The auxiliary "Do"

[Rachel Adams]

Hello.

When did English start using auxiliary verb "do"/"did"? Before it was used, were such forms as "speak I?" "Work I?" "Worked I?" "I speak not" ever used?

 

[emsr2d2]

Google is your friend!! I searched "When did the auxiliary do appear in English?" and found multiple results (with no definitive answer). Try it yourself.

The simple answer to your second question is yes.

 

[jutfrank]

You'll need a historical linguist to answer this question with any real authority.

There are some useful answers here: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/218156/what-is-the-origin-of-auxiliary-verbs

 

[Phaedrus]

I have attempted to attach an interesting article that deals in part with this topic:

Chapter 38 ("Early English and the Celtic Hypothesis," by Raymond Hickey) of The Oxford Handbook of the History of English (2012).

See section 3.4 of that chapter, titled "The rise of periphrastic do."

 

[GeneD]

NOT A TEACHER

"I speak not" ever used?

I've recalled a song by 'Nirvana' where the structure is used:
He's the one
Who likes all our pretty songs
And he likes to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But he knows not what it means...

I don't think I've ever encountered modern-day instances of the structure other than in Kurt Cobain's song, though. I'm curious to know if there are other ones.
,

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

NOT A TEACHER


I've recalled a song by 'Nirvana' where the structure is used:
He's the one
Who likes all our pretty songs
And he likes to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But he knows not what it means...

I don't think I've ever encountered modern-day instances of the structure other than in Kurt Cobain's song, though. I'm curious to know if there are other ones

I can't think of much off-hand.

There's the story of René Descartes at a cafe. The waiter asks him if he wants cream for his coffee. Descartes says, "I think not" — and disappears.

Then there's the good old King James Bible, which still gets bandied about from time to time: "Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do."

And there's the good old twentieth century US President John Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

And novelist Ernest Hemingway dusted off an old John Donne quote for his For Whom the Bell Tolls: "Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."

But I think Ernie made up this one himself, to contrast the Haves (the wealthy) with the Have-nots (the poor):