254 Artur Bartnik
(20) and heom syððan forgeaf his þa
and them afterwards give.past 3 sg his the.sg.acc.f
ecan sibbe
everlasting.sg.acc.f peace.sg.acc.f
‘and afterwards he gave them his everlasting peace’
(coaelhom,ÆHom_10:125.1468)
An intriguing feature of these examples is the obligatory character of an accompanying
adjective. There is only one true exception to the pattern given in (21). All the other
examples contain adjectives, or their equivalents such as participles and quantifiers,
which have some adjectival features. There are also examples with the noun nehstan
‘neighbour’ and halgan ‘saint’, as shown in (22) and (23) below:
(21) He gesceop men on eorþan gegaderode
he create.past 3 sg men on earth combine.past 3 sg
þa saula & þone lichoman mid his þam anwealde.
the soul and the body with his the.sg.dat.m p ower.sg.dat.m
‘He created men on earth, joined together the soul and the body by his
ruling power’
(coboeth,Bo:30.69.22.1291)
(22) þis bebod we habbeð fram Gode,
this commandment we have from God
þæt se þe God lufige, he eac lufige
that he who God love.sbj 3 sg he also love.sbj 3 sg
his þone nextan
his the.sg.acc.m neighbour.sg.acc.m
‘This commandment we have from God that he who will love God will also
love his neighbour’
(coalcuin,Alc_[Warn_35]:47.38)
(23) hie sylfe þær Gode ælmihtigum
they self there God.sg.dat.m Almightly.sg.m.dat
& his ðam halgan him sylfum
and his the.pl.dat saints.pl.dat him self
bebeodaþ mid halgum gebedum
entrust with holy.sg.dat prayer.sg.dat
‘there they entrust themselves to God Almighty and His saints with holy
prayer’
(coverhom,LS_19_[PurifMaryVerc_17]:53.2176)
It should be noted, however, that in most cases nehstan and halgan can function as
adjectives as well. Besides, weak adjectives in Old English have nominal character,