Prepositions

Prepositions are words that show how a verb relates to a noun or pronoun. Most Old English prepositions are still recognisable to a modern English reader, as prepositions have changed very little as the language has evolved. For example, 'He æfter deorum men dyrne langaþ - he longs secretly after the dear man'.

However, prepositions in Old English govern which case the following noun or pronoun takes. Almost all nouns and pronouns paired with a preposition take the dative case. However, some can also take the accusative or genitive case. The following prepositions almost always precede the dative case.

There are a few prepositions which change meaning depending on whether they are followed by a word in the accusative or dative. A preposition usually precedes the accusative if the preposition itself specifically relates to motion or time. For example, in the sentence, 'se æresta Frigedæg þe man sceal fæsten is on Hreþmonaþ - the first Friday that a man shall fast is in March', the word 'on' relates to time so 'Hreþmonaþ' is accusative, not dative.

Similarly, in the sentence, 'heo hine in þæt mynster onfeng - she accepted him into that monastery', the object 'þæt mynster' is accusative and not dative because she didn't accept him while they were in the monastery, but rather accepted him into the monastery. So the preposition itself carries the concept of motion.

The distinction can be hard to grasp, but you can find a breakdown of the differences in how prepositions should be translated depending on context below.

There are four prepositions which only precede the accusative case. These are 'geond - through', 'oð - until', 'þurh - through' and 'ymb - surrounding/about'. Examine the sentence, 'Ðær halga stenc wunaþ geond wynlond - there a holy fragrance rests throughout the pleasant land'.

Some prepositions could be considered false friends, as they look like one word but represent another. For example, the word 'æt' usually means 'from' and the word 'wiþ' means against. It is common to see 'wiþ' used at the beginning of medical instructions in leechbooks to indicate what the recipe is used for, in which case it might be more correct to translate it as 'for'. For example, 'wiþ aslepnum lic - for a numb body' or 'wiþ nædran flite - for a snake bite'.

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