The
Merovingian
or Frankish race.
Beowulf
_Gen. _ l. 1385. --_Beit. _ ix. 192. S. suggests gefylde,--_he felled the
foe_, etc. --_Ibid. _ Parentheses seem unnecessary.
l. 2727. dæg-hwīl = _time allotted, lifetime_.
l. 2745, 2745. Ho. removes geong from the beginning of l. 2745 and places
it at the end of l. 2744.
l. 2750. R. proposes sigle searogimmas, as at l. 1158.
l. 2767. (1) B. proposes doubtfully oferhīgean or oferhīgan, = Goth,
_ufarhauhjan_, p. p. _ufarhauhids_ (Gr. τυφωθείς) = _exceed in
value_. --_Tidskr. _ viii. 60. (2) Kl. proposes oferhȳdian, = _to make
arrogant, infatuate_; cf. oferhȳd. --_Beit. _ ix. 192.
l. 2770. gelocen leoðocræftum = (1) _spell-bound_ (Th. , Arnold, E. ); (2)
_wrought with hand-craft_ (G. ); (3) _meshed, linked together_ (H. , Ho. );
cf. _Elene_, ll. 1251, 522.
l. 2778. B. considers bill . . . ealdhlāfordes as Beowulf's short sword, with
which he killed the dragon, l. 2704 (_Tidskr. _ viii. 299). R. proposes
ealdhlāforde. Müllenh. understands ealdhlāford to mean the former possessor
of the hoard. W. agrees to this, but conceives ǣrgescōd as a compd. = ǣre
calceatus, _sheathed in brass_. Ha. translates ǣrgescōd as vb. and adv.
l. 2791. Cf. l. 224, eoletes æt ende; landes æt ende, _Exod. _ (Hunt).
l. 2792. MS. reads wæteres weorpan, which R. would change to wætere
sweorfan.
l. 2806. "Men saw from its height the whales tumbling in the waves, and
called it Whale's Ness (Hrones-nǣs). "--Br. p. 28. Cf. l. 3137.
l. 2815. Wīglāf was the next of kin, the last of the race, and hence the
recipient of Beowulf's kingly insignia. There is a possible play on the
word lāf (Wīg-_lāf_, ende-_lāf_).
l. 2818. gingeste word; cf. _novissima verba_, and Ger. _jüngst_, lately.
l. 2837. E. translates on lande, _in the world_, comparing _on līfe, on
worulde_.
l. 2840. gerǣsde = pret. of gerǣsan (omitted from the Gloss. ), same as
rǣsan; cf. l. 2691.
l. 2859. B. proposes dēað ārǣdan, = _determine death_. --_Beit. _ xii. 106.
l. 2861. Change geongum to geongan as a scribal error (? ), but cf.
Lichtenheld, _Haupts Zeitschr. _ xvi. 353-355.
l. 2871. S. and W. propose ōwēr. --_Beit. _ ix. 142.
l. 2873. S. punctuates: wrāðe forwurpe, þā, etc.
l. 2874. H. -So. begins a new sentence with nealles, ending the preceding
one with beget.
l. 2879. ætgifan = _to render, to afford_; omitted in Gloss.
ll. 2885-2892. "This passage . . . equals the passage in Tacitus which
describes the tie of chief to companion and companion to chief among the
Germans, and which recounts the shame that fell on those who survived their
lord. "--Br. , p. 56.
l. 2886. cyn thus has the meaning of _gens_ or clan, just as in many
Oriental towns all are of one blood. E. compares Tacitus, _Germania_, 7;
and cf. "kith and kin. "
l. 2892. Death is preferable to dishonor. Cf. Kemble, _Saxons_, i. 235.
l. 2901. The ἄγγελος begins his ἀγγελία here.
l. 2910. S. proposes higemēðe, _sad of soul;_ cf. ll. 2853 and 2864
(_Beit. _ ix. 142). B. considers higemēðum a dat. or instr. pl. of an
abstract in -u (_Beit. _ xii. 106). H. makes it a dat. pl. = _for the dead_.
For heafod-wearde, etc. , cf. note on l. 446.
l. 2920-2921. B. explains "he could not this time, as usual, give jewels to
his followers. "--_Beit. _ xii. 106.
l. 2922.
The Merovingian or Frankish race.
l. 2940 _seq. _ B. conjectures:
cwæð hīe on mergenne mēces ecgum
gētan wolde, sumon galgtreowu
āhēawan on holte ond hīe āhōan on þā
fuglum tō gamene.
--_Beit. _ xii. 107, 372.
Cf. S. , _Beit. _ ix. 143. gētan = _cause blood to be shed. _
l. 2950. B. proposes gomela for gōda; "a surprising epithet for a Geat to
apply to the 'terrible' Ongentheow. "--Ha. p. 99. But "good" does not
necessarily mean "morally excellent," as a "good" hater, a "good" fighter.
l. 2959. See H. -So. for an explanatory quotation from Paulus Diaconus, etc.
B. , K. , and Th. read segn Higelāces, = H. 's banner uplifted began to pursue
the Swede-men. --_Beit. _ xii. 108. S. suggests sǣce, = _pursuit_.
l. 2977. gewyrpton: this vb. is also used reflexively in _Exod. _ (Hunt), l.
130: wyrpton hīe wērige.
l. 2989. bær is Grundt. 's reading, after the MS. "The surviving victor is
the heir of the slaughtered foe. "--H. -So. Cf. _Hildebrands Lied_, ll. 61,
62.
l. 2995. "A hundred of thousands in land and rings" (Ha. , p. 100). Cf. ll.
2196, 3051. Cf. B. , _Beit. _ xii. 20, who quotes Saxo's _bis senas gentes_
and remarks: "Hrolf Kraki, who rewards his follower, for the slaying of the
foreign king, with jewels, rich lands, and his only daughter's hand,
answers to the Jutish king Hygelāc, who rewards his liegeman, for the
slaying of Ongenthēow, with jewels, enormous estates, and _his_ only
daughter's hand. "
l. 3006. H. -So. suggests Scilfingas for Scyldingas, because, at l. 2397,
Beowulf kills the Scylfing Ēadgils and probably acquires his lands. Thus
ll. 3002, 3005, 3006, would indicate that, after Beowulf's death, the
Swedes desired to shake off his hated yoke. Müllenh. , however, regards l.
3006 as a thoughtless repetition of l. 2053. --_Haupts Zeitschr. _ xiv. 239.
l. 3008. Cf. the same proverb at l. 256; and _Exod. _ (Hunt. ) l. 293.
l. 3022. E. quotes:
"Thai token an harp _gle and game_
And maked a lai and yaf it name. "
--_Weber_, l. 358.
and from Percy, "The word _glee_, which peculiarly denoted their art (the
minstrels'), continues still in our own language . . . it is to this day used
in a musical sense, and applied to a peculiar piece of composition. "
l. 3025. "This is a finer use than usual of the common poetic attendants of
a battle, the wolf, the eagle, and the raven. The three are here like three
Valkyrie, talking of all that they have done. "--Br. , p. 57.
l. 3033. Cf. Hunt's _Dan. _ l. 731, for similar language.
l. 3039. B. supplies a supposed gap here:
[banan ēac fundon bennum sēocne
(nē) ǣr hī þǣm gesēgan syllīcran wiht]
wyrm on wonge. . .
--_Beit. _ xii. 372.
Cf. Ha. , p. 102. W. and Ho. insert [þǣr] before gesēgan.
l. 3042. Cf. l. 2561, where gryre-giest occurs as an epithet of the dragon.
B. proposes gry[re-fāh].
l. 3044. lyft-wynne, _in the pride of the air_, E. ; _to rejoice in the
air_, Ha.
l. 3057. (1) He (God) is men's hope; (2) he is the heroes' hope; (3) gehyld
= the secret place of enchanters; cf. hēlsmanna gehyld, Gr. 's reading,
after A. -S. hǣlsere, haruspex, augur.
l. 3060. B. suggests gehȳðde, = _plundered_ (i. e. by the thief), for
gehȳdde.
ll. 3063-3066. (1) B. suggests wundur [dēaðe] hwār þonne eorl ellenrof ende
gefēre = _let a brave man then somewhere meet his end by wondrous venture_,
etc. --_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iv. 241; cf. l. 3038. (2) S. supposes an indirect
question introduced by hwār and dependent upon wundur, = _a mystery is it
when it happens that the hero is to die, if he is no longer to linger among
his people_. --_Beit. _ ix. 143. (3) Müllenh. suggests: _is it to be wondered
at that a man should die when he can no longer live? _--_Zachers Zeitschr. _
xiv. 241. (4) Possibly thus:
Wundrað hwæt þonne,
eorl ellen-rōf, ende gefēre
līf-gesceafta, þonne leng ne mæg (etc. ),
in which hwæt would = þurh hwæt at l. 3069, and eorl would be subject of
the conjectural vb. wundrað: "the valiant earl wondereth then through what
he shall attain his life's end, when he no longer may live. . . . So Bēowulf
knew not (wondered how) through what _his_ end should come," etc. W. and
Ho. join þonne to the next line. Or, for hwār read wǣre: Wundur wǣre þonne
(= gif), etc. , = "would it be any wonder if a brave man," etc. , which is
virtually Müllenhoff's.
l. 3053. galdre bewunden, _spell-bound_, throws light on l. 2770, gelocen
leoðo-cræftum. The "accursed" gold of legend is often dragon-guarded and
placed under a spell. Even human ashes (as Shakespeare's) are thus banned.
ll. 3047-3058 recall the so-called "Treasury of Atreus. "
l. 3070. H. -So. begins a new line with swā.
l. 3073. herh, hearh, _temple_, is conjectured by E.
