Futurity and modality in the Old Frisian <i>Skelta Riucht</i>

Abstract The paper investigates the grammatical means of encoding futurity and modality in Old West Frisian. The analysis, conducted on the archaic text of the Older Skelta Riucht (SkR a ), as attested in Codex Unia (U-SkR a ), aims at characterising the category of future along the dimensions of temporality and modality. The focus of the study remains specifically on the grammatical marker skela. The study investigates its semantics, typical functions that it served, as well as the linguistic contexts in which it was used. The analysis reveals that skela primarily carries its original modal meanings of obligation, but it occasionally explicitly refers to future events in contexts in which typically the simple present tense forms ( futurate presents ) appear. In a range of such contexts, characteristic traces of the incipient grammaticalization process can be captured.