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Re: Natlag: Middle English impersonal verbs

From:Sally Caves <scaves@...>
Date:Thursday, March 9, 2006, 23:05
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>

> On 3/9/06, Sally Caves <scaves@...> wrote: >> And the most famous, thinketh. Survives into Shakespeare's day and >> later: >> The lady doth protest too much, methinks. > > Heh. I was trying so hard to think of less obvious ones that I left > that one out of my list. :) Heck, it survives to this day in > affectation; I use it nigh-daily (along with other archaisms like > "nigh" :)).
I use nigh all the time, too. I think we ought to bring fustilarian back into English, if we could determine what Shakespeare meant by it.
>> I wonder if behoves was an impersonal verb that just hung in there. It >> behoves me to write that letter of recommendation. > > (Isn't that normally spelled "behooves"?)
Yup, typo. Also influenced by the old spelling.
> It does seem to fit the impersonal mold; can't really substitute a > definite subject: *"Writing that letter of recommendation behooves > me". Whereas you could say that with e.g. "pains", so that's not > really impersonal.
I'm guessing at the formal rules for a surviving impersonal. Or a re-invented one, for that matter. So... "it" + impersonal verb in 3rd singular + pronoun in dative case + infinitive or relative clause? But: me reweth, Marie, thy faire rod. This has no infinitive or relative clause, and could be turned into "thy faire rod me reweth, Marie. Also in modern English: "It bothers me that you're doing this on your own." "I guess it falls to me to clean the house up again." Or this: It's necessary for Ian to be the one to tell him." Easily replaced by "Ian needs to be the one to tell him." You can see why the impersonals died out; they were too easily replaced by subject pronouns and agreeing verbs: Me nedeth here noon other art to use" (Chaucer, Troilus). I don't need to use any other art here. Me liketh: "I like," instead of "it pleases me." (Another survival, although a little cumbersome: "it pleases me to see you and Frank getting along so well.") Shall we invent some new impersonals? I rather like their periphrastic quality. Nicely formal. Sally

Replies

Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Tristan Alexander McLeay <conlang@...>