This study offers a comprehensive and illuminating account of the loss of the infinitive and its replacement by finite verb forms by the languages of the Balkan peninsula.

1. Introductory remarks; 2. Towards a definition of finiteness and infinitives; 3. The history of the infinitive in Greek; 4. Albanian; 5. South Slavic; 6. Romanian; 7. On the causes of the Balkan infinitive-loss; 9. Conclusions; Notes; References; Index.