We adopt an onomasiological approach to the description of future in the past in
Old and Middle High German. In these stages of German, the present-day main
correlate of future in the past, the würde + infinitive construction, is not established yet.
We search the reference corpora ReA and ReM and compile a database consisting
of sentential complements of past-tense matrix predicates embedding a posterior
event. We describe the forms and constructions occurring as correlates of future
in the past in these clauses and investigate their formal and semantic properties.
The past subjunctive is the most relevant correlate of future in the past in these
periods, but it alternates with various types of periphrastic constructions which
are known to express posteriority in the respective periods of German. Modal verb
periphrases are the most frequent ones among these. We compare their frequency
and distribution in contexts pertaining to future in the present and future in the
past. We consider factors such as the choice of the modal verb, its relation to
person, and the actional properties of the embedded verb. We find that modal verb
periphrases act similarly in both contexts.
Publication Date: 2026-06-04