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

The English progressive 77
(4) þa þæt þa Porsenna gehierde, he ðæt setl & þæt gewin
when that then Porsenna heard he that siege and that battle
mid ealle forlet, þe he ær þreo winter dreogende wæs
with all left which he already three winters fighting was
“When Porsenna heard that, he gave up the siege and battle against everybody,
which he had been fighting for three winters already.”
(Alfred’s Orosius; HCO2)
(5) & hie alle on þone Cyning wærun feohtende oð þæt hie
and they all against that king were fighting until that they
hine ofslægenne hæfdon
him slain had
“And they all fought (?were all fighting) against the king until they had
slain/killed him.”
(Chronicle ms A early; HCO2)
(6) & he wæs endebyrdlice settende bi muneca life & bi
and he was little by little settling by monestic life and by
heora stilnesse
its stillness
“and little by little he settled (?was settling) down to monastic life and to its
stillness”
(Bede’s Ecclasiastical history; HCO2)
In these sentences, the adverbials clearly give away the durative nature of the
progressive. Thus, þreo winter specifies a time span during which the activity took
place, oð þæt hie hine ofslægenne hæfdon defines the endpoint of the situation
referred to, while endebyrdlice denotes an indefinite time span.
The sentences in (7)–(9) contain focalized uses of the Old English
progressive.
(7) Mid þi þe he þas þing wæs sprecende to him silfum, þa
while he that thing was speaking to himself then
færinga geseah he sumne fiscere gan
suddenly saw he some fishermen go
“while he was speaking about that subject to himself, suddenly he saw some
fishermen leave”
(The Old English Apollonius of Tyre; HCO3)
(8) & eode on ærne merien in to ðam getelde, & efne
and went into house next morning into the tent and precisely