Editing Gerund (section)

===Germanic===
In the earliest stages of the [[West Germanic languages]], the [[infinitive]] was [[Inflection|inflected]] after a preposition. These [[Dative case|dative]] and, more rarely, [[Genitive case|genitive]] case forms are sometimes called ''gerundium'' or ''gerund'' or ''West Germanic gerund''.<ref>Prokosch, E. 1939. ''A Comparative Germanic Grammar''. Philadelphia. Linguistic Society of America for Yale University.</ref><ref>Harbert, Wayne. 2007 ''The Germanic Language''. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|052101511-1}}</ref>
:*[[Old English]] ''to berenne'' (to bear) dative of ''beran''
:*[[Old High German]] ''zi beranne'' dative of ''beran''
:*[[Old Saxon]] ''berannia'' dative of ''beran''
:*[[Old Frisian]] ''beranne''
::* The modern continental successor languages [[German language|German]] and [[Dutch language|Dutch]] have preserved a few vestiges of these forms, which are sometimes termed ''gerundium''.
::* [[Frisian languages|Frisian]] preserves the original distinction, e.g., [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]] ''freegje'' ("ask") – ''te freegjen''
::* [[English language|English]] has no vestige of the'' West Germanic gerund''. Traditional grammar uses the term ''gerund'' for the ''[[-ing]]'' form of a verb when it is used as a noun (for example, the verb ''reading'' in the sentence "I enjoy reading.").<ref>{{cite web 
| access-date = 2014-03-19| publisher = WordNet 1.7.1| title = Merriam-Websterdefinition| url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gerund| quote = A noun formed from a verb (such as the ''-ing'' form of an English verb when used as a noun).}}</ref> See the sections below for further detail.
:* In [[Dutch language|Dutch]], it translates either the term "[[:nl:Gerundium|gerundium]]" or the description "zelfstandig gebruikte, verbogen onbepaalde wijs van het werkwoord". The infinitive form of the verb is used as gerund, e.g., ''Zwemmen is gezond''.
:* Since [[Afrikaans]] has by and large lost explicit morphological marking of the infinitive form of the verb, verb stems are used as gerunds, e.g., ''Swem is gesond''.