Re: Genitive relationships (WAS: Construct States)

JOEL MATTHEW PEARSON wrote:

> On Tue, 9 Mar 1999, Sally Caves wrote:
>
> > And does Celtic really have an -ing that corresponds
> > to OE -and? Yr wyf i yn tynnu y trol, "I pull/am pulling the cart."
> > W. uses the verb noun in such constructions, not a present
> > participle.  "I am in pulling (gerund)."  Are you (or Tolkien)
> > in suggesting that the E. use of  "am pulling" is in deriving  from
> > the Welsh?
>
> What about constructions such as "I've gone a'fishin'" (now non-
> standard and generally stigmatised as 'quaint'), where the "a-"
> prefix is a reduced form of "on".  You know more about Old English
> than I do, but wasn't the original construction something like
> "he is on sleopan" = "he is on sleep-INF", or something of the
> kind?
>
> Matt.
Matt,  OE had a present participle that was used almost
exactly the way we use it now, with -ende ending:  EX from Bede's
"The Story of Caedmon:  "Eft he cwaeth, se the with hine sprecende
waes";  Again he spoke, he who with him speaking was."  So it's
very hard to say that "I am pulling the cart" derives from this
construction or the one that you describe above.  It is true that the
OE infinitive was used much more plastically than we use it today,
to cover meanings that we now use the gerundive -ing form to cover
EX, from The Dream of the Rood:  Thuhte me thaet ic gesawe syllicre
treow on lyft *laedan* leohte bewunden; "It seemed to me that I saw
a wondrous tree to *extend or extending* aloft, surrounded by
light."   OE also had an inflected infinitive, which became our "to do,"
"to sleep," "to write," etc.  But I think it would have been on slepende,

as the participle was the one to take case endings for other
prepositions.
I just don't know about a-sleeping, a-haying, etc. whether this comes
from the infinitive or the participle.

I've got to go... my husband is waiting impatiently in the lobby for
me.  It's sushi night, and I just don't have the time to check through
my big OE grammar for this.  So I'll just post.