Old English/Prepositions

Introduction: Introduction - Grammar - Orthography
Parts of speech: Nouns - Verbs - Pronouns - Adjectives - Adverbs - Participles - Gerund - Conjunctions - Prepositions

Old English has many prepositions, and like German, they require certain cases of noun to come after them to complete their meaning. Old English has 4 cases other than nominative (subject) case which can be objects of prepositions. The genitive, dative, instrumental, and accusative cases can all be objects of prepositions. Ā ā Ǣ ǣ Ē ē Ī ī Ō ō Ū ū Ȳ ȳ

Common Prepositions

Mid

• This preposition means 'with', as in:
  • I went with him - ic ēode mid him.
  • I traveled along with her - ic fōr mid hire.

Tō

• This means 'to,' as in:
  • I spoke to him - ic spræc tō him.
  • I go to the door - ic gā tō þǣre dura.

Þurh

• This means 'through,' as in:
  • I go through the gate - ic gā þurh þæt geat.

This preposition governs the accusative case.

Now, there are a great deal of prepositions in Old English, so going through them by case governed will be helpful.

Genitive Prepositions

Genitive prepositions that only take the genitive case are rare, and there is only one true such preposition, andlang.

andlang, andlanges

1. alongside, along, on length, by the side of
   1. I go alongside the street - ic gā andlang(es) þǣre strǣte.
   2. I go by the side of the way - ic gā andlang(es) þæs weges.

There are several prepositions which do take genitive objects in addition to other cases:

• betwēonan (dative/accusative too)
• innan (dative/accusative too) - within, from within
• þurh (mainly accusative)

Dative Prepositions

Tōgeagnes

1. where there is motion towards the object governed by the word
   1. without the idea of hostility, towards, so as to meet
   2. with idea of hostility, against, to meet
2. where there is motion of the object governed by the word
   1. without idea of opposition, in the way of, to meet the approach of, in readiness for, against the coming of
   2. with the idea of opposition, against, for the purpose of resisting
3. marking the object towards or against which an action is directed
   1. of reciprocal action, again, in return
4. marking time, on the approach of, towards
5. marking comparison or contrast

Accusative Prepositions

There are several pure accusative prepositions, among the most common are geond, geondan, oþ, þurh, underneoðan, wiþgeondan, ymb, ymbūtan. Some of these prepositions can take other cases, but only rarely. There are also some less common prepositions, which will be listed below with the others.

geond

1. throughout, during

geondan

1. beyond

oþ

1. to, up to, as far as

þurh

1. through, during

þurhūt

1. right through, throughout
   1. hē ēode þurhūt Ēoforwīc - he went throughout York

underneoðan

1. underneath, below

wiþgeondan

1. beyond

ymb

1. around, about, at

ymbūtan

1. around, about

Dative/Accusative Prepositions

ābūtan

1. on, about, around, around about, on the outside

(variant of onbūtan)

in

innan

1. dative - in
   1. rest in, within - innan healle within a hall
   2. motion in, within - hé éode innan þǽm mynstre he went within the monastery
   3. time within the limits of a period, in; híe wendon innan þǽre middanwintres tíde they went within the limits of midwinter time
2. accusative - into

onbūtan

1. about
   1. place
   2. time
      1. about All Saint's Day or later onbūtan Ealra Hālgena dæg and gīet lator

Dative/Instrumental Prepositions

Mid

Dative

1. with, in conjunction with, in company with, together with

Instrumental

1. through, by means of

Reference

• Place Prepositions
• Time Prepositions
• Manner Prepositions
• Relation Prepositions