Saale: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Gneuss, Helmut & Lapidge, Michael
2014 Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100 [Toronto Anglo-Saxon Series 15]. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gordon, Eric V.
1956[rpt. 1986] An Introduction to Old Norse, 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Harris, Alice C. & Campbell, Lyle
1995 Historical Syntax in Cross-linguistic Perspective [Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 74]. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hogg, Richard M. & Fulk, Robert D.
2011 A Grammar of Old English, Vol. 2. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hollis, Stephanie
2001 Scientific and medical writings. In A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature [Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture 11], Phillip Pulsiano & Elaine Treharne (eds), 188–208. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ker, Neil R.
1957[rpt. 1990] Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Ker, William P.
1908[rpt. 1957] Epic and Romance: Essays on Medieval Literature. New York NY: Dover Publications.Google Scholar
Krischke, Ulrike
2013 The Old English Complex Plant Names: A Linguistic Survey and a Catalogue [Münchener Universitätsschriften 39]. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kuteva, Tania
2001 Auxiliation: An Enquiry into the Nature of Grammaticalization. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Kümmel, Martin
1996 Stativ und Passivaorist im Indoiranischen [Historische Sprachforschung, Ergänzungsheft 39]. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Lasch, Agathe
1914 Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik [Sammlung Kurzer Grammatiken Germanischer Dialekte 9]. Halle: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, David W.
1979 Principles of Diachronic Syntax [Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 23]. Cambridge: CUPGoogle Scholar
Mäkinen, Martti
2004 Herbal recipes and recipes in herbals – Intertextuality in early English medical writing. In Medical and Scientific Writing in Late Medieval English [Studies in English Language], Irma Taavitsainen & Päivi Pahta (eds), 144–173. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Moessner, Lilo
1997 The syntax of Older Scots. In The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Charles Jones (ed.), 112–155. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar
Murray, James A. H.
1873 The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland. London: Asher.Google Scholar
Nagle, Stephen J. & Sanders, Sara L.
1998 Downsizing the preterite-presents in Middle English. In Advances in English Historical Linguistics (1996), Jacek Fisiak & Marcin Krygier (eds), 253–261. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Palmer, Frank
2003 Modality in English: Theoretical, descriptive and typological issues. In Modality in Contemporary English [Topics in English Linguistics 44], Roberta Facchinetti, Manfred Krug & Frank Palmer (eds), 1–17. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paul, Hermann
2007 Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik [Sammlung Kurzer Grammatiken Germanischer Dialekte 2], revised by Thomas Klein, Hans-Joachim Solms & Klaus-Peter Wegera, 25th edn. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Plank, Frans
1984 The modals stody retold. Studies in Language 8(3): 305–364. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Purves, David
2002 A Scots Grammar: Scots Grammar and Usage, revised and extended edn. Edinburgh: The Saltire Society.Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph
1955  The Language of the Leechbook . Bald’s Leechbook ( British Museum Royal manuscript 12.D.xvii ), Appendix. In Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile 5, Cyril E. Wright (ed.). Copenhagen: Rodenkilde & Bagger.Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph, Greenbaum, Sidney, Leech, Geoffrey & Svartvik, Jan
1985 A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Ringe, Don
2006 From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic [A Linguistic History of English 1]. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth C.
1989 On the rise of epistemic meanings in English: An example of subjectification in semantic change. Language 65(1): 31–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Visser, Fredericus Theodorus
1963–1973 An Historical Syntax of the English Language, 3 Parts, 4 Vols. (Vol. 1: 1963; Vol. 3–1: 1969) Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Warner, Anthony R.
1993 English Auxiliaries: Structure and History [Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 66]. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilson, James
1923 The Dialect of Robert Burns as Spoken in Central Ayrshire. London: OUP.Google Scholar