"Bliva" and "varda"

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss the use of the auxiliaries (or copulas) bliva and varda in the Nordic varieties. The phenomenon investigated is slightly different from the other phenomena discussed in NALS Volume 1 in that it is not really a syntactic phenomenon, but rather a lexical one. Bliva and varda are used as auxiliaries in periphrastic passives (followed by a passive participle), but they are also used as main verbs or copulas with the meaning ‘become’ or ‘remain’/’stay’, taking adjectival, nominal, prepositional or participial complements. Varda is an Old Norse auxiliary (varða), which originally was used primarily in the meaning ‘become’, but it was also the auxiliary used in periphrastic passives (see Markey 1969, p. 17). Bliva was borrowed from Middle Dutch (MD) and Middle Low German (MLG) (bleiben/bliven) around mid 14th century, originally mainly in the meaning ‘remain’. As discussed extensively by Markey (1969), the ‘become’ meaning of bleiben/bliven had already developed when the auxiliary spread to Scandinavia. The main reason why bliva spread at the cost of varda, is according to Markey (1969, and see references therein) the fact that the paradigms for varda and the copula vara ‘be’ merged, as the phoneme /ð/ (as in varða) was lost in Mainland Scandinavian. Today, bliva is found all over Scandinavia, with the exception of Iceland and some parts of Eastern Finland. Varda is however also still used in most parts of Scandinavia, at least in the past tense, with the exception of Denmark, and the southern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland.