Old English būtan / Old Frisian būta: From Adverb to Conjunction, Another Anglo-Frisian Parallel?

Abstract

It is well established that Old English is more closeley related to Old Frisian than to any other West Germanic language. This fact rests especially on phonological, morphological and lexical evidence. Syntactic arguments are few and far between. In this article, the author argues that the Old Frisian conjunction būta ‘but’ and its Old English parallel būtan ‘but’ do not derive their behavioural similarities to an erstwhile Anglo-Frisian pre-stage, but must be explained as having arisen from a similar, but independent, process of grammaticalization.