Though modern cognitive research pays a lot of attention to the meaning ofgrammatical patterns and the interaction of verbal and constructional semantics(with the rise of Construction Grammar, for example), there is still a lackof detailed diachronic studies. In this paper, a contribution to filling up thisgap is made by focussing on the shifts and evolutions in the grammatical possibilitiesof four Dutch verbs of reception: verkrijgen 'get', ontvangen 'receive',verwerven 'obtain' and begeren 'desire'. The synchronic constructional behaviourof these verbs will be compared with that of earlier linguistic stages ofDutch.
