Will, would

1. These Eng. words are often used in AV with a significance that is hidden from the reader who dues not consult the Heb. or Greek. RV^ has done much, esp. in the NT, to show their force, but much has yet to be done. Will was originally an independent verb (Anglo- Sax. iMlan or tcyllan. Middle Eng. willen), and expressed, either transitively or intrans., a wish or resolve, as Bacon, Essays, p. 77, ' It is common with Princes (saith Tacitus) to will contradictories' ; p. 40, ' In evill, the best condition is not to will ; the second, not to can.' As an indep. verb 'will' was often followed by an infin., with or without a direct object. Thus Bacon, Essays, p. 255, 'The French king willed his Ohauncellor or other mini- ster to repeate and say over Kraunce as many times as the otlier had recited the severall do- minions'; Knox, HiM. p. 317, ' Thinke not (said lice), Madame, tliat wrong was done unto you, when you are willed to be subject unto God.' But as the Eng. verb lost its inflexions, cer- tain verbs, themselves originally independent, were used to form its tenses, etc. One of these was will, though in this case it was rather to sujiply a defect than to replace a lost infiexion, there being no future inflexion in the Eng. verb. 'Will' did not cease to be an indep. verb when it became an auxiliary ; it was used sometimes in the one way, sometimes in the other. And as Elizabethan \vriters felt at liberty to insert or omit the ' to ' before an infin. as they pleased,! it has now become ' Shall ' was used as the auxiliarj' ot the future before ' will," anil, as Earlc says (Philolo'iy, 5 304), ' will has carved all the area it occupies out of the (ioniain of shall,' In the Introd. to The Piallrr of 1SS9 (Murray, 1894), Earle points out that unit as an auxiliary is hardly to be found in Saxon times, it is even strange to Wyclit in the 14th cent, it is not tlniily established in the Bible of 1539. It is encroaching upon ehall and dri> iiig it back, but its limits are not yet determined. And thit aggressiveness of wilt, which has long ceased in the central places ot the language, is still moving at the extremities, like the flapping of the waves on the shore after the subsiding ot a storm at sea.' t Shakespeare uses great freedom with this ' to," frequeotl; WILL, WOULD WILL 919 very difficult to distinguish 'wUI' as an auxiliary ex]ires-ing the future tense, from 'will 'as an indep. verb followed by an intin. without 'to.' Cf. Mt 10- 'There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed,' with 11" ' Neither knoweth any man the I'ather save the Son, and he to whomsoever tlie Son will reveal him.' The former is a simple future (6 ovK diroKa\v(p6rit7eTai, Vulg. quod non revclabUur)^ tile other is the verb to unVt with an intin. of the following verb, the ' to' being omitted (i^ Hlv /SoiiXijrai 6 Mi diro/caXi'^ai, Vulg. cui voluerit Jiliiis revclare, Rhem. 'to whom it shal plea.se the Sonne to re- vcale,' RV 'to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him '). The attempt has sometimes been made to distinguish tlie indep. verb ' to will ' from tlie auxil. verb 'will' by tlieir inllexions, 'to will' when indep. being often inflected will, wiliest, tcilhth or wills ; past willed ; and the aux. will, wilt, will, past would. But this distinction cannot be maintained, the indep. verb being often inflected as tlie auxiliary. Thus Jg 1" ' What wilt thou?' (:i-.i;, RV 'What wouhlest thou?'); Mt 13'« 'wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?' ((?A(is oiv, RV as AV) ; Jn l" 'Jesus would go forth into Galilee' {i)$i\rjjei> i^e\$ety ; Vulg. voluit exire, RV ' was minded to go forth ') ; so Article, x. (1553) • Those that have no will to good things. He niaketh them to will, and those that would evil things, He maketh them not to will the same ' ; Piers Plowman, vi. 213 — ' And now wolde 1 witen [ = ' know,' inf.) of the what were the best. The earlier versions are often a guide to the use of 'will,' 'would,' in AV. But it is often necessary to consult the licb. or Greek, wlicn it may be considered probable tliat .at least when represent- ing an original iiulcj). verb ' will ' and ' would ' are themselves indei>endent. Theverbsiiiusl freijuenlly represented are in OT 'dhnh, an<l in NT 0i\ui and /3oi'\o/uai, all meaning to will, purpose, desire. Clapperton {Pitfalls in BiOle Enrjlisk, p. 90) gi\es the foil, list of passages which demand special attention : .Mt 11" IS^J lG-^ Mk G'"- »», Lk U", Jn l".!'"?", Col I-'', lTi5", Tit3». 2. Occa.sionally the following verb is omitted after ' will ' and ' would,' as Ps 81" ' Israel would none of me ' ; I'r 1-' ' Ve . . . would none of my reproof; l" ' They would none of mv counsel'; Sir i;j'"»<"°« 'Like will to like.' So Jn lii'"=^- Rhem. ' Professing that them.selves will no king but Cicsar, he veldeth unto them.' Especially is this so with verbs of motion, as Tindale, W'urlcJi, i. 147, 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearesthia voice, and wottest not whence he cometh, nor whither he will'; Tindale, Exjios. 23, 'Whosoever will to heaven, must buy it of them ' ; Ezk 28^ Cov. ' Bcholde o Sidon, I wil upon the, and get me hononre in the.' 3. There are passages in AV in which ' will ' Would now he considered redundant, as Gn 32" 'I fear him, lest he will come, and smite me ' (RV ' lest he come ') ; Lv 2' ' When any will oUer a oniillini; where we should now insert, and sometimes Insert- inir where we should omit. Cf. Othello, ll. Hi. 190, ' You were wont be civil,' with iv. ii. 12, • 1 duryt, my I^ord, to wa^er she is honest.' The omission is found also in Milton, Sonnet to ilr. Lawrence — A^liere shall we sometimes meet, and by the Are Help wasto a sullen day?' And (fuost quotes two consenulive lines from the Afirrvr /or Magisfrattt, one of which omits, the other inserts this • to' — ' And though we owe I = oujrht] the fall of Troy requite. Yet let revenge thereof from goils to light.' For the distinction between "lA and fiaCf^fim consult EUicott on I Tl 6', Lightfoot on Philem '», Moyor on Ja 3, SandoV'Headlam on Ito 7'"*, and esp. ' the full and excellent oote' [Sanday-Ueodlaml in Thayer, X.T. Ltx. i.v. SiiM. meat oflTering unto the Lord ' (RV ' when anyone oll'ereth ') ; >It '.f ' Pray ye therefore tlie Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest' (RV 'that he send'); Mk 3-'' 'No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his mods, except he will lirst bind the strong man ' (RV ' except he first bind '). J. Hastings.