When I read the [story](http://www.douwa-
douyou.jp/contents/html/douwastory/douwastory2_05.shtml), I found "なかれ"this
word occurred several times.

> 「若い衆、知らない人を信用するで **なかれ** 。」  
>  「お前の持っていたお守りのおかげで命拾いしたのじゃ。望みすぎる **なかれ** 。ここに幸 **なかれ** 。」

I looked it up and the sentences my dictionary provide are either Verb+なかれ or
Noun+なかれ. But the first sentence above has "で" with it. Is it grammatically
correct?
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grammar archaic-language role-language
Grammar of "なかれ"
It is an archaic form of saying one must not or should not. It comes from 無かる,
which means to not be or to be absent.
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I believe the followings are okay:

>   * 信用するでない。 (explained
> [here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/33807/5010), somewhat
> colloquial)
>   * 信用するなかれ。 (orthodox classical grammar, sounds highly archaic)
>   * 信用することなかれ。 (orthodox classical grammar)
>

信用するでなかれ sounds a little odd at least to me, but my knowledge about classical
Japanese is limited, and I cannot say it's incorrect with confidence.

* * *

**EDIT:** Of course I'm aware that this 昔話 is not a real archaic document, and
the phrase 信用するでなかれ is produced by someone living in the modern era.
Unsurprisingly, modern Japanese people (including myself) are not very good at
the rules of archaic Japanese, and [they sometimes come up with strange
expressions](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/40891/5010).

At any rate, 信用するでなかれ sounds a little weird even as a modern role word, to the
ears of a modern Japanese speaker like me.
[BCCWJ](http://pj.ninjal.ac.jp/corpus_center/bccwj/en/) has literally zero
example of such `verb + でなかれ`, whereas you can easily find lots of `verb + (こと
+) なかれ` examples such as 言うなかれ, 侮るなかれ, 思い惑うことなかれ, 礼を乱すことなかれ, etc. So it can be
safely said that `verb + でなかれ` is at least _rare_ even as role language of
wise old men, whether or not it's grammatically correct.
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> 「信用{しんよう}する **で** なかれ」

is not "grammatical". No question about it.

**_However, 「なかれ」 in this context is only used as role language for an old
male speaker in a children's story_**. A grammatical assessment of role
language, to me, is sort of like barking up the wrong tree when it is
imperative that the character must sound like an old man in a speech style
that is still understandable to children from all parts of the country.

Questionable grammar is expected of in the genre. It is just how Japanese
children's stories have developed.

If you found the phrase 「信用する **で** なかれ」 said by an adult in a writing aimed
for other adults, then a discussion on the topic would certainly be productive
and meaningful.

This time, however, it is just role language overriding fine grammar.
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