Mind and dative external possessors in Old English

Abstract

This chapter documents the use of dative external possessors in Old English with words referring to the mind or soul and compares this with the use of internal possessors with these words. It is shown that dative external possessors were generally not as frequent with these possessa as with possessa referring to the body. Dative external possessors with mind object possessa were limited to poetry in Old English. The construction was more common with subject possessa, especially with copulas. They were most common with possessa in idioms in which the possessum was the object of a preposition. In contrast, internal possessors were frequent even at an early stage, and a decline in frequency of dative external possessors is discernible within the Old English period.