Re: Future English
| From: | Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, February 7, 2005, 7:02 |
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On Sunday, February 6, 2005, at 07:21 , Pascal A. Kramm wrote:
> On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 00:37:22 +1100, Tristan McLeay
[snip]
>> the derivative of 'us' or 'to us' will develop into a 1sg dative,
>> perhaps eventually objective---with 'me' replacing 'I' in the
>> subjective.
>
> Somewhat like in "me thinks..."
Eh?? _methinks_ is a survival of a more *archaic* form of English. _me_ is
dative (as it was in Old English) and _thinks_ is 3rd person singular (as
it still is in modern English). But the _think-_ is not the modern "to
think" <-- OE þencan (German: denken); it is derived from OE þyncan "to
seem" (German: dünken).
OE mé þyncþ --> Middle English: me thinkth, me thinks = it seems to me.
>> perhaps a distinction between active and stative verbs deriving from
>> the simple present and the present progressive.
>
> Not very probably, I'd say...
About as probable as most other things in the so-called "Future English"
methinks.
Ray
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