# What is the "Saxon 'Do'" really called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2014, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679 "2014-11-15T05:59:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/1 "2014-11-15T05:59:24Z")
It’s a superfluous “do” or “did” that pointlessly modifies/pointedly accentuates a verb: _USA Today_: “But he did say Williams had recently sought treatment for depression.” _Huck Finn_: “I knowed he was white inside, and I reckoned he’d say what he did say…” **Eve Golden** , at some point in her life 😉 : “Do tell!” DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin: “My mama done told me.” I’ve heard it called the “Saxon ‘Do’” and that it came from the language of the Saxons who occupied Britain, but does it have a real name? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/2 "2014-11-15T06:52:49Z")
It’s called _the emphatic_ (here, _emphatic auxiliary_), and it’s not pointless. It has an important discursive function. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/3 "2014-11-15T12:16:46Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > It’s called _the emphatic_ (here, _emphatic auxiliary_), and it’s not pointless. It has an important discursive function. Indeed, it does. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/4 "2014-11-15T12:37:35Z")
Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/5 "2014-11-15T14:16:23Z")
I think that should be, “I do agree,” **Ken001**. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/6 "2014-11-15T16:21:24Z")
It’s a lucky thing, because "[Do I"](http://youtu.be/j5GVa1yWYZM) by Luke Bryan is a beautiful song. So is the Western Christian (?) marriage vow. (There’s gotta be an interesting history of that phrase and set up.) I’m now thinking that as a grammatical term, an emphatic is different than the acquiescence in those examples. Help me out, grammarians. Eg, is this ambiguous or not, grammatically: “Do you take this bride, etc.?” “I do.” “Do you take this bride, etc.?” “And how!” ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/7 "2014-11-16T04:04:31Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I think that should be, “I do agree,” **Ken001**. 😉 Oh I do so agree with you, I really do. Yet did I? If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/8 "2014-11-17T15:07:10Z")
I do believe in fairies. I do, I do! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/9 "2014-11-18T08:08:59Z")
So I’m the only one who thought the question would be about pre Conquest hairstyles? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/10 "2014-11-18T09:21:44Z")
I don’t think that the examples the OP gives are the best ones - this sentence might be a better one. “The engine doesn’t start” - in other European languages it would be “The engine starts not”. “I don’t think that…” would be “I think not that…”. In other words the use of the verb “to do” is superfluous since it doesn’t add anything (“it adds nothing”) to the meaning of the main verb, which in these examples is start, think or add. The “language of the Saxons who occupied Britain” was actually Old English. As far as I know, like most other European languages Old English did not use this superfluous ‘do’ - it came into English several centuries later, and so was nothing to do with the Saxons. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/11 "2014-11-18T09:24:02Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > So I’m the only one who thought the question would be about pre Conquest hairstyles? Nope! ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/12 "2014-11-18T10:14:15Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > So I’m the only one who thought the question would be about pre Conquest hairstyles? Wot. Like an heir do? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/13 "2014-11-18T12:54:06Z")
I thought “do” as a modal was one of the few hangovers from Celtic languages in the UK. I remember this from university linguistic courses and a couple of threads on here that have refreshed that memory. I can’t find anything online to substantiate this, however, since Google claims “do” is Old English, but Old English is not entirely made up of Germanic terms and grammar (if it were, it’d be called Old German), so saying it’s Old English isn’t very helpful. Do, in the way it’s used in English, to form questions, negatives and emphatics, is certainly not a feature of any other Germanic language I know of. Anyway, “I did that” is emphatically (heh) different in meaning from “I did do that.” The latter is saying you did, even though there’s some expectation that you didn’t, and the “did” is usually stressed. Like, in the Buffy zombie bit at the end of the credits, where a kid says “I made this!” that’s just a kid telling you joyfully that they made something. “I did make this!” means that’s a kid telling you they made something, and there was some doubt about whether or not they made it, but they did. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/14 "2014-11-18T15:54:14Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > It’s a superfluous “do” or “did” that pointlessly modifies/pointedly accentuates a verb: > > _USA Today_: “But he did say Williams had recently sought treatment for depression.” > > _Huck Finn_: “I knowed he was white inside, and I reckoned he’d say what he did say…” > > **Eve Golden** , at some point in her life 😉 : “Do tell!” > > DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin: “My mama done told me.” > > I’ve heard it called the “Saxon ‘Do’” and that it came from the language of the Saxons who occupied Britain, but does it have a real name? The “done told me” is a little different construction than the emphatic do. It’s what’s called the “completive done,” and is seen in a few American English dialects, including AAVE and Smoky Mountain. It does add emphasis to the completed nature of the verb. (Completive aspect.) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/15 "2014-11-18T16:51:03Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > So I’m the only one who thought the question would be about pre Conquest hairstyles? I though it was going to be about [knives.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgian-dubh) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/16 "2014-11-18T18:24:02Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I can’t find anything online to substantiate this, however, since Google claims “do” is Old English, but Old English is not entirely made up of Germanic terms and grammar (if it were, it’d be called Old German), so saying it’s Old English isn’t very helpful. Do, in the way it’s used in English, to form questions, negatives and emphatics, is certainly not a feature of any other Germanic language I know of. I suspect that when they say “do” is Old English they just mean the verb “to do” in its ordinary sense of doing things, rather than the sense we’re talking about here. Other examples of what the OP is talking about are questions such as “Do you like the hedgehog?” rather than “Like you the hedgehog?” and “Where does she keep the orchidometer?” rather than “Where keeps she the orchidometer?” ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/17 "2014-11-20T13:51:25Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I thought “do” as a modal was one of the few hangovers from Celtic languages in the UK. I remember this from university linguistic courses and a couple of threads on here that have refreshed that memory. Could well be. I only speak a tiny bit of Welsh, but as far as I know, in Welsh you have to use “do” whenever you use a present tense verb. For example, “I speak Welsh” is “dwi’n siarad Cymraeg”, literally “I do speak Welsh” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/18 "2014-11-21T03:06:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The “done told me” is a little different construction than the emphatic do. It’s what’s called the “completive done,” Checking your work led me to the [Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English](http://ewave-atlas.org/), where I learned that “I caught me the clap” is the “benefactive personal dative construction.” ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/19 "2014-11-21T09:37:31Z")
One of the few benefactives of catching the clap. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679/20 "2014-11-21T10:25:05Z")
Mammy Yokum to Abner, after his marriage to Daisy Mae: “Try an unnerstan, son. It don’t matter what Fosdick done done, or what Fosdick didn’t done done. Yo is hopelessly, irreversibly, incurably married.” In the late 1970’s I was a sysadmin and had to write a brief weekly summary of what I had accomplished each week. I titled it “What I done done this week”. Everybody got a laugh out of that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-saxon-do-really-called/704679.md?page=2)