The Old English gerund in ‑enne or ‑anne

Abstract

This article discusses the historical form of the gerund in Old English, attested both as ‑enne and ‑anne. The former is commonly considered to be the historical form, while the latter is thought to have resulted from analogical levelling on the basis of the infinitive that ended in ‑an. The primacy of ‑enne is based on the assumption that i-mutation in unstressed syllables worked to the same extent as in stressed ones, but it is argued that the working of sound laws can be dependent on stress and the quality of the mutation factor. In this paper, I propose that the order should be reversed and that ‑anne is the historical form, while ‑enne probably shows phonological reduction in word-internal position.