--- title: "‘Hreran mid hondum hrimcealde sæ’: On verb attraction in Old" description: "The paper examines \"verb attraction\" in Old English, a word-order pattern where a non-finite verb leaves its expected position… 2 references." authors: ["Nils-Lennart Johannesson"] year: 2016 venue: "NJES: Nordic Journal of English studies 15" source: "https://publicera.kb.se/njes/article/view/26863" doi: "10.35360/njes.358" licence: "CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; NJES: Nordic Journal of English studies)" licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/johannesson-2016-hreran-mid-hondum-hrimcealde-s/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/johannesson-2016-hreran-mid-hondum-hrimcealde-s/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2016](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2016/page/5/) / ‘Hreran mid hondum hrimcealde sæ’: On verb attraction in Old English # ‘Hreran mid hondum hrimcealde sæ’: On verb attraction in Old English **Authors:** Nils-Lennart Johannesson · **Year:** 2016 · **Venue:** [NJES: Nordic Journal of English studies 15](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/nordic-journal-of-english-studies/) ([Nordic Journal of English Studies 2016](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/nordic-journal-of-english-studies/2016/)) · **Publisher:** [University of Gothenburg](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/publishers/university-of-gothenburg/) · **Licence:** [CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; NJES: Nordic Journal of English studies)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) **Links:** [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.35360/njes.358) · [PDF](https://publicera.kb.se/njes/article/download/26863/21934) · [DOI 10.35360/njes.358](https://doi.org/10.35360/njes.358) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2483623812) **Citations:** 0 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14) ## Summary The paper examines "verb attraction" in Old English, a word-order pattern where a non-finite verb leaves its expected position and joins the higher finite verb. The analysis uses Government and Binding Theory. Each verb gets its own VP and IP, and a verb can sit under V, I or C, with I placed to the right of the VP so that clause-final verbs are possible. The author draws attested sentences from the 2004 Toronto Corpus and gives tree derivations for two configurations. The first is an auxiliary plus a main verb. The second is the object-control verb *hatan* 'to command' plus its infinitive clause, where attraction crosses a CP boundary. In every case the derivation runs normally until one extra adjunction step at the end moves the non-finite verb next to the finite one, wherever that verb stands. The paper closes with a line from *The Wanderer* ("hreran mid hondum hrimcealde sæ"). It argues that attraction explains why an adverbial seems to separate the verb from its object, and that the pattern let the poet place an alliterating verb where he needed it. ## Key points - The framework is Government and Binding Theory. Old English verbs have three possible sites: V inside VP, I inside IP (head-final), and C inside CP, which is reached through topicalization. - Every example and its identification label is taken from the Toronto Corpus as released in 2004, and the translations are the author's own. - With an auxiliary, attraction gives main-verb-before-auxiliary order in two settings: early in the clause (examples 4–6) and clause-finally in "reversed" order (examples 7–9). - With *hatan*, the finite verb can sit in V (rare, e.g. a relative clause from ChronF), in I, or in C after topicalization. The infinitive is raised out of its CP and adjoined to *het* in each case. - The object of *hatan* is often left unexpressed. The author links this to a cultural default: commands came from people in authority, and servants or soldiers were assumed to be present to carry them out. ## Interesting ideas - An odd word order is treated as an ordinary derivation plus one final movement, so a single extra step accounts for the deviation instead of a separate grammar. - Each verb in a two-verb chain keeps its own projection, complements and features, even when it sits right next to the other verb. - The verse is analysed as continuous prose without line breaks, so the meter does not distract from the syntax. - An unexpressed controllee (the person ordered) is explained by world knowledge about who carries out commands. - The movement is given a functional motive: it puts an alliterating verb exactly where the verse needs it. ## For Mova How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests: - **I1** (tree): Repair rules could model displaced verbs in archaic or poetic English as one reversible adjunction on top of a canonical parse, so the UD tree can be restored and the change explained. - **I2** (frames): Frame extraction should take arguments from each verb's own complement structure, not from its surface neighbour, so stacked verbs like "commanded … to build" yield two linked frames. - **I3** (tokens): Poems and songs could be flattened into sentence units before tagging and parsing, with line positions kept as metadata for later stylistic use. - **I4** (world): For command verbs with no object, the world model could add a default "subordinate executor" entity, flagged as inferred, rather than leaving the role empty. - **I5** (back): The generator could treat word-order variants as options chosen for rhythm, emphasis or sound, while recording which variant was used and why. *Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.* ## Institutions - [Stockholm University](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/stockholm-university/) — University, Stockholm, Sweden · 10 works · 1,682 citations 📚 Shelves (2): [🎭 Arts and Humanities](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/) · 9,296 works · [🗣️ Language and Linguistics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/language-and-linguistics/) · 9,206 works 🧭 Topics (2): [English](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/english/) · 1,373 works · [⏳ Historical linguistics & language change](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/language-change/) · 159 works ## Cite Cite as: Nils-Lennart Johannesson. 2016. ‘Hreran mid hondum hrimcealde sæ’: On verb attraction in Old English. NJES: Nordic Journal of English studies 15. The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. ```bibtex @article{johannesson2016hreran, title = {{‘Hreran mid hondum hrimcealde sæ’: On verb attraction in Old English}}, author = {Nils-Lennart Johannesson}, journal = {NJES: Nordic Journal of English studies 15}, year = {2016}, doi = {10.35360/njes.358}, url = {https://doi.org/10.35360/njes.358} } ``` - [← previous Variabilité des syllabes réalisées par des apprenants de l'anglais (Analysing syllable variability in a French learner corpus of English)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/ballier-2016-variabilite-des-syllabes-realisees-par/) - [↑ back to papers of 2016](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2016/page/5/) ## References 2 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. DiPaolo Healey, Antonette (ed.). 2004. The Dictionary of Old English Corpus. Toronto: The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. (The Toronto Corpus) Haegeman, Liliane. 1994. Introduction to Government & Binding Theory. Oxford: Blackwell. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=DiPaolo+Healey%2C+Antonette+%28ed%2E%29%2E+2004%2E+The+Dictionary+of+Old+English+Corpus%2E+Toronto%3A+The+Pontifical+Institute+of+Mediaeval+Studies%2E+%28The+Toronto+Corpus%29+Haegeman%2C+Liliane%2E+1994%2E+Introduction+to+Gover) 2. Johannesson, Nils-Lennart. 2015. Stæfcræft: An Introduction to Old English Syntax. Stockholm: Department of English, Stockholm University. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Johannesson%2C+Nils%2DLennart%2E+2015%2E+St%C3%A6fcr%C3%A6ft%3A+An+Introduction+to+Old+English+Syntax%2E+Stockholm%3A+Department+of+English%2C+Stockholm+University%2E) *Updated 24 October 2026*