Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang

Old English weorðan and its replacement in Middle English 4
(c950. Lch II [2]:36. .5)
“If the disease is protracted too much, [it] turns then into dropsy.”
Importantly, becuman assumed a copularizing function with adjectival subject
complements, such as those occurring in (24)–(26). Sentence (24), here repeated
as (34), provides evidence that this usage of becuman is directly based on similar
uses found with weorðan rather than being an independent development. The collocation
becuman + dative + milde ‘merciful’ found in this example has a frequent
counterpart in which weorðan is used instead, an illustration of which is given in
(35) (in total, there are 3 occurrences of this pattern in our sample).
(34) us milde bicwom meahta waldend æt ærestan þurh þæs engles word.
(c970. Christ (Exeter):26.820)
“the wielder of powers became merciful to us at first through the word of the angel.”
(35) … þu me on mode milde weorðe æfter þinre spræce.
(c970. PPs:
“ … you will be merciful of mind to me in harmony with your words.”
8.58)
Later evidence that becuman gradually assumed the functions of weorðan can be
found by comparing different manuscripts of the same text. In the sentences given
in (36) for instance, the earlier manuscript has weorðan, while the later one has
becuman:
(36) a. He wearð gehyrsum toþi, þæt he willes deað þrowade.
(c 025. Benedictine Rule [version translated by Æþelwold])
“He grew obedient to the extent that he willfully endured death.”
b. He becom ʓehyrsum anan to deaþe.
(c 225. Benedictine Rule [early ME, Winteney version])
“He grew obedient all the way to death.”
In sum, different kinds of evidence suggest that the development of becuman as
a marker of copula-constructions was made possible, or was at least considerably
facilitated, by the existence of an original similarity in distribution with weorðan,
which served as a basis for a process of analogical extension and, in turn, enabled
becuman to become a member of the group of lexemes used in the constructional
network of copula-constructions.
4. Distributional differences between weorðan and becuman explained
In Section 2, we posited a general network of copula-constructions in OE, and,
distinct from it, a constructional network specific to weorðan. The discussion in
Section 3 has offered an explanation for the emergence of an extensive copularizing