BJÖRN HANSEN
The German Modal Verb müssen and the Slavonic
Languages The Reconstruction of a Success Story1
Dem harten Muss bequemt sich Will und Grille.
Goethe
0. Introduction
The following article concerns a particular instance of language contact be-
tween German and several Slavonic languages. The German modal verb
müssen respectively its Old High German ancestor muozan (Middle High
German müezen), entered into the Slavonic world and was taken up there
by six Slavonic languages: Polish musieç, Czech muset, Slovak musieÈ,
Lower Sorbian musaĘ, Ukrainian musyty and Belorussian music´. As
Besters-Dilger (1997) shows, even Russian had a modal verb musit´ at its
disposal from the 17th to the 18th century. This article deals with the situ-
ation of the Slavonic exponents of modality at the time of this borrowing
from German and the question as to why these languages so readily adopt-
ed the German modal müssen. The linguistic literature does not offer any
explanations for this phenomenon, except for the hypothesis of the Polish
linguist Aleksander Brückner, who claimed (1927, s.v.) that müssen was
a general borrowing because the anarchic Slavs did not have a word of their
own for must .2 Mytropolyt Ilarion (1979 1994, 147f) objects to this
statement: Concerning the Ukrainians we can refute this statement of
Brück-ner s by the following well-known Polish proverb: Must exists
only in Russia; in Poland everyone can do what he likes .3
1
I thank P. M. Hill (University of Hamburg) and the participants of the International
Conference of the Linguistic Society of Belgium Modal verbs in the Romance and Ger-
manic Languages , Antwerp 1998, and of the 6. Norddeutsches Linguistisches Kolloquium
1999 in Hamburg for comments on earlier versions of this paper.
2
mus; [...] juŻ w 14. wieku ogólna poŻyczka; bo anarchiczni S"owianie nie mają
w"asnego s"owa dla musu .
3
U vidno0 enni do ukraïnciv, ce tverdÏennja A. Brjuknera zaperećuje os´ take pol´s´ke
notorićne dictum: Musi na Rusi, a w Polsce jak kto chce.
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
78 Björn Hansen
This paper consists of three parts. In the first part I will briefly charac-
terize the history of the German modal with regard to its semantic develop-
ment. The second part deals with the borrowing processes in the Slavonic
world, especially with the time of borrowing and the semantics of the mo-
dal in the modern languages. Finally I offer an explanation based on a
cross-linguistic definition of modal auxiliaries and the diachronic analysis
of the means of expression for necessity in the Slavonic languages.
1. The History of German müssen
Throughout its history, the verb müssen changed from a diffuse expression
of modality predominantly of a form of possibility to one of pure ne-
cessity and partly exchanged its meaning with dürfen. A certain trace of the
old meaning still persists in the cognate noun Muße, leisure . In the lin-
guistic literature different explanations for this shift in meaning have been
proposed, cf. Bech 1951, Gamon 1993, Grimm and Grimm 1854/1954,
Müller and Zarncke 1854 61, Splett 1993, and Fritz and Gloning 1997. I
will limit myself to characterizing the crucial elements of the view pro-
posed by Fritz and Gloning (1997), to which I subscribe. They maintain
that during the early period of old high German muozan carried the mean-
ing to be in a certain situation :
In early old high German the relatively open use of muozan refers to
the fact that a course of action or a state of affairs is shaped by relevant
external circumstances. In earlier old high German the prevailing
implication is that the situation in question makes possible a course of
action or a state of affairs [...] The use [of muozan] is still relatively
open in later old high German but the word now takes on usages that
imply that the situation in question determines a course of action or a
state of affairs. (Fritz and Gloning 1997, 93; my transl. BH)
This diffuseness of meaning is illustrated by examples from Old High Ger-
man. The possibility reading prevails in the earliest texts, although the
meaning necessity is already found in Otfrid and Notker:
Possibility:
Ira férah bot thaz wíb, thaz iz mÅ›asi haben líb. The woman offered
her life, so that [the child] might stay alive. (Otfrid, 9th century)
Necessity:
Å›be dánne héiz chÅ›met tér uuólchenônto sÅ›nt-uuínt. so mûozen die
blûomen rîsen ába dîen dórnen. When then the cloud-bearing south-
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
Müssen and the Slavonic Languages 79
wind comes hot, must the flowers fall from the thorns. (Notker, 10th
century)
In Middle High German the necessity reading gains ground and begins to
dominate, but nevertheless müezen is still polysemious, since we can still
find instances of the other meaning:
Necessity:
Nu muoz ich von ir gescheiden sin: trûric ist mir al daz herze mîn.
Now I must leave you, I have a sadness in my heart. (14th century)
Possibility:
Si bat die eptissin, daz si siechmeisterin muste sin in deme siechhûse.
She asked the prioress to be allowed to serve in the hospital. (14th
century)
In modern German we use müssen in the first sentence, but dürfen in the
second one. During the next stage of semantic development the possi-
bility reading is disappearing and is being restricted to negative contexts.
The old possibility meaning persists up to the 19th century and in spoken
language up to the present:
Ich muß nicht nach dem Schlosse zu gehn vergessen. I must not forget
to go to the castle. (17/18th century)
Du mußt nicht meinen, dass du mir damit einen Gefallen tust. You
can t think that your doing me any favor. , vs.:
Du musst nicht kommen, wenn du nicht willst. You don t have to come
when you don t want to.
In explaining that type of polysemy we have to consider the universal inter-
definability of possibility and necessity: it is not possible that p is seman-
tically equivalent to it is necessary that not p (in logical notation: Ź Ę% p a"
Ź p). The difference in meaning between du musst nicht meinen ( Ź p)
and du musst nicht kommen (Ź p) can be explained in two ways: either
as the persistence of the old possibility meaning in the first sentence (Ź Ę% p
which is equivalent to Ź p) or as two different readings of the scope of
negation. In the latter case we are dealing with a process whereby the less
informative statement Ź p implicates the stronger, more informative
one Ź p (van der Auwera, forthcoming). Simply put, if a speaker de-
nies the necessity of doing something, he or she does not have a great im-
pact on the behavior of other people and hence does not say anything of
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
80 Björn Hansen
great importance. Therefore the listener might give a new interpretation to
this statement by shifting the scope of negation, which leads to the reading
prohibition .
In modern German müssen belongs to the class of modal verbs ( Mo-
dalverben ) and functions as the central expression of necessity on all three
levels of modality, i.e. it can be used in dynamic, deontic, or epistemic
readings or meanings. The old ambiguity is rather marginal.
Dynamic:
Jeder Mensch muss sterben. Every human must die.
Deontic:
Ich sage dir: Du musst sofort nach Hause kommen. I m telling you
that you must come home right away.
Epistemic:
Herr Klemens muss früher einmal ein stattlicher Mann gewesen sein.
Mr. Klemens must have been a stately man once.
2. The Verb müssen in the Slavonic World: Then and Now
We will begin with a reconstruction of the success story of müssen in the
Slavonic languages. I will point out the first instances of the modal müssen
in the individual languages and briefly characterize the language contact.
Current meanings will also be given. Since a great many languages have to
be analyzed, I will mainly rely on data from lexicographic works such as
large explanatory and historical dictionaries.
2.1 Polish musieç
Polish came into intensive contact with German in the 12th century when
masses of German settlers entered the country. In the cities founded by
these settlers German law was used, the so-called Magdeburg law, and the
use of both languages was widespread, which created a language situation
leading to the borrowing of many German words. Polish belongs to one of
the first Slavonic languages where the German modal can be traced in writ-
ten texts. However, we do not know whether Polish adopted it directly or
through the mediation of Czech. The exact date of the borrowing is not
clear, because musieç is found in the earliest Old Polish texts, i.e. in the
14th and 15th century. At this stage we can find examples both of the dy-
namic and the deontic variant:
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
Müssen and the Slavonic Languages 81
Dynamic necessity:
Ono naszyenye ny myalo nad sobÄ… pyersczy y nye moglo myecz maczy-
czye a przeto mvszylo vschnÄ…cz. This seed had no breast above it and
no nourishing mother and therefore had to dry up. (15th century)
Obligation:
Tho szlubyenye, czo thÄ… pany wysznala [...], to mvszy ona dzyerszecz.
The woman must keep the promise she made. (15th century)
Since the 16th century the modal can be used epistemically.
Comparing the Polish data with the development of German müssen de-
scribed above we can see that at the time of borrowing, which definitely
must be before the 14th century, the Middle High German verb in its main
use had already changed to that of necessity, but nevertheless still dis-
played traces of the old possibility meaning, especially in negated or oth-
er non-affirmative contexts. It is interesting to note that Polish adopted
müssen as a pure expression of necessity and that even in negated contexts
it did not contain any ambiguity at all. Musieç is from the beginning an un-
ambigous word.
Maçie tedy o to stáránie cÅ»yniç, aby mistrzom s"uszne zap"aty by"y
náznácÅ»one: ták, Å»eby oni nemuĘieli sobie poÅ»ywienia tákiemi sposoby
szukáç, ktoreby ich od náuk odrywá"y. You have to take care that the
masters get paid adequately so that they are not forced to look for their
food in a manner that would distract them from education. (16th cen-
tury)
In general the negation scope functions iconically, meaning that we are
dealing with a regular external negation. Polish thus adopted the German
verb with a slightly different function, i.e. without its polysemy.
Today musieç is a full-fledged modal auxiliary; its uses on the dynamic,
deontic and epistemic levels are more or less identical to German.
1. Dynamic necessity:
Matka mi zachorowa"a i musia"em szukaç doktora. My mother fell ill
and I had to call for a doctor.
2. Obligation:
Jest gorÄ…co i Ä™le si´ czujesz, ale b´dziesz musia" umyç mi wóz, synu. I
jeszcze zmienisz mi olej w silniku. It is hot and you are miserable, son,
but you will have to wash my car and also change the oil.
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
82 Björn Hansen
3. High probability:
Czyta"em cienkim g"osikiem, chrzakajÄ…c i pokaszlujÄ…c. Musia"o to wy-
paĘç Å»a"oĘnie. I read with a feeble voice, clearing my throat and hem-
ming. That must have looked deplorable.
2.2 Ukrainian musyty
Mediated by Polish, the modal appears in Ukrainian in the 15th century. In
the 14th century the Ukrainian territory had become part of the Grand-
Duchy of Lithuania and after creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Union in
1569 fell under direct Polish sway. Owing to the prestige of the rather high-
ly developed Polish literary language, a lot of Polish words found their way
into the written language of the Ukraine. Although the history of Ukrainian
is characterized by a certain discontinuity, we can say that the modal
musyty was present at the very formation of that language, i.e. at the time
of the break-up of the unity of the East Slavonic languages.
Today musyty is an unambigious full-fledged modal auxiliary of neces-
sity. The Academy of Sciences Slovnyk ukraïns´koï movy lists the follow-
ing meanings:
1. Dynamic necessity:
Buvaje 0 ćastja skriz´ pohancjam, a dobryj musyt´ propadat´. The
scoundrels everywhere are lucky and good people must perish.
2. Obligation:
Ja ujavljaju sobi mors´ku 0 kolu na visokomu berezi. Z usich vikon 0 koli
musyt´synity more. I imagine a sailing school at the seaside. The sea
must be visible from all windows.
3. High probability:
Ide 0 ljachom molodycja, musyt´ buty, z pro0 ći. A young woman comes
walking along, probably on a pilgrimage.
2.3 Belorussian music´
In the 15th century, at the same time as in Ukrainian, we find the first evi-
dence of the borrowing of the German modal. The similarities between
Belorussian and Ukrainian are not surprising, since both peoples were in-
tegrated into the Polish-Lithuanian empire and therefore fell under inten-
sive Polish influence. Contemporary meanings of music´ are the same as
its Ukrainian counterpart.
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
Müssen and the Slavonic Languages 83
1. Dynamic necessity:
Tysjaćy mau`klivych i surovych synou` Palessja suproc´ svaëj voli i
Ïadannja musili nad achovaju pol´skaj vaen0 ćyny isci u` glybokija tyly
dlja farmiravannja novych ćascej, na papau`nenne vojsk na fronce.
Thousands of taciturn and tough sons of Polesia, against their will and
under the supervision of Polish soldiery, had to go to the hinterland to
form new units reinforcing the troops on the front line.
2. Obligation:
Tavary0 y padtrymali svajgo staròj0 aga, i Prochar musiu` padparadka-
vacca. The comrades supported their chief and Prokhar had to obey.
3. High probability:
Na svece, music´, nićoga njama macnej0 aga za pryvyćku. There is
probably nothing stronger in the world than the force of habit.
2.4 Russian musit´
In modern standard Russian this verb is not found, though we can find
some examples from the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th cen-
tury. During this period, Russia was under Polish or combined Polish-
Ukrainian-Belorussian influence. A lot of Polish books were translated into
Russian and Polish was spoken at the court. Besters-Dilger (1997, 20)
quotes the following example from the correspondence of Tsar Peter I, who
knew Polish well.
I poneÏe neprijatel´ ves´ma byl´ silen´, to musili na0 i otstupit´. As the
enemy was very strong, our troops had to retreat.
After this short intermezzo musit soon disappeared from written Russian
and is attested today only in some dialects of Russian.
2.5 Lower Sorbian musaĘ
Lower and Upper Sorbian belong to the languages with the longest and
most intensive contact with German. Lower Sorbian borrowed the German
modal presumably rather early, in view of the fact that the Sorbians had lost
their political independence and become part of German states as far back
as the 12th century. The first written texts appear during the Reformation.
Because of the late appearance of literary culture and the lack of extensive
lexicographic works on this now almost extinct language, we are not able
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
84 Björn Hansen
to state the exact moment of borrowing, nor to describe the whole range of
meanings of musaĘ. One example from a dictionary:
To musy jaden z drugim byĘ. We have to stick together.
Unlike the other languages Upper Sorbian does not use this verb, but bor-
rowed dürfen, or rather its Old Saxon cognate meaning must : dyrbjeç.
This can be explained by the fact that middle high German durfen still re-
tained its original meaning of an internal necessity, found in the current
German words bedürfen or Bedarf need . Examples can be found for the
use of musaç, but this verb is restricted to dialects and does not appear in
standard language.
2.6 Czech muset
As with Polish, the German modal makes a similar early appearance in
Czech. As already mentioned, we can not reconstruct the way müssen took
in relation to Czech and Polish. The verb can already be found in the first
transmitted texts of Old Czech dating from the 13th century, i.e. a certain
time after the beginning of German settlement in that area. The influence
of German culture and language was especially strong in the capital,
Prague. As early as the 13th/14th centuries musiti functions as a typical ex-
pression of necessity on the dynamic and the deontic level.
V zákonû mussys jmieti utrpûnie. In a monastery you have to be
patient. (14th century)
CoÏ král chtûl, muzzi sû to státi. What the king wants, has to be done.
(14th century)
Like Upper Sorbian, Old Czech had a modal based on an ancestor of
today s dürfen. The loan word drbiti in the meaning of must did not re-
main in use and was surplanted by muset. The modern verb muset has the
same functions as its German and Slavonic counterparts:
Dynamic necessity:
Nic jinØho pro vás nemám. Do većera to uÏ musíte nûjak vydrÏet. I
don t have anything more for you. You will have to put up with it till
the evening.
Obligation:
Pane, ta već se musí co nejpfií snûji vy0 etrit! Listen, you have to
investigate that thoroughly.
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
Müssen and the Slavonic Languages 85
High probability:
Musíl bØt unaven, kdyÏ nepfii0 el. He must have been tired, if he didn t
come.
2.7 Slovak musieÈ
Slovak, closely related to Czech, does not reveal any difference concerning
the German modal müssen. Due to the fact that Slovak literary language
began its independent existence only later on and due to the difficulty of
distinguishing between older Czech and Slovak it is impossible to deter-
mine the first uses of the borrowed modal. It was only at the end of the 18th
century that we can unequivocally speak of Slovak texts. Because primari-
ly Czech had been used beforehand, the modal must have been mediated
by Czech.
In modern Slovak the same meanings are found as in the other languag-
es:
Dynamic necessity:
V0 etci ºudia musia zomrieÈ. Everybody must die.
Obligation:
Musím ísÈ do 0 koly. I have to go to school.
High probability:
Nevládal na nohách stáÈ, musel ich maÈ tieÏ dokatované. He could
hardly stay on his feet. He must have deeply wounded them.
2.8 Slovenian, Serbian/Croatian, and Macedonian
The question arises why the South Slavonic languages, some of which, like
Slovenian and Serbian/Croatian, have been in enduring contact with Ger-
man, apparently did not borrow the modal. In these cases though, some-
thing different has happened. Three South Slavonic languages Slove-
nian, Serbian/Croatian, and Macedonian have their own full-fledged
auxiliary of necessity morati or mora. In view of the process described in
reference to the other Slavonic languages, the origin of this modal seems
rather clear. The verb morati is first found in Slovenian and in the kindred
Kajkavian dialects of Croatian in the 16th century. In both languages we
can observe a rather striking phonetic similarity: moram I must resembles
morem I can . We can assume that Slovenian and the northern dialects of
Croatian developed this modal on the basis of an expression for can as
with German (cf. Skok 1972:2, 446; see examples in Iv0 iç 1931, 168). In
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
86 Björn Hansen
this case we are not dealing with a borrowed word, but a calque from Ger-
man. The history seems to speak in favor of this hypothesis, since the
Slovenes have always been in intensive and enduring contact with Ger-
manic peoples. In the 8th century Carantania, the first state of the ancestors
of the Slovenes, fell under the control of the Frankish Kingdom and was
systematically colonialized by Germanic settlers in the 10th century. In the
19th century morati spread from Kajkavian to ·tokavian, the present main
dialect of Serbian/Croatian, entering the South East, i.e. Bosnia-Herce-
govina and Serbia (Iv0 iç 1931, KaradÏiç 21852). Macedonian presumably
borrowed it from the bordering Serbian dialects. The fact that mora is not
used in the southern Macedonian dialects in Greece, which are less influ-
enced by Serbian, speaks in favour of this hypothesis.4
Thus all Slavonic languages borrowed a modal directly or indirectly
from German, except for modern Russian and Bulgarian, the languages
geographically most distant from German-speaking territory. Table 1
shows the paths of borrowing the modal took:
Table 1. The Paths of Borrowing
Ukr. musyty
Pl. musieç (Russ. musit´)
Belorus. music´
Germ. müezen
Cz. musiti Slovak. musieÈ
Upper Sorb. musyĘ
Sloven./Kajk. Croat. moći morati
Serbian/Croatian (·tokavian) morati
Macedon. mora
3. An Explanation
Before offering an explanation for the success story of müssen in the Sla-
vonic languages, I would like to elaborate my concept of the category of
4
P. M. Hill, personal communication.
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
Müssen and the Slavonic Languages 87
modal auxiliaries. We are dealing with a fuzzy category with a rather clear-
cut center and an open periphery. I propose three factors in two parameters
constituting the cross-linguistic prototype of a modal auxiliary. A highly
developed full-fledged modal auxiliary is to be defined as a surface unit
concurring with a main verb with the following features:
Semantic parameter 1 grammatical polyfunctionality:
The unit is grammatically polyfunctional, i.e. it works on more than
one level of modality (dynamic, deontic, epistemic) or works on one
level as well as another postmodal grammatical realm (term by van
der Auwera and Plungian 1998) such as tense.
Example 1: German müssen is polyfunctional, because it displays
dynamic, deontic, and epistemic uses.
Example 2: German sollen functions in the realms of deontic
modality, evidentiality (hearsay), and conditionality.
Modal: Der Arzt sagt, du sollst nicht rauchen. The doctor says you
shouldn t smoke.
Evidential: Herr Klausen soll sehr reich sein. Mr. Klausen is sup-
posedly very rich.
Conditional: Sollte es morgen regnen, bleiben wir zu Hause. If it
should rain tomorrow, we will stay at home.
Semantic parameter 2 lack of lexical meanings:
Beyond the modal ones, the word does not exhibit fully lexical mean-
ings like to owe or need :
Russian nado: Nado chleba. We need bread.
German 18th century sollen, to owe : Was ich Ihnen soll für den
Tee? How much do I owe you for the tea? (Goethe)
Syntactic parameter verbal complex:
The unit obligatorily and exclusively governs an infinite verb form5
and beyond that does not open any argument positions. Therefore
modal auxiliaries do not have any selection restrictions of their own;
cf. German können and in der Lage sein:
Klaus kann schwimmen. Die Bombe kann gleich explodieren
Klaus can swim ; The bomb could go off at any moment now ; vs.:
Klaus ist in der Lage zu schwimmen. *Die Bombe ist in der Lage
gleich zu explodieren.
5
In many languages modals allow ellipsis of the infinite verb or a substitution by a pro-
noun; cf. Russian Davajte zavtra pospim podol´0 e. Net, ja ne mogu. Let s sleep in
tomorrow. No, I can t.
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
88 Björn Hansen
In the course of time, premodals adopt these features step by step and
evolve into prototypical auxiliaries. They take over new levels of modality
(e.g. epistemic müssen), shed old lexical meanings (the above mentioned
to owe of sollen), and tend to be combined with all types of subjects and
verbs. My research on the development of Slavonic modals (Hansen
1998a, 1998b, 1999) has shown that some premodals enter this process ear-
lier and some later. Interestingly, we find a correlation between this se-
quence of auxililiarization and the lexicalizability hierarchy of Löbner
(1990):
possibility > necessity > impossibility > unnecessity
Ę% > > Ź Ę% > Ź
In all Slavonic languages, without exception, Common Slavonic *mogti, a
cognate of German mögen, has developed into the central exponent of pos-
sibility: Pol. móc, Czech moct, Slovak. môcÈ, Upper Sorb. móc, Lower
Sorb. moc, Ukr. mogti, Beloruss. magćy, Russ. moć´, Bulg. moga, Mace-
don. moÏe, Serb.-Croat. moçi, Sloven. moći and Old Church Slavonic
mo0 ti.
Common Slavonic *mogti developed before the break-up of the Slavon-
ic linguistic unity and can be considered by far the oldest modal. In the
realm of necessity , however, the Slavonic languages differ greatly: most
of them borrowed a German verb and all languages have competing semi-
synonyms for necessity with a similar degree of auxiliarization (Russian:
dolÏen, nado, nuÏno). These modals apparently developed later after the
break-up of the Slavonic unity and therefore differ among the languages;
they belong to the next step of auxiliarization. The success story of müssen
is to be explained by the fact that, after having auxiliarized an expression
of possibility, the languages made the next step in this sequence and devel-
oped a modal of necessity.
Analyzing the conditions leading to this borrowing process, we have to
look at the situation in the earlier periods of the history of the Slavonic lan-
guages. One problem consists of the fact that some languages, e.g. Slovak,
were rather late in developing their own literary culture. The data from the
first Old Polish literary records clearly show that the German modal at that
time already had been fully integrated in the language and thus must have
been borrowed in the pre-literary period. For an insight into the means of
expressing modality in the early periods, we have to analyze the oldest Sla-
vonic literary language, Old Church Slavonic. This language represents a
state very close to late Common Slavonic and in spite of Greek influence
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
Müssen and the Slavonic Languages 89
allows us to formulate hypotheses about the situation in the pre-literary pe-
riod of all Slavonic languages. Without going into detail, we can point out
the following features proper to the expressions of necessity in Old Church
Slavonic:
1. No exponent of necessity is polyfunctional according to the seman-
tic parameter 1:
one part of expressions is exclusively deontic as with dlJÏLnJ
to owe , dostojati it behoves to and podobati and its derivatives it is
appropriate ;
the other part is exclusively dynamic as with noĆÏda necessity
and potrûbLnJ necessary . It is interesting to note that none of the
parts functions epistemically.
2. All exponents of necessity are semantically complex; i.e. they have
additional semantic components besides the modal primitive of neces-
sity as in predestination , ethic obligation , appropriateness , and
others.
3. All surface units exhibit additional, fully lexical meanings: to owe ,
guilty , worthy of , misery , need for , and others. This means that
they do not meet the conditions of semantic parameter 2.
4. All exponents of necessity can take regular objects and are not syn-
tactically restricted to the selection of infinite verbs. Moreover, most of
them are used in impersonal constructions similar to the English it is
not appropriate for you to do p . Such impersonal constructions are
characterized by their restriction to human agents (cf. * it is not appro-
priate for the table to do p ). Hence, no exponent of modality meets the
conditions of the syntactic parameter.
It thus becomes apparent that Old Church Slavonic did not have an auxil-
iarized expression of necessity. The words mentioned are to be classified
as pre- or semi-auxiliaries. We are dealing with a system of modal expres-
sions in statu nasciendi (Pallasová 1991, 272). In spite of the lack of a
modal auxiliary however, we cannot say that the speakers of Old Church
Slavonic were not able to express the notion of necessity, since they had at
their disposal the so called independent infinitive . However, this syntac-
tic construction has the functional disadvantage that it is polysemious be-
tween necessity and possibility and has to be disambiguated by context (cf.
the German passive construction of the type Das ist zu machen That is to
Scando-Slavica Tomus 46, 2000
90 Björn Hansen
be done ). On the basis of the situation in Old Church Slavonic, we can for-
mulate the hypothesis that the Slavonic languages did not have an modal
auxiliary of necessity of their own. In this situation some of them came
into contact with German and readily borrowed the modal müssen, or, in-
fluenced by the early Middle High German model, created one on the basis
of an expression of possibility. In this way speakers gained a morphosyn-
tactic equivalent means of translating the German modal into their native
language.6 Later these languages spread the modality to other neighboring
Slavonic languages with which they came into contact. It is worth noting
that they adopt it as an unambigous marker of necessity with no traces of
the old possibility meaning. When the modal entered Russia at the end of
the 17th century, it was presumably too late for a borrowing, because in the
meantime Russian had created an expression of necessity of its own, the
personally constructing adjective dolÏen, with the original meaning to
owe .7 When müssen came to Russia, dolÏen was used in deontic and dy-
namic contexts. For that reason there was no need for the original German
modal. This modal never gained foothold in Russian and vanished after a
short interim.
4. Conclusion
All Slavonic languages except two make use of a modal of necessity de-
rived from German müssen or dürfen. This success story might be ex-
plained by the sequence of auxiliarization. By borrowing müssen, the
languages at once gained a polyfunctional modal that was not burdened by
additional semantic components and non-modal meanings like the compet-
ing genuine Slavonic forms. The German modal furthermore had the ad-
vantage that it was used in personal constructions and therefore was not
syntactically restricted to human subjects. The borrowing process estab-
lished a morpho-syntactic translation equivalence. It is interesting to note
that not only the Slavonic languages were receptive of müssen, but Hun-
garian as well, which has the particle muszáj (> muss sein must be ). Later
on the Slavonic languages developed their own auxiliaries of necessity,
which now compete with the borrowed müssen.
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