Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Exercise Book / with Inflections, Syntax, Selections for Reading, and Glossary

by C. Alphonso Smith

Note 2.—Fusion with ne gives neom, neart, nis for the present; næs, nǣre, nǣron for the preterit.

Note 3.—The verb to be is followed by the nominative case, as in Mn.E.; but when the predicate noun is plural, and the subject a neuter pronoun in the singular, the verb agrees in number with the predicate noun. The neuter singular ðæt is frequently employed in this construction: Ðaet wǣron eall Finnas, They were all Fins; Ðæt sind ęnglas, They are angels; Ðǣt wǣron ęngla gāstas, They were angels’ spirits.

Notice, too, that O.E. writers do not say It is I, It is thou, but I it am, Thou it art: Ic hit eom, ðū hit eart. See [§ 21, (1), Note 1].

[41.]

Vocabulary.

sēo brycg, bridge.

sēo costnung, temptation.

sēo cwalu, death [quail, quell].

sēo fōr, journey [faran].

sēo frōfor, consolation, comfort.