proposes
unslāw, =
_sharp_.
_sharp_.
Beowulf
l. 2384. E. calls attention to Swīo-rīce as identical with the modern
_Sverige_ = Sweden; cf. l. 2496.
l. 2386. Gr. reads on feorme, = _at the banquet_; cf. Möller, _Alteng.
Volksepos_, 111, who reads (f)or feorme. The MS. has or.
l. 2391. Cf. l. 11.
l. 2394. B. , Gr. , and Mūllenh. understand ll. 2393-2397 to mean that
Ēadgils, Ōhthere's son, driven from Sweden, returns later, supported by
Beowulf, takes the life of his uncle Onela, and probably becomes himself
O. 's successor and king of Sweden. For another view see H. -So. , p. 115. MS.
has freond (l. 2394), which Leo, etc. , change to fēond. G. translates
_friend_. --_Beit. _ xii. 13; _Anzeiger f. d. Altert. _ iii. 177.
l. 2395. Ēadgils is Ōhthere's son; cf. l. 2381; Onela is Ōhthere's brother;
cf. ll. 2933, 2617.
l. 2402. "Twelfsome"; cf. "fifteensome" at l. 207, etc. As _Bēowulf_ is
essentially _the_ Epic of Philanthropy, of the true love of man, as
distinguished from the ordinary love-epic, the number twelve in this
passage may be reminiscent of another Friend of Man and another Twelve. In
each case all but one desert the hero.
l. 2437. R. proposes stȳred, = _ordered, decreed_, for strēd. --_Zachers
Zeitschr. _ iii. 409.
l. 2439. B. corrects to frēo-wine = _noble friend_, asking, "How can
Herebeald be called Hæðcyn's frēa-wine [MS. ], _lord? _"
l. 2442. feohlēas gefeoht, "a homicide which cannot be atoned for by
money--in this case an unintentional fratricide. "--Sw.
l. 2445. See Ha. , pp. 82, 83, for a discussion of ll. 2445-2463. Cf. G. , p.
75.
l. 2447. MS. reads wrece, justified by B. (_Tidskr. _ viii. 56). W.
conceives wrece as optative or hortative, and places a colon before þonne.
l. 2449. For helpan read helpe. --K. , Th. , S. (_Zeitschr. f. D. Phil. _ xxi.
3, 357).
ll. 2454-2455. (1) Müllenh. (_Haupts Zeitschr. _ xiv. 232) proposes:
þonne se ān hafað
þurh dǣda nȳd dēaðes gefandod.
(2) B. proposes:
þurh dǣda nīð dēaðes gefondad.
--_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iv. 215.
l. 2458. Cf. scēotend, pl. , ll. 704, 1155, like rīdend. Cf. _Judith_, l.
305, etc.
l. 2474. Th. considers the "wide water" here as the Mälar lake, the
boundary between Swedes and Goths.
l. 2477. On oþþe = _and_, cf. B. , _Tidskr. _ viii. 57. See Ha. , p. 83.
l. 2489. B. proposes hrēa-blāc for Gr. 's heoro-. --_Tikskr. _ viii. 297.
l. 2494. S. suggests ēðel-wynne.
l. 2502. E. translates for dugeðum, _of my prowess_; so Ettmüller.
ll. 2520-2522. Gr. and S. translate, "if I knew how else I might combat the
monster's boastfulness. "--Ha. , p. 85.
l. 2524. and-hāttres is H. 's invention. Gr. reads oreðes and attres, _blast
and venom_. Cf. oruð, l. 2558, and l. 2840 (where attor- also occurs).
l. 2526. E. quotes flēon fōtes trym from _Maldon_, l. 247.
l. 2546. Gr. , H. -So. , and Ho. read standan stān-bogan (for stōd on
stān-bogan) depending on geseah.
l. 2550. Grundt. and B. propose dēor, _brave one_, i. e. Beowulf, for dēop.
L. 2565. MS. has ungleaw (K. , Th. ), unglaw (Grundt. ). B.
proposes unslāw, =
_sharp_. --_Beit. _ xii. 104. So H. -So. , Ha. , p. 86.
ll. 2570, 2571. (1) May not gescīfe (MS. to gscipe) = German _schief_,
"crooked," "bent," "aslant," and hence be a parallel to gebogen, _bent,
coiled? _ cf. l. 2568, þā se wyrm gebēah snūde tōsomne, and l. 2828. Coiled
serpents spring more powerfully for the coiling. (2) Or perhaps destroy
comma after tō and read gescæpe, = _his fate_; cf. l. 26: him þā Scyld
gewāt tō gescæp-hwīle. G. appar. adopts this reading, p. 78.
l. 2589. grund-wong = _the field_, not _the earth_ (so B. ); H. -So. , _cave_,
as at l. 2771. So Ha. , p. 87.
l. 2595. S. proposes colon after stefne. --_Beit. _ ix. 141.
l. 2604. Müllenh. explains lēod Scylfinga in _Anzeiger f. d. Altert. _ iii.
176-178.
l. 2607. āre = _possessions, holding_ (Kl. , _Beit. _ ix. 192; Ha. , p. 88).
l. 2609. folcrihta. Add "folk-right" to the meanings in the Gloss. ; and cf.
ēðel-, land-riht, word-riht.
l. 2614. H. -So. reads with Gr. wrǣccan winelēasum Wēohstān bana, = _whom, a
friendless exile, W. had slain_.
ll. 2635-61. E. quotes Tacitus, _Germania_, xiv. : "turpe comitatui virtutem
principis non adaequare. " Beowulf had been deserted by his _comitatus_.
l. 2643. B. proposes ūser. --_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iv. 216.
l. 2649. wutun; l. 3102, uton = pres. subj. pl. 1st person of wītan, _to
go_, used like Mod. Eng. _let us_ + inf. , Lat. _eamus_, Ital. _andiamo_,
Fr. _allons_; M. E. (_Layamon_) _uten_. Cf. Psa. ii. 3, etc. March, _A. -S.
Gram. _, pp. 104, 196.
l. 2650. B. suggests hāt for hyt,. --_Beit. _ xii. 105.
l. 2656. fāne = fāh-ne; cf. fāra = fāh-ra, l. 578; so hēanne (MS. ) =
hēah-ne, etc. , l. 984. See Cook's Sievers' Gram.
ll. 2660, 2661. Why not read beadu-scrūd, as at l. 453, = _battle-shirt? _
B. and R. suppose two half-verses omitted between byrdu-scrūd and bām
gemǣne. B. reads bȳwdu, = _handsome_, etc. Gr. suggests unc nū, = _to us
two now_, for ūrum; and K. and Grundt. read bēon gemǣne for bām, etc. This
makes sense. Cf. Ha. , p. 89.
l. 2666. Cf. the dat. absolute without preposition.
l. 2681. Nægling; cf. Hrunting, Lāfing, and other famous wundor-smiða
geweorc of the poem.
l. 2687. B. changes þonne into þone (rel. pro. ) = _which_. --_Beit. _ xii.
105.
l. 2688. B. supports the MS. reading, wundum.
l. 2688. Cf. l. 2278 for similar language.
l. 2698. B. (_Beit. _ xii. 105) renders: "he did not heed the head of the
dragon (which Beowulf with his sword had struck without effect), but he
struck the dragon somewhat further down. " Cf. Saxo, vi. p. 272.
l. 2698. Cf. the language used at ll. 446 and 1373, where hafelan also
occurs; and hȳdan.
l. 2700. hwēne; cf. Lowl. Sc. _wheen_, a number; Chaucer's _woon_, number.
l. 2702. S. proposes þā (for þæt) þæt fȳr, etc. , = _when the fire began_,
etc.
l. 2704. "The (hup)-seax has often been found in Saxon graves on the hip of
the skeleton. "--E.
l.
