Ta og ro deg ned noen hakk: on pseudocoordination with the verb ta ‘take’ in a grammaticalization perspective

Abstract

The present paper deals with the construction ta og/och V ‘take and V’ in the Nordic languages. After a brief overview of pseudocoordinations of the type ‘V₁ and V₂’, the use and meaning of the ta-construction is discussed, with special emphasis on Modern Norwegian. It is argued that the subject of the activity expressed by V₂ must normally have an agentive role, and that the construction has an intentional and initiating meaning. After having established the meaning of the modern construction, the historical development of the construction is discussed. On the basis of Old Norse examples, it is argued that the ta-construction has developed out of paratactically combined sentences where ta has been desemanticized, and has come to function as a kind of auxiliary. However, this development must, at least partly, have taken place at a very early stage. A hypothesis that the ta-construction has been borrowed from Greek is rejected.