Note 68 — SENTENCES.

Or in these and the like Phrases, may not me, thee, him, her, us, which in Saxon are the Dative Cases of their respective Pronouns, be considered as still continuing such in the English, and including in their very form the force of the Prepositions to and for? There are certainly some other Phrases, which are to be resolved in this manner: “Wo is me!” The Phrase is pure Saxon; “wa is me:” me is the Dative Case; in English, with the Preposition to me. So, “methinks;” Saxon, “me thincth,” εμοι δοκει. “O well is thee!” Psal. cxxviii. 2. “Wel is him that ther mai be.” Anglo-Saxon Poem in Hickes’s Thesaur. Vol. I. p. 231. “Well is him, that dwelleth with a wife of understanding.”⸺“Well is him, that hath found prudence.” Ecclus. xxv. 8, 9. The Translator thought to correct his phrase afterward, and so hath made it neither Saxon nor English: “Well is he, that is defended from it.” Ecclus. xxviii. 19. “Wo worth the day!” Ezek. xxx. 2. that is, Wo be to the day. The word worth is not the Adjective, but the Saxon Verb weorthan, or worthan, fieri, to be, to become; which is often used by Chaucer, and is still retained as an Auxiliary Verb in the German Language.