Abstract
This article offers a paradigmatic survey of auditory evidential constructions in Old English: direct-perception constructions – accusativus cum infinitivo (ACI) introduced by the auditory ( ge ) hieran ‘to hear’ (( ge ) hieran +ACI) – and hearsay-evidence constructions, consisting of the verb ( ge ) hieran with the infinitive of a verb of utterance (( ge ) hieran +Inf), followed by a compliment clause, a prepositional clause, or a parenthetical. Comparative data from other Old Germanic languages suggests a common origin of both constructions. It is further hypothesised that these two do not go back to the same Proto-Germanic construction: ( ge ) hieran +ACI is more likely to have arisen from the reanalysis of the verbal noun in I heard his speech into an ACI with a verb of ‘speaking’ I heard him speak , while ( ge ) hieran +Inf could have developed from I heard the story into I heard ( the ) say with the verb of ‘saying’.
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