What is the "Saxon 'Do'" really called?

[guizot]

@The_Stafford_Cripps

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?”

I wonder if those are actually what the OP is talking about, because they function differently. These examples–of what we call “do-support”–serve the purpose of subject-verb inversion. (It’s also called “do-support” when it’s done for negation.)

I think the OP in particular is more concerned with this “pointless modifier.” The above mentioned wiki article describes some of the other functions of do, such as in elliptical clauses, where it’s functional utility is manifest:

I don’t like fish, but my wife does.
My brother didn’t finish high school, and neither did I.
You don’t really want to go, do you.

Of course, it isn’t only do that serves this purpose – it’s auxiliaries in general. English is just “forced” to use do when there otherwise isn’t an auxiliary.

I can’t eat fish, but my wife can.
My brother won’t finish high school, and neither will I.
You shouldn’t really go, should you.

Etc.

[Mona_Lisa_Simpson]

Considering

@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.

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.

and

Kyoshi: 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”

I do declare this is a job for Dr. Drake. Do we have something like a Bat Symbol for him? Only with a dragon instead?

[Dr.Drake]

Thanks for the page, MLS.

@Kiyoshi

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”

Literally, dwi’n siarad Cymraeg is a contraction of yd wyf fi yn siarad Cymraeg, which (word by word) is «particle» am I «particle» speaking Welsh. So yes, it’s a periphrastic, but no, it’s not “do.” You can use “do” in that sense in the spoken language, but the basic construction relies on bod “to be,” not gwneud, “to do.”

“I spoke Welsh” could be:

siaradais i Gymraeg (word-by-word, spoke I Welsh)
dw i wedi siarad Cymraeg (word-by-word, am I after speaking Welsh)
or
nes i siarad Cymraeg (word-by-word, did I speaking Welsh)

The last two have some variation: these are South Welsh colloquial forms.