nīðwundor
may = nið- (as in nið-sele, _q.
Beowulf
-S.
poetry, and is
quoted by Sw. The changes are rung on ende and swylt, on gesȳne and
wīdcūð, etc.
l. 1259. "That this story of Grendel's mother was originally a separate lay
from the first seems to be suggested by the fact that the monsters are
described over again, and many new details added, such as would be inserted
by a new singer who wished to enhance and adorn the original tale. "--Br. ,
p. 41.
l. 1259. Cf. l. 107, which also points to the ancestry of murderers and
monsters and their descent from "Cain. "
l. 1261. The MS. has sē þe, m. ; changed by some to seo þe. At ll. 1393,
1395, 1498, Grendel's mother is referred to as m. ; at ll. 1293, 1505,
1541-1546, etc. , as f. , the uncertain pronoun designating a creature female
in certain aspects, but masculine in demonic strength and
savageness. --H. -So. ; Sw. p. 202. Cf. the masc. epithets at ll. 1380, 2137,
etc.
l. 1270. āglǣca = _Grendel_, though possibly referring to Beowulf, as at l.
1513. --Sw.
l. 1273. "It is not certain whether anwalda stands for onwealda, or whether
it should be read ānwealda, = _only ruler_. --Sw.
l. 1279. The MS. has sunu þeod wrecan, which R. changes to sunu
þēod-wrecan, þēod- = _monstrous_; but why not regard þēod as opposition to
sunu, = _her son, the prince? _ See Sweet's Reader, and Körner's discussion,
_Eng. Stud. _ i. 500.
l. 1281. Ten Br. suggests (for sōna) sāra = _return of sorrows. _
l. 1286. "geþuren (twice so written in MSS. ) stands for geþrúen, _forged_,
and is an isolated p. p. "--Cook's Sievers' Gram. , 209. But see Toller-Bosw.
for examples; Sw. , Gloss. ; March, p. 100, etc.
ll. 1292. þe hine = _whom;_ cf. ll. 441, 1437, 1292; _Hēliand_, l. 1308.
l. 1298. be sǣm tweonum; cf. l. 1192; Hunt's _Exod. _ l. 442; and Mod. Eng.
"to _us_-ward, etc. --Earle's _Philol. _, p. 449. Cf. note, l. 1192.
l. 1301. C. proposes ōðer him ærn = _another apartment was assigned him_.
l. 1303. B. conjectures under hrōf genam; but Ha. , p. 45, shows this to be
unnecessary, under also meaning _in_, as _in_ (or _under_) these
circumstances.
l. 1319. E. and Sw. suggest nǣgde or nēgde, _accosted_, < nēgan = Mid. Ger.
_nēhwian_, pr. p. _nēhwiandans, approach_. For hnǣgan, _press down,
vanquish_, see ll. 1275, 1440, etc.
l. 1321. C. suggests nēad-lāðum for nēod-laðu, _after crushing hostility_;
but cf. frēond-laðu, l. 1193.
l. 1334. K. and ten Br. conjecture gefægnod = _rejoicing in her fill_, a
parallel to ǣse wlanc, l. 1333.
l. 1340. B. translates: "and she has executed a deed of blood-vengeance of
far-reaching consequence. "--_Beit. _ xii. 93.
l. 1345. B. reads gēo for ēow (_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iv. 205).
ll. 1346-1377. "This is a fine piece of folk-lore in the oldest extant
form. . . . The authorities for the story are the rustics (ll. 1346, 1356). "
--E.
l. 1347. Cf. sele-rǣdende at l. 51.
l. 1351. "The ge [of gewitan] may be merely a scribal error,--a repetition
(dittography) of the preceding ge of gewislīcost. "--Sw.
l. 1352. ides, like fīras, _men_, etc. , is a poetic word supposed by Grimm
to have been applied, like Gr. νύμφη, to superhuman or semi-divine women.
ll. 1360-1495 _seq. _ E. compares this Dantesque tarn and scenery with the
poetical accounts of _AEneid_, vii. 563; _Lucretius_, vi. 739, etc.
l. 1360. firgenstrēam occurs also in the _Phoenix_ (Bright, p. 168) l. 100;
_Andreas_, ll. 779, 3144 (K. ); _Gnomic Verses_, l. 47, etc.
l. 1363. The genitive is often thus used to denote measure = by or in
miles; cf. l. 3043; and contrast with partitive gen. at l. 207.
l. 1364. The MS. reads hrinde = hrīnende (? ), which Gr. adopts; K. and Th.
read hrinde-bearwas; hringde, _encircling_ (Sarrazin, _Beit. _ xi. 163);
hrīmge = _frosty_ (Sw. ); _with frost-whiting covered_ (Ha. ). See Morris,
_Blickling Hom. _, Preface, vi. , vii.
l. 1364. Cf. Ruin, hrīmige edoras behrofene, _rimy, roofless halls_.
l. 1366.
nīðwundor may = nið- (as in nið-sele, _q. v. _) wundor, _wonder of
the deep_.
l. 1368. The personal pronoun is sometimes omitted in subordinate and even
independent clauses; cf. wite here; and Hunt's _Exod. _, l. 319.
l. 1370. hornum. Such "datives of manner or respect" are not infrequent
with adj.
l. 1371. "seleð is not dependent on ǣr, for in that case it would be in the
subjunctive, but ǣr is simply an adverb, correlative with the conjunction
ǣr in the next line: 'he will (sooner) give up his life, before he will,'
etc. "--Sw.
l. 1372. Cf. ll. 318 and 543 for willan with similar omitted inf.
l. 1373. heafola is found only in poetry. --Sw. It occurs thirteen or
fourteen times in this poem. Cf. the poetic gamol, swāt (l. 2694), etc. ,
for eald, blōd.
l. 1391. uton: hortatory subj. of wītan, _go_, = _let us go;_ cf. French
_allons_, Lat. _eamus_, Ital. _andiamo_, etc. + inf. Cf. ll. 2649, 3102.
l. 1400. H. is dat. of person indirectly affected, = advantage.
l. 1402. geatolīc probably = _in his equipments_, as B. suggests (_Beit. _
xii. 83), comparing searolīc.
ll. 1402, 1413 reproduce the wk. form of the pret. of gān (Goth,
_gaggida_). Cf. _Andreas_, l. 1096, etc.
l. 1405. S. (_Beit. _ ix. 140) supplies [þǣr hēo] gegnum fōr; B. (_ibid. _
xii. 14) suggests hwǣr hēo.
l. 1411. B. , Gr. , and E. take ān-paðas = paths wide enough for only one,
like Norwegian _einstig_; cf. stīge nearwe, just above. _Trail_ is the
meaning. Cf. enge ānpaðas, uncūð gelād, _Exod. _ (Hunt), l. 58.
l. 1421. Cf. oncȳð, l. 831. The whole passage (ll. 1411-1442) is replete
with suggestions of walrus-hunting, seal-fishing, harpooning of sea-animals
(l. 1438), etc.
l. 1425. E. quotes from the 8th cent. Corpus Gloss. , "_Falanx_ foeða. "
l. 1428. For other mention of nicors, cf. ll. 422, 575, 846. E. remarks,
"it survives in the phrase 'Old Nick' . . . a word of high authority . . .
Icel. _nykr_, water-goblin, Dan. _nök, nisse_, Swed. _näcken_, G. _nix,
nixe_, etc. " See Skeat, _Nick. _
l. 1440. Sw. reads gehnǣged, _prostrated_, and regards nīða as gen. pl.
"used instrumentally," = _by force. _
l. 1441. -bora = _bearer, stirrer;_ occurs in other compds. , as mund-,
rǣd-, wǣg-bora.
l. 1447. him = _for him_, a remoter dative of reference. --Sw.
l. 1455. Gr. reads brondne, = _flaming_.
l. 1457. lēon is the inf. of lāh; cf. onlāh (< onlēon) at l. 1468. līhan
was formerly given as the inf. ; cf. lǣne = lǣhne.
l. 1458. Cf. the similar dat. of possession as used in Latin.
l. 1458. H. -So. compares the Icelandic saga account of Grettir's battle
with the giant in the cave. hæft-mēce may be = Icel. _heptisax_ (_Anglia_,
iii. 83), "hip-knife. "
l. 1459. "The sense seems to be 'pre-eminent among the old treasures. ' . . .
But possibly foran is here a prep. with the gen. : 'one before the old
treasures. '". --Sw. For other examples of foran, cf. ll. 985, 2365.
l. 1460. āter-tēarum = _poison-drops_ (C. , _Beit. _ viii. 571; S. , _ibid. _
xi. 359).
l. 1467. þæt, comp. relative, = _that which_; "we testify _that_ we do
know. "
l. 1480. forð-gewitenum is in appos. to me, = _mihi defuncto_. --M.
Callaway, _Am. Journ. of Philol. _, October, 1889.
l. 1482. nime. Conditional clauses of doubt or future contingency take gif
or būton with subj. ; cf. ll. 452, 594; of fact or certainty, the ind. ; cf.
ll. 442, 447, 527, 662, etc. For būton, cf. ll.
quoted by Sw. The changes are rung on ende and swylt, on gesȳne and
wīdcūð, etc.
l. 1259. "That this story of Grendel's mother was originally a separate lay
from the first seems to be suggested by the fact that the monsters are
described over again, and many new details added, such as would be inserted
by a new singer who wished to enhance and adorn the original tale. "--Br. ,
p. 41.
l. 1259. Cf. l. 107, which also points to the ancestry of murderers and
monsters and their descent from "Cain. "
l. 1261. The MS. has sē þe, m. ; changed by some to seo þe. At ll. 1393,
1395, 1498, Grendel's mother is referred to as m. ; at ll. 1293, 1505,
1541-1546, etc. , as f. , the uncertain pronoun designating a creature female
in certain aspects, but masculine in demonic strength and
savageness. --H. -So. ; Sw. p. 202. Cf. the masc. epithets at ll. 1380, 2137,
etc.
l. 1270. āglǣca = _Grendel_, though possibly referring to Beowulf, as at l.
1513. --Sw.
l. 1273. "It is not certain whether anwalda stands for onwealda, or whether
it should be read ānwealda, = _only ruler_. --Sw.
l. 1279. The MS. has sunu þeod wrecan, which R. changes to sunu
þēod-wrecan, þēod- = _monstrous_; but why not regard þēod as opposition to
sunu, = _her son, the prince? _ See Sweet's Reader, and Körner's discussion,
_Eng. Stud. _ i. 500.
l. 1281. Ten Br. suggests (for sōna) sāra = _return of sorrows. _
l. 1286. "geþuren (twice so written in MSS. ) stands for geþrúen, _forged_,
and is an isolated p. p. "--Cook's Sievers' Gram. , 209. But see Toller-Bosw.
for examples; Sw. , Gloss. ; March, p. 100, etc.
ll. 1292. þe hine = _whom;_ cf. ll. 441, 1437, 1292; _Hēliand_, l. 1308.
l. 1298. be sǣm tweonum; cf. l. 1192; Hunt's _Exod. _ l. 442; and Mod. Eng.
"to _us_-ward, etc. --Earle's _Philol. _, p. 449. Cf. note, l. 1192.
l. 1301. C. proposes ōðer him ærn = _another apartment was assigned him_.
l. 1303. B. conjectures under hrōf genam; but Ha. , p. 45, shows this to be
unnecessary, under also meaning _in_, as _in_ (or _under_) these
circumstances.
l. 1319. E. and Sw. suggest nǣgde or nēgde, _accosted_, < nēgan = Mid. Ger.
_nēhwian_, pr. p. _nēhwiandans, approach_. For hnǣgan, _press down,
vanquish_, see ll. 1275, 1440, etc.
l. 1321. C. suggests nēad-lāðum for nēod-laðu, _after crushing hostility_;
but cf. frēond-laðu, l. 1193.
l. 1334. K. and ten Br. conjecture gefægnod = _rejoicing in her fill_, a
parallel to ǣse wlanc, l. 1333.
l. 1340. B. translates: "and she has executed a deed of blood-vengeance of
far-reaching consequence. "--_Beit. _ xii. 93.
l. 1345. B. reads gēo for ēow (_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iv. 205).
ll. 1346-1377. "This is a fine piece of folk-lore in the oldest extant
form. . . . The authorities for the story are the rustics (ll. 1346, 1356). "
--E.
l. 1347. Cf. sele-rǣdende at l. 51.
l. 1351. "The ge [of gewitan] may be merely a scribal error,--a repetition
(dittography) of the preceding ge of gewislīcost. "--Sw.
l. 1352. ides, like fīras, _men_, etc. , is a poetic word supposed by Grimm
to have been applied, like Gr. νύμφη, to superhuman or semi-divine women.
ll. 1360-1495 _seq. _ E. compares this Dantesque tarn and scenery with the
poetical accounts of _AEneid_, vii. 563; _Lucretius_, vi. 739, etc.
l. 1360. firgenstrēam occurs also in the _Phoenix_ (Bright, p. 168) l. 100;
_Andreas_, ll. 779, 3144 (K. ); _Gnomic Verses_, l. 47, etc.
l. 1363. The genitive is often thus used to denote measure = by or in
miles; cf. l. 3043; and contrast with partitive gen. at l. 207.
l. 1364. The MS. reads hrinde = hrīnende (? ), which Gr. adopts; K. and Th.
read hrinde-bearwas; hringde, _encircling_ (Sarrazin, _Beit. _ xi. 163);
hrīmge = _frosty_ (Sw. ); _with frost-whiting covered_ (Ha. ). See Morris,
_Blickling Hom. _, Preface, vi. , vii.
l. 1364. Cf. Ruin, hrīmige edoras behrofene, _rimy, roofless halls_.
l. 1366.
nīðwundor may = nið- (as in nið-sele, _q. v. _) wundor, _wonder of
the deep_.
l. 1368. The personal pronoun is sometimes omitted in subordinate and even
independent clauses; cf. wite here; and Hunt's _Exod. _, l. 319.
l. 1370. hornum. Such "datives of manner or respect" are not infrequent
with adj.
l. 1371. "seleð is not dependent on ǣr, for in that case it would be in the
subjunctive, but ǣr is simply an adverb, correlative with the conjunction
ǣr in the next line: 'he will (sooner) give up his life, before he will,'
etc. "--Sw.
l. 1372. Cf. ll. 318 and 543 for willan with similar omitted inf.
l. 1373. heafola is found only in poetry. --Sw. It occurs thirteen or
fourteen times in this poem. Cf. the poetic gamol, swāt (l. 2694), etc. ,
for eald, blōd.
l. 1391. uton: hortatory subj. of wītan, _go_, = _let us go;_ cf. French
_allons_, Lat. _eamus_, Ital. _andiamo_, etc. + inf. Cf. ll. 2649, 3102.
l. 1400. H. is dat. of person indirectly affected, = advantage.
l. 1402. geatolīc probably = _in his equipments_, as B. suggests (_Beit. _
xii. 83), comparing searolīc.
ll. 1402, 1413 reproduce the wk. form of the pret. of gān (Goth,
_gaggida_). Cf. _Andreas_, l. 1096, etc.
l. 1405. S. (_Beit. _ ix. 140) supplies [þǣr hēo] gegnum fōr; B. (_ibid. _
xii. 14) suggests hwǣr hēo.
l. 1411. B. , Gr. , and E. take ān-paðas = paths wide enough for only one,
like Norwegian _einstig_; cf. stīge nearwe, just above. _Trail_ is the
meaning. Cf. enge ānpaðas, uncūð gelād, _Exod. _ (Hunt), l. 58.
l. 1421. Cf. oncȳð, l. 831. The whole passage (ll. 1411-1442) is replete
with suggestions of walrus-hunting, seal-fishing, harpooning of sea-animals
(l. 1438), etc.
l. 1425. E. quotes from the 8th cent. Corpus Gloss. , "_Falanx_ foeða. "
l. 1428. For other mention of nicors, cf. ll. 422, 575, 846. E. remarks,
"it survives in the phrase 'Old Nick' . . . a word of high authority . . .
Icel. _nykr_, water-goblin, Dan. _nök, nisse_, Swed. _näcken_, G. _nix,
nixe_, etc. " See Skeat, _Nick. _
l. 1440. Sw. reads gehnǣged, _prostrated_, and regards nīða as gen. pl.
"used instrumentally," = _by force. _
l. 1441. -bora = _bearer, stirrer;_ occurs in other compds. , as mund-,
rǣd-, wǣg-bora.
l. 1447. him = _for him_, a remoter dative of reference. --Sw.
l. 1455. Gr. reads brondne, = _flaming_.
l. 1457. lēon is the inf. of lāh; cf. onlāh (< onlēon) at l. 1468. līhan
was formerly given as the inf. ; cf. lǣne = lǣhne.
l. 1458. Cf. the similar dat. of possession as used in Latin.
l. 1458. H. -So. compares the Icelandic saga account of Grettir's battle
with the giant in the cave. hæft-mēce may be = Icel. _heptisax_ (_Anglia_,
iii. 83), "hip-knife. "
l. 1459. "The sense seems to be 'pre-eminent among the old treasures. ' . . .
But possibly foran is here a prep. with the gen. : 'one before the old
treasures. '". --Sw. For other examples of foran, cf. ll. 985, 2365.
l. 1460. āter-tēarum = _poison-drops_ (C. , _Beit. _ viii. 571; S. , _ibid. _
xi. 359).
l. 1467. þæt, comp. relative, = _that which_; "we testify _that_ we do
know. "
l. 1480. forð-gewitenum is in appos. to me, = _mihi defuncto_. --M.
Callaway, _Am. Journ. of Philol. _, October, 1889.
l. 1482. nime. Conditional clauses of doubt or future contingency take gif
or būton with subj. ; cf. ll. 452, 594; of fact or certainty, the ind. ; cf.
ll. 442, 447, 527, 662, etc. For būton, cf. ll.
