Promiser, Promisee, Theme · Norwegian Bokmål marking · working claim, revisable
love is a lexical verb. Bokmålsordboka files the pledge as verb 3, etymology norrønt lofa. Sense 1 is si seg villig til noe; gi løfte om. Sense 2 is se ut til å bli, gi varsel, håp om, with a cross-reference to lovende. Sense 3 is forsikre, garantere. Verb 4 is praise, rose, prise, ære, and prints lovet være Gud. That article stays off this frame. Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB), love the verb, is the same lemma: preterite lovet / lovte, perfect participle lovet / lovt, verbal noun loving. Sense 1 is gi (noen) tilsagn, løfte om. Sense 1.3 is gi utsikt til (noe heldig, godt, lykkelig); vekke håp om. Sense 2 is garantere; forsikre. Nynorskordboka heads the Nynorsk cognate lova and prints the same three senses. The twelve-volume Norsk Ordbok was not the article opened. No telicity claim is made from lovet, from har lovet, or from the participle cell.
The Promiser is the subject. A full noun shows no case ending. NAOB prints De lovte mig igår en beretning om foreningens stiftelse (Ibsen, De unges forbund), far har lovet, at han vil læse med mig (Ibsen, Vildanden), and han kunne love bedre lønn (Renberg). Bokmålsordboka prints jeg lover at dette skal bli siste gangen and det skal jeg love deg. A pronoun in that place is the subject form jeg, du, han. The imperative lov meg has no spelled subject.
The Promisee, when a commissive line fills a person, is a bare indirect object in the double-object frame love noen noe. Bokmålsordboka sense 1 prints that schema, then lov meg at du ikke blir sen and det skal jeg love deg. noen and meg / deg show no preposition. NAOB prints De lovte mig igår en beretning, Heiberg da lovte du mig ikke at gi dem huset, and the example jeg skal love deg at du greier det. mig is the older spelling of the object pronoun meg. The person stands before the thing. German versprechen spells a dative ending. English promise can put to on that person. A line of plain love with til, på, or for on the Promisee of the double object is unprinted in the entries opened.
Where a preposition is printed, it is another place. NAOB sense 1.1, betrothal, prints obersten har lovet sin datter til kaptein v. Eimke (Dagbladet 1918). sin datter is the theme. til kaptein is the future spouse. The same sense prints the passive være lovet til: Sara var lovet til en annen (Toril Brekke). That til is the betrothal goal. It is not the bare Promisee of love noen noe. NAOB utlove prints Ibsen saa udlover han hendes haand og halvdelen af riget til den, som finder hende igjen. til den is the person the reward is offered to. Bokmålsordboka’s love ut en dusør på 5000 kr has no person. på 5000 kr is the sum. NAOB løfte prints Gud ga løftene til Abraham og hans ætt (Galatians 3:16). til Abraham is the recipient of the noun-based giving. The verb love does not wear that til in the double-object lines.
på and for introduce the content of an assurance, or a measure. Bokmålsordboka sense 3 prints han lovet på at han skulle sette ting på plass and jeg skal love for at. NAOB’s expression love på is forsikre, Heiberg saa lovte jeg paa det, at jeg skulde si det til Dem straks. til Dem belongs to si. NAOB’s expression love for is glossed stille seg som garantist for, with Bernt Lie saa lover jeg for hendes moral. Bokmålsordboka love for mye is the theme “too much”. That for is the degree word. It is not a Promisee.
The Promisee can be left out. Bokmålsordboka prints jeg kan ikke love mirakler, love å holde tett, and holde det en lover with no person. NAOB prints Renberg han kunne love bedre lønn and Charlotte Glaser Munch det blir bedre etter hvert, jeg lover. The schema gi (noen) puts parentheses on the person. The filled double object still writes the person as a bare nominal.
The Theme, when the line names a thing, is one DP. Bokmålsordboka’s schema is noe after noen, and the examples include mirakler. NAOB prints en beretning om foreningens stiftelse, bedre lønn, and bot og bedring (Pål Gerhard Olsen). In the double-object lines the person stands before the thing. dem in Heiberg at gi dem huset belongs to gi. It is not a second Promisee of love.
The pledged act, in modern Bokmål, takes å when it is an infinitive and at when it is a finite clause. Bokmålsordboka prints love å gjøre noe, love å holde tett, and love å være snill, beside lov meg at du ikke blir sen and jeg lover at dette skal bli siste gangen. Nynorskordboka prints the same split: love å gjere noko, eg lovar at dette skal bli siste gongen. Older citations print at on the infinitive as well. Heiberg has at gi dem huset. Krog has lover du ikke at røbe. Ibsen has at love er tilsidst at lyve and the finite at han vil læse med mig. The modern dictionary examples split the two markers. Swedish lova uses one marker, att, for the infinitive and the finite clause.
Control. Working claim, revisable. The dictionaries do not use the word. In love å holde tett and love å være snill the one who holds, or who is kind, is the promiser. In Heiberg da lovte du mig ikke at gi dem huset the one who would give the house is du. mig is the Promisee. dem belongs to gi. Krog lover du ikke at røbe has the same cut and no Promisee. Han lovet meg å komme is that frame in modern spelling, with å and meg. It is constructed. han is the one who comes. meg is not. The finite at-clause has its own subject. Bokmålsordboka lov meg at du ikke blir sen makes du the one who would be late, and du is the addressee. NAOB’s example jeg skal love deg at du greier det is the same cut. Ibsen far har lovet, at han vil læse med mig puts han in the clause. mig there belongs to læse med. jeg lover at dette skal bli siste gangen puts dette in the clause. Subject control is the infinitive. The at-clause is not that control.
Prospect, distinct from the commissive. Bokmålsordboka sense 2 is se ut til å bli, gi varsel, håp om, example dette lover godt. NAOB sense 1.3 prints Sverdrup Dette lovede godt, Aftenposten en norsk skalkningsmetode som lover meget, and Solstad som lovet det aller beste. The subject is dette, a method, or a mood. There is no Promisee in those lines, and no one undertakes an act. å bli is inside the Bokmålsordboka gloss se ut til å bli. An å-infinitive complement of this sense is unprinted in the lines opened. Ibsen, still under NAOB 1.3, prints alt en herlig dag os lover. The subject is en herlig dag. os is a bare object. That line is the prospect with a person, and the day is not a promiser. The dictionaries do not use the word raising. Working claim, revisable: dette lover godt and Dette lovede godt have no Promiser and no Promisee. det lover godt and været lover bra are not the lines printed in the articles opened. The printed subject is dette. The printed modifier is godt.
love seg is attested, and it is not the three-place pledge. Heiberg prints vet De hvad jeg har lovt mig selv. The reflexive is the Promisee of one’s own pledge. Undset prints da hadde han også lovet sig på pilegrimsfærd, and NAOB glosses it gitt seg selv løfte om å dra på pilegrimsferd. på is the content. Jonas Lie jeg har aldrig lovet mig med dig paa sligt is glossed å være med på. That med is agreement to take part. Bokmålsordboka’s fixed expression love seg bort is (1) binde seg til tjeneste eller lignende and (2) forlove seg. A clause that stacks a bare second person on love seg is unprinted.
Copular flag. The pledge and the prospect stay on the verb love. Bokmålsordboka sense 2 points to the adjective lovende, som lover godt, håpefull; evnerik, and prints en lovende start, være ung og lovende, and se lovende ut. være and se … ut are the verbs of those lines. The participle in det lovede land is the promised land, a different use. A clause that replaces the verb love with a copula of the pledge is unprinted.
Where this frame diverges from English promise. English promise her a book is one bare person and one thing, and English can also put to on the person. English promise to V puts to on the act, and promise that is the finite clause. Norwegian love noen noe, De lovte mig en beretning, and det skal jeg love deg put the person in a bare indirect object, with no case ending and no preposition. A til-phrase Promisee of that double object is unprinted. til marks the betrothal goal, the reward person of utlove, and the recipient of ga løftene. The modern infinitive takes å, and the finite clause takes at. The promiser does the ordinary infinitive. meg in the constructed Han lovet meg å komme does not come. du in lov meg at du ikke blir sen is the subject of the finite clause. dette lover godt has no Promisee. English promise a book to her has no match on the plain Norwegian verb.
Where Norwegian and Swedish diverge. Swedish han lovade dem hjälp and Norwegian love noen noe share the bare double object: person before thing, no case ending, no preposition on that person. They diverge on the act. Swedish uses att for the controlled infinitive and for the finite clause. Modern Bokmål, and Nynorskordboka’s lova, use å on the infinitive and at on the clause. Older Norwegian citations still print at on the infinitive, which is the Swedish shape. They diverge on the particle verb. Swedish lova bort prints åt plus the person, Åt denne man jag lofvat bort min dotter. Norwegian love bort sin datter (Lange-Nielsen) prints the daughter as a bare object, and the spouse is til on the betrothal frame lovet sin datter til kaptein and være lovet til. They diverge on the prospect complement. Swedish prints det lovade att bli en vacker dag beside Det lovar godt. The Norwegian lines opened are dette lover godt, Dette lovede godt, and a DP (meget, det aller beste). An å-infinitive of the prospect is unprinted. Swedish löfte marks the person with till. Norwegian gi et løfte om noe marks the content with om.