{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T19:54:35Z","timestamp":1790020475597,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":72,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,10,21]],"date-time":"2013-10-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1382313600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/terms"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["English Language and Linguistics"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>It is commonly held that Old English<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>, well known within Anglo-Saxon studies as the first word of the epic poem<jats:italic>Beowulf<\/jats:italic>, can be \u2018used as an adv[erb]. or interj[ection]. Why, what! ah!\u2019 (Bosworth &amp; Toller 1898, s.v.<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>, 1) as well as the neuter singular of the interrogative pronoun<jats:italic>hw\u0101<\/jats:italic>\u2018what\u2019. In this article I challenge the view that<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>can have the status of an interjection (i.e. be outside the clause that it precedes). I present evidence from Old English and Old Saxon constituent order which suggests that<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>is unlikely to be extra-clausal. Data is drawn from the Old English<jats:italic>Bede<\/jats:italic>, \u00c6lfric's<jats:italic>Lives of Saints<\/jats:italic>and the Old Saxon<jats:italic>Heliand<\/jats:italic>. In all three texts the verb appears later in clauses preceded by<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>than is normal in root clauses (Fisher's exact test, p &lt; 0.0001 in both cases). If<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>affects the constituent order of the clause it precedes, then it cannot be truly clause-external. I argue that it is<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>combined with the clause that follows it that delivers the interpretive effect of exclamation, not<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>alone. The structure of<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>-clauses is sketched following Rett's (2008) analysis of exclamatives. I conclude that Old English<jats:italic>hw\u00e6t<\/jats:italic>(as well as its Old Saxon cognate) was not an interjection but an underspecified<jats:italic>wh<\/jats:italic>-pronoun introducing an exclamative clause.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/s1360674313000129","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,10,21]],"date-time":"2013-10-21T14:45:04Z","timestamp":1382366704000},"page":"465-488","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["The status of<i>hw\u00e6t<\/i>in Old English"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"GEORGE","family":"WALKDEN","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,10,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"S1360674313000129_ref72","volume-title":"\u00c6lfrics Grammatik und Glossar","author":"Zupitza","year":"1880"},{"key":"S1360674313000129_ref69","volume-title":"An historical syntax of the English language","author":"Visser","year":"1969"},{"key":"S1360674313000129_ref67","unstructured":"Taylor Ann , Anthony Warner , Susan Pintzuk & Frank Beths . 2003. 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