the drinking
ceremony
at l.
Beowulf
R.
translates _consumption of my corpse.
Maintenance, support_, seems preferable to either.
l. 452. Rönning (after Grimm) personifies Hild. --_Beovulfs Kvadet_, l. 59.
Hildr is the name of one of the Scandinavian Walkyries, or battle-maidens,
who transport the spirits of the slain to Walhalla. Cf. Kent's _Elene_, l.
18, etc.
l. 455. "The war-smiths, especially as forgers of the sword, were garmented
with legend, and made into divine personages. Of these Weland is the type,
husband of a swan maiden, and afterwards almost a god. "-- Br. , p. 120. Cf.
A. J. C. Hare's account of "Wayland Smith's sword with which Henry II. was
knighted," and which hung in Westminster Abbey to a late date. --_Walks in
London_, ii. 228.
l. 455. This is the ǣlces mannes wyrd of Boethius (Sw. , p. 44) and the wyrd
bið swīðost of Gnomic Verses, 5. There are about a dozen references to it
in _Bēowulf_.
l. 455. E. compares the fatalism of this concluding hemistich with the
Christian tone of l. 685 _seq. _
ll. 457, 458. B. reads wǣre-ryhtum ( = _from the obligations of
clientage_).
l. 480. Cf. l. 1231, where the same sense, "flown with wine," occurs.
l. 488. "The duguð, the mature and ripe warriors, the aristocracy of the
nation, are the support of the throne. "--E. The M. E. form of the word,
_douth_, occurs often. Associated with geogoð, ll. 160 and 622.
l. 489. Kl. omits comma after meoto and reads (with B. ) sige-hrēð-secgum, =
_disclose thy thought to the victor-heroes_. Others, as Körner, convert
meoto into an imperative and divide on sǣl = _think upon happiness_. But
cf. onband beadu-rūne, l. 501. B. supposes onsǣl meoto =_speak courteous
words_. _Tidskr. _ viii. 292; _Haupts Zeitschr. _ xi. 411; _Eng. Stud. _ ii.
251.
l. 489. Cf. the invitation at l. 1783.
l. 494. Cf. Grimm's _Andreas_, l. 1097, for deal, =_proud, elated,
exulting_; _Phoenix_ (Bright), l. 266.
l. 499. MS. has Hunferð, but the alliteration requires Unferð, as at ll.
499, 1166, 1489; and cf. ll. 1542, 2095, 2930. See _List of Names_.
l. 501. sīð = _arrival_ (? ); cf. l. 353.
l. 504. þon mā = _the more_ (? ), may be added to the references under þon.
l. 506. E. compares the taunt of Eliab to David, I Sam. xvii. 28.
l. 509. dol-gilp = _idle boasting_. The second definition in the Gloss. is
wrong.
l. 513. "Eagor-stream might possibly be translated the stream of Eagor, the
awful terror-striking stormy sea in which the terrible [Scandinavian] giant
dwelt, and through which he acted. "--Br. , p. 164. He remarks, "The English
term _eagre_ still survives in provincial dialect for the tide-wave or bore
on rivers. Dryden uses it in his _Threnod. Angust. _ 'But like an _eagre_
rode in triumph o'er the tide. ' Yet we must be cautious," etc. Cf. Fox's
_Boethius_, ll. 20, 236; Thorpe's _Cǣdmon_, 69, etc.
l. 524. Krüger and B. read Bānstānes. --_Beit. _ ix. 573.
l. 525. R. reads wyrsan (= wyrses: cf. Mod. Gr. _guten Muthes_) geþinges;
but H. -So. shows that the MS. wyrsan . . . þingea = wyrsena þinga, _can
stand_; cf. gen. pl. banan, _Christ_, l. 66, etc.
l. 545 _seq. _ "Five nights Beowulf and Breca kept together, not swimming,
but sailing in open boats (to swim the seas is to sail the seas), then
storm drove them asunder . . . Breca is afterwards chief of the Brondings, a
tribe mentioned in _Wīdsíth_. The story seems legendary, not
mythical. "--Br. , pp. 60, 61.
ll. 574-578. B. suggests swā þǣr for hwæðere, = _so there it befell me_.
But the word at l. 574 seems = _however_, and at l. 578 = _yet_; cf. l.
891; see S. ; _Beit. _ ix. 138; _Tidskr. _ viii. 48; _Zacher_, iii. 387, etc.
l. 586. Gr. and Grundt. read fāgum sweordum (no ic þæs fela gylpe! ),
supplying fela and blending the broken half-lines into one. Ho. and Kl.
supply geflites.
l. 599. E. translates nȳd-bāde by _blackmail_; adding "nēd bād, _toll_;
nēd bādere, _tolltaker_. "--Land Charters, Gloss, v.
l. 601. MS. has ond = _and_ in three places only (601, 1149, 2041);
elsewhere it uses the symbol 7 = _and_.
l. 612. _seq. _ Cf.
the drinking ceremony at l. 1025. "The royal lady offers
the cup to Beowulf, not in his turn where he sate among the rest, but after
it has gone the round; her approach to Beowulf is an act apart. "--E.
l. 620. "The [loving] cup which went the round of the company and was
tasted by all," like the Oriel and other college anniversary cups. --E.
l. 622. Cf. ll. 160, 1191, for the respective places of young and old.
l. 623. Cf. the circlet of gold worn by Wealhþēow at l. 1164.
l. 631. gyddode. Cf. Chaucer, _Prol. _ l. 237 (ed. Morris):
"Of _yeddynges_ he bar utterly the prys. "
Cf. _giddy_.
l. 648. Kl. suggests a period after geþinged, especially as B. (_Tidskr. _
viii. 57) has shown that oþþe is sometimes = ond. Th. supplies ne.
l. 650. oþþe here and at ll. 2476, 3007, probably = _and_.
l. 651. Cf. 704, where sceadu-genga (the _night-ganger_ of _Leechdoms_, ii.
344) is applied to the demon. --E.
l. 659. Cf. l. 2431 for same formula, "to have and to hold" of the Marriage
Service. --E.
l. 681. B. considers þēah . . . eal a precursor of Mod. Eng. _although_.
l. 682. gōdra = _advantages in battle_ (Gr. ), _battle-skill_ (Ha. ), _skill
in war_ (H. -So. ). Might not nāt be changed to nah = ne + āh (cf. l. 2253),
thus justifying the translation _ability_ (? ) --_he has not the ability
to_, etc.
l. 695. Kl. reads hiera. --_Beit. _ ix. 189. B. omits hīe as occurring in the
previous hemistich. --_Beit. _ xii. 89.
l. 698. "Here Destiny is a web of cloth. "--E. , who compares the Greek
Clotho, "spinster of fate. " Women are also called "weavers of peace," as l.
1943. Cf. Kent's _Elene_, l. 88; _Wīdsīð_, l. 6, etc.
l. 711. B. translates þā by _when_ and connects with the preceding
sentences, thus rejecting the ordinary canto-division at l. 711. He objects
to the use of cōm as principal vb. at ll. 703, 711, and 721. (_Beit_, xii. )
l. 711. "Perhaps the Gnomic verse which tells of Thyrs, the giant, is
written with Grendel in the writer's mind,--þyrs sceal on fenne gewunian
āna inuan lande, _the giant shall dwell in the fen, alone in the land_
(Sweet's Read. , p. 187). "--Br. p. 36.
l. 717. Dietrich, in _Haupt. _ xi. 419, quotes from AElfric, _Hom. _ ii. 498:
hē beworhte þā bigelsas mid gyldenum lǣfrum, _he covered the arches with
gold-leaf_,--a Roman custom derived from Carthage. Cf. Mod. Eng. _oriel_ =
_aureolum_, a gilded room. --E. (quoting Skeat). Cf. ll. 2257, 1097, 2247,
2103, 2702, 2283, 333, 1751, for various uses of gold-sheets.
l. 720. B. and ten Br. suggest _hell-thane_ (Grendel) for heal-þegnas, and
make hæle refer to Beowulf. Cf. l. 142.
l. 723. Z. reads [ge]hrān.
l. 727. For this use of standan, cf. ll. 2314, 2770; and Vergil, _Ecl. _ ii.
26:
"Cum placidum ventis _staret_ mare. "
l. 757. gedræg. _Tumult_ is one of the meanings of this word. Here, appar.
= _occupation, lair_.
l. 759. R. reads mōdega for gōda, "because the attribute cannot be
separated from the word modified unless the two alliterate. "
l. 762. Cf. _Andreas_, l. 1537, for a similar use of ūt = _off_. --E.
l. 769. The foreign words in _Bēowulf_ (as ceaster-here) are not numerous;
others are (aside from proper names like _Cain, Abel_, etc. ) dēofol
(diabolus), candel (l. 1573), ancor (l. 303), scrīfan (for- ge-), segn (l.
47), gīgant (l. 113), mīl- (l. 1363), strǣt (l. 320), ombeht (l. 287), gim
(l. 2073), etc.
l. 770. MS. reads cerwen, a word conceived by B. and others to be part of a
fem. compd. : -scerwen like -wenden in ed-wenden, -rǣden, etc. (cf.
meodu-scerpen in _Andreas_, l. 1528); emended to -scerwen, _a great scare
under the figure of a mishap at a drinking-bout_; one might compare
bescerwan, _to deprive_, from bescyrian (Grein, i. 93), hence ealu-seerwen
would = _a sudden taking away, deprivation, of the beer_. --H. -So. , p. 93.
See B. , _Tidskr. _ viii. 292.
l. 771. Ten Br. reads rēðe, rēnhearde, = _raging, exceeding bold_.
l. 792.
Maintenance, support_, seems preferable to either.
l. 452. Rönning (after Grimm) personifies Hild. --_Beovulfs Kvadet_, l. 59.
Hildr is the name of one of the Scandinavian Walkyries, or battle-maidens,
who transport the spirits of the slain to Walhalla. Cf. Kent's _Elene_, l.
18, etc.
l. 455. "The war-smiths, especially as forgers of the sword, were garmented
with legend, and made into divine personages. Of these Weland is the type,
husband of a swan maiden, and afterwards almost a god. "-- Br. , p. 120. Cf.
A. J. C. Hare's account of "Wayland Smith's sword with which Henry II. was
knighted," and which hung in Westminster Abbey to a late date. --_Walks in
London_, ii. 228.
l. 455. This is the ǣlces mannes wyrd of Boethius (Sw. , p. 44) and the wyrd
bið swīðost of Gnomic Verses, 5. There are about a dozen references to it
in _Bēowulf_.
l. 455. E. compares the fatalism of this concluding hemistich with the
Christian tone of l. 685 _seq. _
ll. 457, 458. B. reads wǣre-ryhtum ( = _from the obligations of
clientage_).
l. 480. Cf. l. 1231, where the same sense, "flown with wine," occurs.
l. 488. "The duguð, the mature and ripe warriors, the aristocracy of the
nation, are the support of the throne. "--E. The M. E. form of the word,
_douth_, occurs often. Associated with geogoð, ll. 160 and 622.
l. 489. Kl. omits comma after meoto and reads (with B. ) sige-hrēð-secgum, =
_disclose thy thought to the victor-heroes_. Others, as Körner, convert
meoto into an imperative and divide on sǣl = _think upon happiness_. But
cf. onband beadu-rūne, l. 501. B. supposes onsǣl meoto =_speak courteous
words_. _Tidskr. _ viii. 292; _Haupts Zeitschr. _ xi. 411; _Eng. Stud. _ ii.
251.
l. 489. Cf. the invitation at l. 1783.
l. 494. Cf. Grimm's _Andreas_, l. 1097, for deal, =_proud, elated,
exulting_; _Phoenix_ (Bright), l. 266.
l. 499. MS. has Hunferð, but the alliteration requires Unferð, as at ll.
499, 1166, 1489; and cf. ll. 1542, 2095, 2930. See _List of Names_.
l. 501. sīð = _arrival_ (? ); cf. l. 353.
l. 504. þon mā = _the more_ (? ), may be added to the references under þon.
l. 506. E. compares the taunt of Eliab to David, I Sam. xvii. 28.
l. 509. dol-gilp = _idle boasting_. The second definition in the Gloss. is
wrong.
l. 513. "Eagor-stream might possibly be translated the stream of Eagor, the
awful terror-striking stormy sea in which the terrible [Scandinavian] giant
dwelt, and through which he acted. "--Br. , p. 164. He remarks, "The English
term _eagre_ still survives in provincial dialect for the tide-wave or bore
on rivers. Dryden uses it in his _Threnod. Angust. _ 'But like an _eagre_
rode in triumph o'er the tide. ' Yet we must be cautious," etc. Cf. Fox's
_Boethius_, ll. 20, 236; Thorpe's _Cǣdmon_, 69, etc.
l. 524. Krüger and B. read Bānstānes. --_Beit. _ ix. 573.
l. 525. R. reads wyrsan (= wyrses: cf. Mod. Gr. _guten Muthes_) geþinges;
but H. -So. shows that the MS. wyrsan . . . þingea = wyrsena þinga, _can
stand_; cf. gen. pl. banan, _Christ_, l. 66, etc.
l. 545 _seq. _ "Five nights Beowulf and Breca kept together, not swimming,
but sailing in open boats (to swim the seas is to sail the seas), then
storm drove them asunder . . . Breca is afterwards chief of the Brondings, a
tribe mentioned in _Wīdsíth_. The story seems legendary, not
mythical. "--Br. , pp. 60, 61.
ll. 574-578. B. suggests swā þǣr for hwæðere, = _so there it befell me_.
But the word at l. 574 seems = _however_, and at l. 578 = _yet_; cf. l.
891; see S. ; _Beit. _ ix. 138; _Tidskr. _ viii. 48; _Zacher_, iii. 387, etc.
l. 586. Gr. and Grundt. read fāgum sweordum (no ic þæs fela gylpe! ),
supplying fela and blending the broken half-lines into one. Ho. and Kl.
supply geflites.
l. 599. E. translates nȳd-bāde by _blackmail_; adding "nēd bād, _toll_;
nēd bādere, _tolltaker_. "--Land Charters, Gloss, v.
l. 601. MS. has ond = _and_ in three places only (601, 1149, 2041);
elsewhere it uses the symbol 7 = _and_.
l. 612. _seq. _ Cf.
the drinking ceremony at l. 1025. "The royal lady offers
the cup to Beowulf, not in his turn where he sate among the rest, but after
it has gone the round; her approach to Beowulf is an act apart. "--E.
l. 620. "The [loving] cup which went the round of the company and was
tasted by all," like the Oriel and other college anniversary cups. --E.
l. 622. Cf. ll. 160, 1191, for the respective places of young and old.
l. 623. Cf. the circlet of gold worn by Wealhþēow at l. 1164.
l. 631. gyddode. Cf. Chaucer, _Prol. _ l. 237 (ed. Morris):
"Of _yeddynges_ he bar utterly the prys. "
Cf. _giddy_.
l. 648. Kl. suggests a period after geþinged, especially as B. (_Tidskr. _
viii. 57) has shown that oþþe is sometimes = ond. Th. supplies ne.
l. 650. oþþe here and at ll. 2476, 3007, probably = _and_.
l. 651. Cf. 704, where sceadu-genga (the _night-ganger_ of _Leechdoms_, ii.
344) is applied to the demon. --E.
l. 659. Cf. l. 2431 for same formula, "to have and to hold" of the Marriage
Service. --E.
l. 681. B. considers þēah . . . eal a precursor of Mod. Eng. _although_.
l. 682. gōdra = _advantages in battle_ (Gr. ), _battle-skill_ (Ha. ), _skill
in war_ (H. -So. ). Might not nāt be changed to nah = ne + āh (cf. l. 2253),
thus justifying the translation _ability_ (? ) --_he has not the ability
to_, etc.
l. 695. Kl. reads hiera. --_Beit. _ ix. 189. B. omits hīe as occurring in the
previous hemistich. --_Beit. _ xii. 89.
l. 698. "Here Destiny is a web of cloth. "--E. , who compares the Greek
Clotho, "spinster of fate. " Women are also called "weavers of peace," as l.
1943. Cf. Kent's _Elene_, l. 88; _Wīdsīð_, l. 6, etc.
l. 711. B. translates þā by _when_ and connects with the preceding
sentences, thus rejecting the ordinary canto-division at l. 711. He objects
to the use of cōm as principal vb. at ll. 703, 711, and 721. (_Beit_, xii. )
l. 711. "Perhaps the Gnomic verse which tells of Thyrs, the giant, is
written with Grendel in the writer's mind,--þyrs sceal on fenne gewunian
āna inuan lande, _the giant shall dwell in the fen, alone in the land_
(Sweet's Read. , p. 187). "--Br. p. 36.
l. 717. Dietrich, in _Haupt. _ xi. 419, quotes from AElfric, _Hom. _ ii. 498:
hē beworhte þā bigelsas mid gyldenum lǣfrum, _he covered the arches with
gold-leaf_,--a Roman custom derived from Carthage. Cf. Mod. Eng. _oriel_ =
_aureolum_, a gilded room. --E. (quoting Skeat). Cf. ll. 2257, 1097, 2247,
2103, 2702, 2283, 333, 1751, for various uses of gold-sheets.
l. 720. B. and ten Br. suggest _hell-thane_ (Grendel) for heal-þegnas, and
make hæle refer to Beowulf. Cf. l. 142.
l. 723. Z. reads [ge]hrān.
l. 727. For this use of standan, cf. ll. 2314, 2770; and Vergil, _Ecl. _ ii.
26:
"Cum placidum ventis _staret_ mare. "
l. 757. gedræg. _Tumult_ is one of the meanings of this word. Here, appar.
= _occupation, lair_.
l. 759. R. reads mōdega for gōda, "because the attribute cannot be
separated from the word modified unless the two alliterate. "
l. 762. Cf. _Andreas_, l. 1537, for a similar use of ūt = _off_. --E.
l. 769. The foreign words in _Bēowulf_ (as ceaster-here) are not numerous;
others are (aside from proper names like _Cain, Abel_, etc. ) dēofol
(diabolus), candel (l. 1573), ancor (l. 303), scrīfan (for- ge-), segn (l.
47), gīgant (l. 113), mīl- (l. 1363), strǣt (l. 320), ombeht (l. 287), gim
(l. 2073), etc.
l. 770. MS. reads cerwen, a word conceived by B. and others to be part of a
fem. compd. : -scerwen like -wenden in ed-wenden, -rǣden, etc. (cf.
meodu-scerpen in _Andreas_, l. 1528); emended to -scerwen, _a great scare
under the figure of a mishap at a drinking-bout_; one might compare
bescerwan, _to deprive_, from bescyrian (Grein, i. 93), hence ealu-seerwen
would = _a sudden taking away, deprivation, of the beer_. --H. -So. , p. 93.
See B. , _Tidskr. _ viii. 292.
l. 771. Ten Br. reads rēðe, rēnhearde, = _raging, exceeding bold_.
l. 792.
