A Book of Middle English. J. A. Burrow
simple present is also used where Modern English has the progressive ‘am’ + ‘‐ing’, to express an action that is in progress over a limited period: al dares for drede, ‘they are all cowering for fear’, 9/315.
As in Old English, the present tense is frequently used to refer to the future: þay ta me bylyve, ‘they will seize me at once’, 8/78. Nearly always the context makes it quite clear that the action is in the future, for example with an expression of time: we foure rayse it noʒt right to‐yere, ‘the four of us will not raise it upright this year’, 15/164. Compare ‘I go to London tomorrow’ in Modern English.
The historic present, not found in Old English, becomes common in the later fourteenth century, particularly in narrative of past events in order to place reader and writer in the middle of the action: þer hales in at þe halle dor an aghlich mayster, ‘there comes in at the hall door a fearsome knight’, 9/136. In relating a series of such events, the writer may switch quite freely between past tense and historic present; see for example the description of Jonah entering the whale’s mouth, 8/246–53.
5.6.2 Use of Past Tense
The past tense is similarly used to express both simple and progressive aspects; see the translation of the verbs sete and underʒete here: þo al þo þat þerin sete / þat it was King Orfeo underʒete, ‘then all those who were sitting there understood that it was King Orfeo’, 5/575–6. Especially in early texts, the past tense can be used for the perfect, where Modern English uses ‘have’ or ‘had’: ne isæh nævere na man selere cniht nenne, ‘no one had ever seen a better knight’, 3/28.
5.6.3 Auxiliaries of the Past
The perfect, bringing past action up to the present (‘have done’, etc.) or to some point in the more recent past (‘had done’, etc.), is regularly used in Middle English: þy bone þat þou boden habbes, ‘the request that you have asked for’, 9/327; uche lede as he loved and layde had his hert, ‘each man in the way he loved and had set his heart’, 8/168. To form the perfect of intransitive verbs involving change of state, and particularly verbs of motion, the auxiliary be is generally used: he is nu suþe acoled, ‘he has now cooled off considerably’, 2/205; he watz flowen, ‘he had fled’, 8/183; when he was in þe roche ygo, ‘when he had gone into the rock’, 5/349. Be is also used with verbs meaning ‘become’ which have a noun as complement: he is bicumen hunte, ‘he has become a huntsman’, 3/114; my bapteme is worthyn, ‘has become my baptism’, 11/330.
In narrative style the perfect can be used to suggest that the consequences of an action are still developing: so long he haþ þe way ynome /To Winchester he is ycome, ‘so long has he taken the way that he has arrived at Winchester’, 5/477–8; anon þe wylde loves rage … haþ mad him …, 13/222–4. As a feature of narrative style it may alternate with the simple past tense: he mette Massynysse / That hym for joy in armes hath ynome, ‘… who took him in his arms’, 16/37–8. So narrative of past events can be told with the simple past tense, the historic present, or the perfect.
The verb ginnen (also anginnen, onginnen) originally meant ‘begin’. Its past tense gan/gune (and related forms can/con) was also frequently used with an infinitive as an equivalent of a past tense. Context generally determines which sense is appropriate; so seþþen þat ich here regni gan, 5/425, is ‘ever since I began to reign here’, whereas boþe breþes con blowe, 8/138, may be translated with a simple past tense, ‘both winds blew’. In other cases the uncertainty may be a feature of the style, creating an expectant sense of events to be recounted: þa riden agon Arður, ‘then Arthur rode’ or ‘began to ride’ (when something happened), 3/47. Considerations of metre and rhyme no doubt also play a part in this example: as sone as sche gan awake / Sche crid and loþli bere gan make, ‘as soon as she woke up she cried and made/began to make a horrible noise’, 5/77–8.
5.6.4 Auxiliaries of the Future: shall and will
The original function of shall was to express obligation or necessity, and of will to express wish or intention, and this distinction is still often present when they are used as auxiliaries to refer to the future. Compare it schal be so!, 5/226, with ich wille bon of þe awreke, ‘I intend to get even with you’, 2/262; or the two verbs here: þu clumbe … swulc þu woldest to hævene; nu þu scalt to hælle, ‘You climbed as if you wished (to get) to heaven; now you shall (get) to hell’, 3/165–6. So shall often expresses the notion of what is bound to happen quite independent of what anyone wants: nu we scullen riden, ‘now we are going to ride’, 3/44; in the Beatitudes ‘Blessed are …’ for þay schal …, 8/16, 18, 20 etc. Shall becomes the general auxiliary of the future, whereas will still generally implies volition: wo schal us seme /þat kunne and wille riʒt us deme, ‘who is going to reconcile us, who is able and willing to judge us justly?’, 2/187–8; he wile gon a riʒte weie, ‘he intends to follow a right path’, 2/214; if þou be so bold … þou wyl grant me, 9/272–3. As this last instance shows, the sense of volition, though present, may be faint, and sometimes the two verbs occur simply as alternative auxiliaries without any apparent distinction in meaning: I wyl me sum oþer waye, … I schal tee into Tarce, ‘I’ll go some other way, … I’ll travel into Tarshish’, 8/86– 7.
A common construction contrasts will in a subordinate clause with shall in the main clause: if ʒe wyl lysten … I schal telle hit as tit, ‘if you are willing to listen … I’ll tell it at once’, 9/30–1; ʒif þou wilte besily travayle … þou schalt come þerto, ‘if you will work assiduously … you’ll get there’, 6/29–30.
For the use of will/wolde as a ‘modal auxiliary’ in hypothetical statements and the like, see 5.6.6.
5.6.5 The Infinitive
The infinitive form is used on its own, with to or with for to. The practice of using the plain infinitive or the infinitive with to is for the most part the same as in Modern English, though there are some differences in detail. The plain infinitive is used directly after auxiliary verbs such as shall, will, can, may, mot, and others such as dare and let etc.: ich nolde don, ‘I would not do’, 2/159; his hors he lette irnen, ‘he let his horse run’, 3/60. With some other verbs such as gin, go, here, þink, etc., where Modern English has the infinitive with to, Middle English may have a plain infinitive: cleopien agon, ‘began to call’, 3/132; þohte forð siðen and over sæ liðen, ‘intended to go forth and (to) travel over the sea’, 3/85; þee byhoveþ … riʒt so put, ‘it will be necessary for you … just so to put’, 6/181–2. With a pair of infinitives, the first may be without and the second with to, and this is different from modern usage: lovede wel fare / And no dede to do, ‘loved to live well and do nothing’, 7a/8–9; here schulde wight men worschippe wynne / And noght with gaudis al day to gone, ‘here should bold men win honour and not go …’, 15/199–200.
The infinitive may have a passive sense: avantarie is to despise, ‘boasting is to be despised’, 13/58; nas no coumfort to kever, ‘there was no comfort to be obtained’, 8/223; ha beoð þe leasse to meanen, ‘they are the less to be pitied’, 4/25–6. Verbs of commanding and the like may be followed by an infinitive with passive sense: bede unlouke þe lidde, ‘ordered the lid to be released’, 11/67; he let ordeine, ‘he caused orders to be given’, 13/106; late bere, ‘cause to be carried’, hence ‘carry!’, 15/178; do