Ettmüller
was the first .
Beowulf
, p.
26.
Cf.
ll.
1132,
1898. Hring-horni was the mythic ship of the Edda. See Toller-Bosworth for
three different views; and cf. wunden-stefna (l. 220), hring-naca (l.
1863).
ll. 34-52. Cf. the burial of Haki on a funeral-pyre ship, _Inglinga Saga;_
the burial of Balder, Sinfiötli, Arthur, etc.
l. 35. "And this [their joy in the sea] is all the plainer from the number
of names given to the ship-names which speak their pride and affection. It
is the AEtheling's vessel, the Floater, the Wave-swimmer, the Ring-sterned,
the Keel, the Well-bound wood, the Sea-wood, the Sea-ganger, the Sea-broad
ship, the Wide-bosomed, the Prow-curved, the Wood of the curved neck, the
Foam-throated floater that flew like a bird. "--Br. , p. 168.
l. 49. "We know from Scandinavian graves . . . that the illustrious dead were
buried . . . in ships, with their bows to sea-ward; that they were however
not sent to sea, but were either burnt in that position, or mounded over
with earth. "--E. See Du Chaillu, _The Viking Age_, xix.
l. 51. (1) sele-rǣdende (K. , S. , C. ); (2) sēle-rǣdenne (H. ); (3)
sele-rǣdende (H. -So. ). Cf. l. 1347; and see Ha.
l. 51. E. compares with this canto Tennyson's "Passing of Arthur" and the
legendary burial-journey of St. James of Campostella, an. 800.
l. 53. The poem proper begins with this, "There was once upon a time," the
first 52 lines being a prelude. Eleven of the "fitts," or cantos, begin
with the monosyllable þā, four with the verb gewītan, nine with the formula
Hrōðgār (Bēowulf, Unferð) maðelode, twenty-four with monosyllables in
general (him, swā, sē, hwæt, þā, heht, wæs, mæg, cwōm, strǣt).
l. 58. gamel. "The . . . characteristics of the poetry are the use of archaic
forms and words, such as mec for mé, the possessive sín, gamol, dógor, swát
for eald, dǣg, blód, etc. , after they had become obsolete in the prose
language, and the use of special compounds and phrases, such as hildenǣdre
(_war-adder_) for 'arrow,' gold-gifa (_gold-giver_) for 'king,' . . .
goldwine gumena (_goldfriend of men, distributor of gold to men_) for
'king,'" etc. --Sw. Other poetic words are ides, ielde (_men_), etc.
l. 60. H. -So. reads rǣswa (referring to Heorogār alone), and places a point
(with the Ms. ) after Heorogār instead of after rǣswa. Cf. l. 469; see B. ,
_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iv. 193.
l. 62. Elan here (OHG. _Elana, Ellena, Elena, Elina, Alyan_) is thought by
B. (_Tidskr. _ viii. 43) to be a remnant of the masc. name Onela, and he
reads: [On-]elan ewēn, Heaðoscilfingas(=es) healsgebedda.
l. 68. For hē, omitted here, cf. l. 300. Pronouns are occasionally thus
omitted in subord. clauses. --Sw.
l. 70. þone, here = þonne, _than_, and micel = māre? The passage, by a
slight change, might be made to read, medo-ærn micle mā gewyrcean,--þone =
_by much larger than_,--in which þone (þonne) would come in naturally.
l. 73. folc-scare. Add _folk-share_ to the meanings in the Gloss. ; and cf.
gūð-scearu.
l. 74. ic wide gefrægn: an epic formula very frequent in poetry, = _men
said. _ Cf. _Judith_, ll. 7, 246; _Phoenix_, l. 1; and the parallel (noun)
formula, mīne gefrǣge, ll. 777, 838, 1956, etc.
ll. 78-83. "The hall was a rectangular, high-roofed, wooden building, its
long sides facing north and south. The two gables, at either end, had
stag-horns on their points, curving forwards, and these, as well as the
ridge of the roof, were probably covered with shining metal, and glittered
bravely in the sun. "--Br. , p. 32.
l. 84. _Son-in-law and father-in-law;_ B. , a so-called _dvanda_ compound.
Cf. l. 1164, where a similar compound means _uncle and nephew;_ and
Wīdsīð's suhtorfǣdran, used of the same persons.
l. 88. "The word drēam conveys the buzz and hum of social happiness, and
more particularly the sound of music and singing. "--E. Cf. l. 3021; and
_Judith_, l. 350; _Wanderer_, l. 79, etc.
ll. 90-99. There is a suspicious similarity between this passage and the
lines attributed by Bede to Cǣdmon:
Nū wē sculan herian heofonrices Weard, etc. --Sw. , p. 47.
ll. 90-98 are probably the interpolation of a Christian scribe.
ll. 92-97. "The first of these Christian elements [in _Bēowulf_] is the
sense of a fairer, softer world than that in which the Northern warriors
lived. . . . Another Christian passage (ll. 107, 1262) derives all the demons,
eotens, elves, and dreadful sea-beasts from the race of Cain. The folly of
sacrificing to the heathen gods is spoken of (l. 175). . . . The other point
is the belief in immortality (ll. 1202, 1761). "--Br. 71.
l. 100. Cf. l. 2211, where the third dragon of the poem is introduced in
the same words. Beowulf is the forerunner of that other national
dragon-slayer, St. George.
l. 100. onginnan in _Bēowulf_ is treated like verbs of motion and modal
auxiliaries, and takes the object inf. without tō; cf. ll. 872, 1606, 1984,
244. Cf. _gan_ (= _did_) in Mid. Eng. : _gan_ espye (Chaucer, _Knightes
Tale_, l. 254, ed. Morris).
l. 101. B. and H. -So. read, fēond on healle; cf. l. 142. --_Beit. _ xii.
ll. 101-151. "Grimm connects [Grendel] with the Anglo-Saxon grindel (_a
bolt_ or _bar_). . . . It carries with it the notion of the bolts and bars of
hell, and hence _a fiend. _ . . .
Ettmüller was the first . . . to connect the
name with grindan, _to grind, to crush to pieces, to utterly destroy. _
Grendel is then _the tearer, the destroyer_. "--Br. , p. 83.
l. 102. gæst = _stranger_ (Ha. ); cf. ll. 1139, 1442, 2313, etc.
l. 103. See Ha. , p. 4.
l. 105 MS. and Ho. read won-sǣli.
l. 106. "The perfect and pluperfect are often expressed, as in Modern
English, by hǣfð and hǣfde with the past participle. "--Sw. Cf. ll. 433,
408, 940, 205 (p. p. inflected in the last two cases), etc.
l. 106. S. destroys period here, reads in Caines, etc. , and puts þone . . .
drihten in parenthesis.
l. 108. þæs þe = _because_, especially after verbs of thanking (cf. ll.
228, 627, 1780, 2798); _according as_ (l. 1351).
l. 108. The def. article is omitted with Drihten (_Lord_) and Deofol
(_devil_; cf. l. 2089), as it is, generally, sparingly employed in poetry;
cf. tō sǣ (l. 318), ofer sǣ (l. 2381), on lande (l. 2311), tō ræste (l.
1238), on wicge (l. 286), etc. , etc.
l. 119. weras (S. , H. -So. ); wera (K. , Th. ). --_Beit. _ ix. 137.
l. 120. unfǣlo = _uncanny_ (R. ).
l. 131. E. translates, _majestic rage;_ adopting Gr. 's view that swyð is =
Icel. sviði, _a burn_ or _burning_. Cf. l. 737.
l. 142. B. supposes heal-þegnes to be corrupted from helþegnes; cf. l.
101. --_Beit. _ xii. 80. See Gūðlāc, l. 1042.
l. 144. See Ha. , p. 6, for S. 's rearrangement.
l. 146. S. destroys period after sēlest, puts wæs . . . micel in parenthesis,
and inserts a colon after tīd.
l. 149. B. reads sārcwidum for syððan.
l. 154. B. takes sibbe for accus. obj. of wolde, and places a comma after
Deniga. --_Beit. _ xii. 82.
l. 159. R. suggests ac se for atol.
l. 168. H. -So. plausibly conjectures this parenthesis to be a late
insertion, as, at ll. 180-181, the Danes also are said to be heathen.
Another commentator considers the throne under a "spell of enchantment,"
and therefore it could not be touched.
l. 169. nē . . . wisse: _nor had he desire to do so_ (W. ). See Ha. , p. 7, for
other suggestions.
l. 169. myne wisse occurs in _Wanderer_, l. 27.
l. 174. The gerundial inf. with tō expresses purpose, defines a noun or
adjective, or, with the verb be, expresses duty or necessity passively; cf.
ll. 257, 473, 1004, 1420, 1806, etc. Cf. tō + inf. at ll. 316, 2557.
ll. 175-188. E. regards this passage as dating the time and place of the
poem relatively to the times of heathenism. Cf. the opening lines, _In days
of yore_, etc. , as if the story, even then, were very old.
l. 177. gāst-bona is regarded by Ettmüller and G. Stephens (_Thunor_, p.
54) as an epithet of Thor (= _giant-killer_), a kenning for Thunor or Thor,
meaning both _man_ and _monster_. --E.
l. 189. Cf. l. 1993, where similar language is used. H. -So. takes both
mōd-ceare and mǣl-ceare as accus. , others as instr.
ll. 190, 1994. sēað: for this use of sēoðan cf. Bede, _Eccles. Hist. _, ed.
Miller, p. 128, where p. p. soden is thus used.
l. 194. fram hām = _in his home_ (S. , H. -So. ); but fram hām may be for fram
him (_from them_, i. e. _his people_, or _from Hrothgar's_). Cf. Ha. , p. 8.
l. 197.
1898. Hring-horni was the mythic ship of the Edda. See Toller-Bosworth for
three different views; and cf. wunden-stefna (l. 220), hring-naca (l.
1863).
ll. 34-52. Cf. the burial of Haki on a funeral-pyre ship, _Inglinga Saga;_
the burial of Balder, Sinfiötli, Arthur, etc.
l. 35. "And this [their joy in the sea] is all the plainer from the number
of names given to the ship-names which speak their pride and affection. It
is the AEtheling's vessel, the Floater, the Wave-swimmer, the Ring-sterned,
the Keel, the Well-bound wood, the Sea-wood, the Sea-ganger, the Sea-broad
ship, the Wide-bosomed, the Prow-curved, the Wood of the curved neck, the
Foam-throated floater that flew like a bird. "--Br. , p. 168.
l. 49. "We know from Scandinavian graves . . . that the illustrious dead were
buried . . . in ships, with their bows to sea-ward; that they were however
not sent to sea, but were either burnt in that position, or mounded over
with earth. "--E. See Du Chaillu, _The Viking Age_, xix.
l. 51. (1) sele-rǣdende (K. , S. , C. ); (2) sēle-rǣdenne (H. ); (3)
sele-rǣdende (H. -So. ). Cf. l. 1347; and see Ha.
l. 51. E. compares with this canto Tennyson's "Passing of Arthur" and the
legendary burial-journey of St. James of Campostella, an. 800.
l. 53. The poem proper begins with this, "There was once upon a time," the
first 52 lines being a prelude. Eleven of the "fitts," or cantos, begin
with the monosyllable þā, four with the verb gewītan, nine with the formula
Hrōðgār (Bēowulf, Unferð) maðelode, twenty-four with monosyllables in
general (him, swā, sē, hwæt, þā, heht, wæs, mæg, cwōm, strǣt).
l. 58. gamel. "The . . . characteristics of the poetry are the use of archaic
forms and words, such as mec for mé, the possessive sín, gamol, dógor, swát
for eald, dǣg, blód, etc. , after they had become obsolete in the prose
language, and the use of special compounds and phrases, such as hildenǣdre
(_war-adder_) for 'arrow,' gold-gifa (_gold-giver_) for 'king,' . . .
goldwine gumena (_goldfriend of men, distributor of gold to men_) for
'king,'" etc. --Sw. Other poetic words are ides, ielde (_men_), etc.
l. 60. H. -So. reads rǣswa (referring to Heorogār alone), and places a point
(with the Ms. ) after Heorogār instead of after rǣswa. Cf. l. 469; see B. ,
_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iv. 193.
l. 62. Elan here (OHG. _Elana, Ellena, Elena, Elina, Alyan_) is thought by
B. (_Tidskr. _ viii. 43) to be a remnant of the masc. name Onela, and he
reads: [On-]elan ewēn, Heaðoscilfingas(=es) healsgebedda.
l. 68. For hē, omitted here, cf. l. 300. Pronouns are occasionally thus
omitted in subord. clauses. --Sw.
l. 70. þone, here = þonne, _than_, and micel = māre? The passage, by a
slight change, might be made to read, medo-ærn micle mā gewyrcean,--þone =
_by much larger than_,--in which þone (þonne) would come in naturally.
l. 73. folc-scare. Add _folk-share_ to the meanings in the Gloss. ; and cf.
gūð-scearu.
l. 74. ic wide gefrægn: an epic formula very frequent in poetry, = _men
said. _ Cf. _Judith_, ll. 7, 246; _Phoenix_, l. 1; and the parallel (noun)
formula, mīne gefrǣge, ll. 777, 838, 1956, etc.
ll. 78-83. "The hall was a rectangular, high-roofed, wooden building, its
long sides facing north and south. The two gables, at either end, had
stag-horns on their points, curving forwards, and these, as well as the
ridge of the roof, were probably covered with shining metal, and glittered
bravely in the sun. "--Br. , p. 32.
l. 84. _Son-in-law and father-in-law;_ B. , a so-called _dvanda_ compound.
Cf. l. 1164, where a similar compound means _uncle and nephew;_ and
Wīdsīð's suhtorfǣdran, used of the same persons.
l. 88. "The word drēam conveys the buzz and hum of social happiness, and
more particularly the sound of music and singing. "--E. Cf. l. 3021; and
_Judith_, l. 350; _Wanderer_, l. 79, etc.
ll. 90-99. There is a suspicious similarity between this passage and the
lines attributed by Bede to Cǣdmon:
Nū wē sculan herian heofonrices Weard, etc. --Sw. , p. 47.
ll. 90-98 are probably the interpolation of a Christian scribe.
ll. 92-97. "The first of these Christian elements [in _Bēowulf_] is the
sense of a fairer, softer world than that in which the Northern warriors
lived. . . . Another Christian passage (ll. 107, 1262) derives all the demons,
eotens, elves, and dreadful sea-beasts from the race of Cain. The folly of
sacrificing to the heathen gods is spoken of (l. 175). . . . The other point
is the belief in immortality (ll. 1202, 1761). "--Br. 71.
l. 100. Cf. l. 2211, where the third dragon of the poem is introduced in
the same words. Beowulf is the forerunner of that other national
dragon-slayer, St. George.
l. 100. onginnan in _Bēowulf_ is treated like verbs of motion and modal
auxiliaries, and takes the object inf. without tō; cf. ll. 872, 1606, 1984,
244. Cf. _gan_ (= _did_) in Mid. Eng. : _gan_ espye (Chaucer, _Knightes
Tale_, l. 254, ed. Morris).
l. 101. B. and H. -So. read, fēond on healle; cf. l. 142. --_Beit. _ xii.
ll. 101-151. "Grimm connects [Grendel] with the Anglo-Saxon grindel (_a
bolt_ or _bar_). . . . It carries with it the notion of the bolts and bars of
hell, and hence _a fiend. _ . . .
Ettmüller was the first . . . to connect the
name with grindan, _to grind, to crush to pieces, to utterly destroy. _
Grendel is then _the tearer, the destroyer_. "--Br. , p. 83.
l. 102. gæst = _stranger_ (Ha. ); cf. ll. 1139, 1442, 2313, etc.
l. 103. See Ha. , p. 4.
l. 105 MS. and Ho. read won-sǣli.
l. 106. "The perfect and pluperfect are often expressed, as in Modern
English, by hǣfð and hǣfde with the past participle. "--Sw. Cf. ll. 433,
408, 940, 205 (p. p. inflected in the last two cases), etc.
l. 106. S. destroys period here, reads in Caines, etc. , and puts þone . . .
drihten in parenthesis.
l. 108. þæs þe = _because_, especially after verbs of thanking (cf. ll.
228, 627, 1780, 2798); _according as_ (l. 1351).
l. 108. The def. article is omitted with Drihten (_Lord_) and Deofol
(_devil_; cf. l. 2089), as it is, generally, sparingly employed in poetry;
cf. tō sǣ (l. 318), ofer sǣ (l. 2381), on lande (l. 2311), tō ræste (l.
1238), on wicge (l. 286), etc. , etc.
l. 119. weras (S. , H. -So. ); wera (K. , Th. ). --_Beit. _ ix. 137.
l. 120. unfǣlo = _uncanny_ (R. ).
l. 131. E. translates, _majestic rage;_ adopting Gr. 's view that swyð is =
Icel. sviði, _a burn_ or _burning_. Cf. l. 737.
l. 142. B. supposes heal-þegnes to be corrupted from helþegnes; cf. l.
101. --_Beit. _ xii. 80. See Gūðlāc, l. 1042.
l. 144. See Ha. , p. 6, for S. 's rearrangement.
l. 146. S. destroys period after sēlest, puts wæs . . . micel in parenthesis,
and inserts a colon after tīd.
l. 149. B. reads sārcwidum for syððan.
l. 154. B. takes sibbe for accus. obj. of wolde, and places a comma after
Deniga. --_Beit. _ xii. 82.
l. 159. R. suggests ac se for atol.
l. 168. H. -So. plausibly conjectures this parenthesis to be a late
insertion, as, at ll. 180-181, the Danes also are said to be heathen.
Another commentator considers the throne under a "spell of enchantment,"
and therefore it could not be touched.
l. 169. nē . . . wisse: _nor had he desire to do so_ (W. ). See Ha. , p. 7, for
other suggestions.
l. 169. myne wisse occurs in _Wanderer_, l. 27.
l. 174. The gerundial inf. with tō expresses purpose, defines a noun or
adjective, or, with the verb be, expresses duty or necessity passively; cf.
ll. 257, 473, 1004, 1420, 1806, etc. Cf. tō + inf. at ll. 316, 2557.
ll. 175-188. E. regards this passage as dating the time and place of the
poem relatively to the times of heathenism. Cf. the opening lines, _In days
of yore_, etc. , as if the story, even then, were very old.
l. 177. gāst-bona is regarded by Ettmüller and G. Stephens (_Thunor_, p.
54) as an epithet of Thor (= _giant-killer_), a kenning for Thunor or Thor,
meaning both _man_ and _monster_. --E.
l. 189. Cf. l. 1993, where similar language is used. H. -So. takes both
mōd-ceare and mǣl-ceare as accus. , others as instr.
ll. 190, 1994. sēað: for this use of sēoðan cf. Bede, _Eccles. Hist. _, ed.
Miller, p. 128, where p. p. soden is thus used.
l. 194. fram hām = _in his home_ (S. , H. -So. ); but fram hām may be for fram
him (_from them_, i. e. _his people_, or _from Hrothgar's_). Cf. Ha. , p. 8.
l. 197.
