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What are the similarities and differences? I had always believed in the first, that 'pray' admits only an indirect object. Yet Google Ngram refutes this.

For example, does the following admit of 'prayed to me' instead? Why or why not?

During the reign of Alfred the Great (871–900), for example, a man was accused of stealing a belt, and one of his accusers tried to claim his land. One writer of the time recorded that the defendant ‘sought me and prayed me to be his intercessor. Then I spoke on his behalf and interceded for him with King Alfred’.

Source: P47, How the Law Works, Gary Slapper

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No, the citation you provide does not admit "prayed to me" as an equivalent. A mostly archaic usage of "pray" is as a synonym for "ask", especially when the one asking is of lower station than the one being asked, and in that case took a direct, rather than an indirect object. This usage survives, in part, in the expression "Pray tell", as in the sentence a father might use with a child, "Why did you run into the street, pray tell?"

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    It might be helpful to say that 'pray' in 'Pray tell' is an abbreviated version of 'I pray thee tell' which became 'Prithee tell'.
    – Peter
    Commented Jul 6, 2014 at 13:26
  • @Peter: Thank you. Please feel free to rewrite as a separate answer st I can +1.
    – user50720
    Commented Jul 21, 2014 at 14:17
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I agree with brasshat that in this particular case, the transitive pray is archaic usage for ask or beg, and closer to the original French sense:

C13: from Old French preier, from Latin precārī to implore, from prex an entreaty (Collins)

Perhaps you are thinking of cases like John 14:16

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever (Authorised Version/King James)

where it sounds as if Jesus is praying to the Father. I will maintain that pray there still means 'ask'.

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