Old English/Prepositions of Time

Old English prepositions of time, which detail the temporal relationships of their sentences.

Dative

Prepositions of time in the dative case generally concern events within a certain block of time.

Innan

1. within the limits of a period, in; híe ƿendon innan þǽre middanƿintres tíde they went within the limits of midwinter time

On

• On with the dative is used with generic time nouns, such as dæg and gēar.

1. on + gēare: hæbbe ic þriƿa on gēare mid tōþlǣccan gesetne dæg - I have a set day with a dentist thrice in the year.
2. on + þǣm + ǣrdæge: on þǣm ǣrdæge ēodon hīe tō cirican - in early morning they went to church.

Tōgeagnes

1. on the approach of, towards; tōgeagnes Ēastran cōm þæs pāpan sande the pope's legate came towards Easter

Accusative

On

• on/in a day, month, year; This is used with the accusative with named days and months

1. 1. on + dæg: gif gē lesaþ ƿyrte on Sunnandæg - if you gather roots on Sunday
   2. on + mōnaþ: se ǣresta Frīgedæg þe man sceal fæsten is on Hlȳdan (Hrēþmōnaþ) - the first Friday that one shall fast is in March
   3. on + morgen: on morgen gā ic tō scōle - in the morning I go to school

No Preposition

Often cases can be used to indicate when something happens. This is often used with the dative, but can also be accusative and genitive.

• Sunnan dagum gā ic tō cirican (or on Sunnandagum) - Sundays I go to church.
• Sunnan dæges cēapinge ne dōþ man (on gehƿamlicum Sunnandæge) - Sunday one does not do marketing.
• þȳ gēare æfter his lyre (oþþe on gēare) - the year after his loss (instrumental case)