44) and the wyrd
bið swīðost of Gnomic Verses, 5.
bið swīðost of Gnomic Verses, 5.
Beowulf
eald here can only mean _honored_, and the hyphen is
unnecessary. Cf. "old fellow," "my old man," etc. ; and Ger. _alt-vater_.
l. 378. Th. and B. propose Gēatum, as presents from the Danish to the
Geatish king. --_Beit. _ xii.
l. 380. hæbbe. The subj. is used in indirect narration and question, wish
and command, purpose, result, and hypothetical comparison with swelce = _as
if_.
ll. 386, 387. Ten Br. emends to read: "Hurry, bid the kinsman-throng go
into the hall together. "
l. 387. sibbe-gedriht, for Beowulf's friends, occurs also at l. 730. It is
subject-acc. to sēon. Cf. ll. 347, 365, and Hunt's _Exod. _ l. 214.
l. 404. "Here, as in the later Icelandic halls, Beowulf saw Hrothgar
enthroned on a high seat at the east end of the hall. The seat is sacred.
It has a supernatural quality. Grendel, the fiend, cannot approach
it. "--Br. , p. 34. Cf. l. 168.
l. 405. "At Benty Grange, in Derbyshire, an Anglo-Saxon barrow, opened in
1848, contained a coat of mail. 'The iron chain work consists of a large
number of links of two kinds attached to each other by small rings half an
inch in diameter; one kind flat and lozenge-shaped . . . the others all of
one kind, but of different lengths. '"--Br. , p. 126.
l. 407. Wes . . . hāl: this ancient Teutonic greeting afterwards grew into
wassail. Cf. Skeat's _Luke_, i. 28; _Andreas_ (K. ), 1827; Layamon, l.
14309, etc.
l. 414. "The distinction between wesan and weorðan [in passive relations]
is not very clearly defined, but wesan appears to indicate a state, weorðan
generally an action. "--Sw. Cf. Mod. German _werden_ and _sein_ in similar
relations.
l. 414. Gr. translates hādor by _receptaculum_; cf. Gering, _Zachers
Zeitschr. _ xii. 124. Toller-Bosw. ignores Gr. 's suggestion.
ll. 420, 421. B. reads: þǣr ic (_on_) fīfelgeban (= _ocean_) ȳðde eotena
cyn. Ten Br. reads: þǣr ic fīfelgeban ȳðde, eotena hām. Ha. suggests
fīfelgeband = _monster-band_, without further changes.
l. 420. R. reads þǣra = _of them_, for þǣr. --_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii. 399;
_Beit. _ xii. 367.
l. 420. "niht has a gen. , nihtes, used for the most part only adverbially,
and almost certainly to be regarded as masculine. "--Cook's Sievers' Gram. ,
p. 158.
l. 425. Cf. also ll. 435, 635, 2345, for other examples of Beowulf's
determination to fight single-handed.
l. 441. þe hine = _whom_, as at l. 1292, etc. The indeclinable þe is often
thus combined with personal pronouns, = relative, and is sometimes
separated from them by a considerable interval. --Sw.
l. 443. The MS. has Geotena. B. and Fahlbeck, says H. -So. , do not consider
the Gēatas, but the Jutes, as the inhabitants of Swedish West-Gothland.
Alfred translates Juti by Gēatas, but _Jutland_ by _Gotland_. In the laws
they are called Guti. --_Beit. _ xii. 1, etc.
l. 444. B. , Gr. , and Ha. make unforhte an adv. = _fearlessly_, modifying
etan. Kl. reads anforhte = _timid_.
l. 446. Cf. l. 2910. Th. translates: _thou wilt not need my head to hide_
(i. e. _bury_). Simrock supposes a dead-watch or lyke-wake to be meant.
Wood, _thou wilt not have to bury so much as my head! _ H. -So. supposes
hēafod-weard, _a guard of honor_, such as sovereigns or presumptive rulers
had, to be meant by hafalan hȳdan; hence, _you need not give me any
guard_, etc. Cf. Schmid, _Gesetze der A. _, 370-372.
l. 447. S. places a colon after nimeð.
l. 451. H. -So. , Ha. , and B. (_Beit. _ xii. 87) agree essentially in
translating feorme, _food_. 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.
unnecessary. Cf. "old fellow," "my old man," etc. ; and Ger. _alt-vater_.
l. 378. Th. and B. propose Gēatum, as presents from the Danish to the
Geatish king. --_Beit. _ xii.
l. 380. hæbbe. The subj. is used in indirect narration and question, wish
and command, purpose, result, and hypothetical comparison with swelce = _as
if_.
ll. 386, 387. Ten Br. emends to read: "Hurry, bid the kinsman-throng go
into the hall together. "
l. 387. sibbe-gedriht, for Beowulf's friends, occurs also at l. 730. It is
subject-acc. to sēon. Cf. ll. 347, 365, and Hunt's _Exod. _ l. 214.
l. 404. "Here, as in the later Icelandic halls, Beowulf saw Hrothgar
enthroned on a high seat at the east end of the hall. The seat is sacred.
It has a supernatural quality. Grendel, the fiend, cannot approach
it. "--Br. , p. 34. Cf. l. 168.
l. 405. "At Benty Grange, in Derbyshire, an Anglo-Saxon barrow, opened in
1848, contained a coat of mail. 'The iron chain work consists of a large
number of links of two kinds attached to each other by small rings half an
inch in diameter; one kind flat and lozenge-shaped . . . the others all of
one kind, but of different lengths. '"--Br. , p. 126.
l. 407. Wes . . . hāl: this ancient Teutonic greeting afterwards grew into
wassail. Cf. Skeat's _Luke_, i. 28; _Andreas_ (K. ), 1827; Layamon, l.
14309, etc.
l. 414. "The distinction between wesan and weorðan [in passive relations]
is not very clearly defined, but wesan appears to indicate a state, weorðan
generally an action. "--Sw. Cf. Mod. German _werden_ and _sein_ in similar
relations.
l. 414. Gr. translates hādor by _receptaculum_; cf. Gering, _Zachers
Zeitschr. _ xii. 124. Toller-Bosw. ignores Gr. 's suggestion.
ll. 420, 421. B. reads: þǣr ic (_on_) fīfelgeban (= _ocean_) ȳðde eotena
cyn. Ten Br. reads: þǣr ic fīfelgeban ȳðde, eotena hām. Ha. suggests
fīfelgeband = _monster-band_, without further changes.
l. 420. R. reads þǣra = _of them_, for þǣr. --_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii. 399;
_Beit. _ xii. 367.
l. 420. "niht has a gen. , nihtes, used for the most part only adverbially,
and almost certainly to be regarded as masculine. "--Cook's Sievers' Gram. ,
p. 158.
l. 425. Cf. also ll. 435, 635, 2345, for other examples of Beowulf's
determination to fight single-handed.
l. 441. þe hine = _whom_, as at l. 1292, etc. The indeclinable þe is often
thus combined with personal pronouns, = relative, and is sometimes
separated from them by a considerable interval. --Sw.
l. 443. The MS. has Geotena. B. and Fahlbeck, says H. -So. , do not consider
the Gēatas, but the Jutes, as the inhabitants of Swedish West-Gothland.
Alfred translates Juti by Gēatas, but _Jutland_ by _Gotland_. In the laws
they are called Guti. --_Beit. _ xii. 1, etc.
l. 444. B. , Gr. , and Ha. make unforhte an adv. = _fearlessly_, modifying
etan. Kl. reads anforhte = _timid_.
l. 446. Cf. l. 2910. Th. translates: _thou wilt not need my head to hide_
(i. e. _bury_). Simrock supposes a dead-watch or lyke-wake to be meant.
Wood, _thou wilt not have to bury so much as my head! _ H. -So. supposes
hēafod-weard, _a guard of honor_, such as sovereigns or presumptive rulers
had, to be meant by hafalan hȳdan; hence, _you need not give me any
guard_, etc. Cf. Schmid, _Gesetze der A. _, 370-372.
l. 447. S. places a colon after nimeð.
l. 451. H. -So. , Ha. , and B. (_Beit. _ xii. 87) agree essentially in
translating feorme, _food_. 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.
