Das Prfix gi- im Althochdeutschen und Altschsischen

The degradation of the verbal prefix gi- is considered essential for the development of the modern German tense system in Germanic language history research. The present study undertakes a re-evaluation and shows, on the basis of a corpus analysis of Old High German and Old Saxon, that the spheres of action of Old Germanic prefiguring are not to be found in the area of aspect and tense, but rather in the category of diathesis.