For the
numerous
names of the Danes, "bright-" "spear-" "east-"
"west-" "ring-" Danes, see these words.
"west-" "ring-" Danes, see these words.
Beowulf
Kath.
_, l.
1647.
l. 931. grynna may be for gyrnna (= _sorrows_), gen. plu. of gyrn, as
suggested by one commentator.
l. 937. B. (_Beit. _ xii. 90) makes gehwylcne object of wīd-scofen (hæfde).
Gr. makes wēa nom. absolute.
l. 940. scuccum: cf. G. scheuche, scheusal; Prov. Eng. _old-shock_; perhaps
the pop. interjection _O shucks! _ (! )
l. 959. H. explains wē as a "plur. of majesty," which Bēowulf throws off at
l. 964.
l. 963. fēond þone frætgan (B. _Beit. _ xii. 90).
l. 976. synnum. "Most abstract words in the poetry have a very wide range
of meanings, diverging widely from the prose usage, synn, for instance,
means simply _injury, mischief, hatred_, and the prose meaning _sin_ is
only a secondary one; hata in poetry is not only _hater_, but _persecutor,
enemy_, just as nīð is both _hatred_ and _violence, strength_; heard is
_sharp_ as well as _hard_. "--Sw.
l. 986. S. places wæs at end of l. 985 and reads stīðra nægla, omitting
gehwylc and the commas after that and after scēawedon. _Beit. _ ix. 138;
stēdra (H. -So. ); hand-sporu (H. -So. ) at l. 987.
l. 986. Miller (_Anglia_, xii. 3) corrects to ǣghwylene, in apposition to
fingras.
l. 987. hand-sporu. See _Anglia_, vii. 176, for a discussion of the
intrusion of u into the nom. of n-stems.
l. 988. Cf. ll. 2121, 2414, for similar use of unhēoru = ungeheuer.
l. 992. B. suggests hēatimbred for hāten, and gefrætwon for -od; Kl. ,
hroden (_Beit. _ ix. 189).
l. 995, 996. Gold-embroidered tapestries seem to be meant by web =
_aurifrisium_.
l. 997. After þāra þe = _of those that_, the depend, vb. often takes sg.
for pl. ; cf. ll. 844, 1462, 2384, 2736. --Sw. ; Dietrich.
l. 998. "Metathesis of l takes place in seld for setl, bold for botl,"
etc. --Cook's Sievers' Gram. , p. 96. Cf. Eng. proper names, _Bootle,
Battle_field, etc. --Skeat, _Principles_, i. 250.
l. 1000. heorras: cf. Chaucer, _Prol. _ (ed. Morris) l. 550:
"Ther was no dore that he nolde heve of _harre_. "
ll. 1005-1007. See _Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii. 391, and _Beit. _ xii. 368, for
R. 's and B. 's views of this difficult passage.
l. 1009. Cf. l. 1612 for sǣl and mǣl, surviving still in E. Anglia in "mind
your _seals and meals_," = _times and occasions_, i. e. have your wits about
you. --E.
ll. 1012, 1013. Cf. ll. 753, 754 for two similar comparatives used in
conjunction.
l. 1014. Cf. l. 327 for similar language.
ll. 1015, 1016. H. -So. puts these two lines in parentheses (fylle . . .
þāra). Cf. B. , _Beit. _ xii. 91.
l. 1024. One of the many famous swords spoken of in the poem. See Hrunting,
ll. 1458, 1660; Hūnlāfing, l. 1144, etc. Cf. Excalibur, Roland's sword, the
Nibelung Balmung, etc.
l. 1034. scūr-heard. For an ingenious explanation of this disputed word see
Professor Pearce's article in _Mod. Lang. Notes_, Nov. 1, 1892, and ensuing
discussion.
l. 1039. eoderas is of doubtful meaning. H. and Toller-Bosw. regard the
word here = _enclosure, palings of the court_. Cf. _Cǣdmon_, ll. 2439,
2481. The passage throws interesting light on horses and their trappings
l. 1043. Grundt. emends wīg to wicg, = _charger_; and E. quotes Tacitus,
_Germania_, 7.
l. 1044. "Power over each and both"; cf. "all and some," "one and all. "
For Ingwin, see _List of Names_.
l. 1065. Gr. contends that fore here = de, _concerning, about_ (Ebert's
_Jahrb. _, 1862, p. 269).
l. 1069. H. -So. supplies fram after eaferum, to govern it, = _concerning_
(? ). Cf. _Fight at Finnsburg_, Appendix.
l. 1070.
For the numerous names of the Danes, "bright-" "spear-" "east-"
"west-" "ring-" Danes, see these words.
l. 1073. Eotenas = _Finn's people, the Frisians_; cf. ll. 1089, 1142, 1146,
etc. , and _Beit. _ xii. 37. Why they are so called is not known.
l. 1084. R. proposes wiht Hengeste wið gefeohtan (_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii.
394). Kl. , wið H. wiht gefeohtan.
ll. 1085 and 1099. wēa-lāf occurs in Wulfstan, _Hom. _ 133, ed. Napier. --E.
Cf. daroða lāf, _Brunanb. _, l. 54; ādes lāfe, _Phoenix_, 272 (Bright), etc.
l. 1098. elne unflitme = _so dass der eid (der inhalt des eides) nicht
streitig war_. --B. , _Beit. _ iii. 30. But cf. 1130, where Hengist and Finn
are again brought into juxtaposition and the expression ealles (? ) unhlitme
occurs.
l. 1106. The pres. part. + be, as myndgiend wǣre here, is comparatively
rare in original A. -S. literature, but occurs abundantly in translations
from the Latin. The periphrasis is generally meaningless. Cf. l. 3029.
l. 1108. Körner suggests ecge, = _sword_, in reference to a supposed old
German custom of placing ornaments, etc. , on the point of a sword or spear
(_Eng. Stud. _ i. 495). Singer, ince-gold = _bright gold_; B. , andīege =
Goth, _andaugjo, evidently_. Cf. incge lāfe, l. 2578. Possibly: and inge (=
_young men_) gold āhōfon of horde. For inge, cf. Hunt's _Exod. _ l. 190.
ll. 1115-1120. R. proposes (hēt þā . . . ) bānfatu bærnan ond on bǣl dōn,
earme on eaxe = _to place the arms in the ashes_, reading gūðrēc =
_battle-reek_, for -rinc (_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii. 395). B. , Sarrazin
(_Beit. _ xi. 530), Lichtenfeld (_Haupts Zeitschr. _ xvi. 330), C. , etc. ,
propose various emendations. See H. -So. , p. 97, and _Beit. _ viii. 568. For
gùðrinc āstāh, cf. Old Norse, _stiga á bál_, "ascend the bale-fire. "
l. 1116. sweoloðe. "On Dartmoor the burning of the furze up the hillsides
to let new grass grow, is called _zwayling_. "--E. Cf. _sultry_, G.
_schwül_, etc.
l. 1119. Cf. wudu-rēc āstāh, l. 3145; and _Exod. _ (Hunt), l. 450: wǣlmist
āstāh.
l. 1122. ætspranc = _burst forth, arose_ (omitted from the Gloss. ), < æt +
springan.
l. 1130. R. and Gr. read elne unflitme, = _loyally and without contest_, as
at l. 1098. Cf. Ha. , p. 39; H. -So. , p. 97.
l. 1137. scacen = _gone_; cf. ll. 1125, 2307, 2728.
l. 1142. "The sons of the Eotenas" (B. , _Beit. _ xii. 31, who conjectures a
gap after 1142).
l. 1144. B. separates thus: Hūn Lāfing, = _Hūn placed the sword Lāfing_,
etc. --_Beit. _ xii. 32; cf. R. , _Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii. 396. Heinzel and
Homburg make other conjectures (Herrig's _Archiv_, 72, 374, etc. ).
l. 1143. B. , H. -So. , and Möller read: worod rǣdenne, þonne him Hūn Lāfing,
= _military brotherhood, when Hūn laid upon his breast_ (the sword)
_Lāfing_. There is a sword _Laufi, Lövi_ in the Norse sagas; but swords,
armor, etc. , are often called the _leaving_ (lāf) of files, hammers, etc. ,
especially a precious heirloom; cf. ll. 454, 1033, 2830, 2037, 2629, 796,
etc. , etc.
l. 1152. roden = _reddened_ (B. , _Tidskr. _ viii. 295).
l. 1160. For ll. 1069-1160, containing the Finn episode, cf. Möller,
_Alteng. Volksepos_, 69, 86, 94; Heinzel, _Anz. f. dtsch. Altert. _, 10,
226; B. , _Beit. _ xii. 29-37. Cf. _Wīdsīð_, l. 33, etc.
ll. 1160, 1161. lēoð (lied = _song, lay_) and gyd here appear synonyms.
ll. 1162-1165. "Behind the wars and tribal wanderings, behind the
contentions of the great, we watch in this poem the steady, continuous life
of home, the passions and thoughts of men, the way they talked and moved
and sang and drank and lived and loved among one another and for one
another. "--Br. , p. 18.
l. 1163. Cf. _wonderwork_. So _wonder-death, wonder-bidding,
wonder-treasure, -smith, -sight_, etc. at ll. 1748, 3038, 2174, 1682, 996,
etc. Cf. the German use of the same intensive, = _wondrous_, in
_wunder-schön_, etc.
l.
1647.
l. 931. grynna may be for gyrnna (= _sorrows_), gen. plu. of gyrn, as
suggested by one commentator.
l. 937. B. (_Beit. _ xii. 90) makes gehwylcne object of wīd-scofen (hæfde).
Gr. makes wēa nom. absolute.
l. 940. scuccum: cf. G. scheuche, scheusal; Prov. Eng. _old-shock_; perhaps
the pop. interjection _O shucks! _ (! )
l. 959. H. explains wē as a "plur. of majesty," which Bēowulf throws off at
l. 964.
l. 963. fēond þone frætgan (B. _Beit. _ xii. 90).
l. 976. synnum. "Most abstract words in the poetry have a very wide range
of meanings, diverging widely from the prose usage, synn, for instance,
means simply _injury, mischief, hatred_, and the prose meaning _sin_ is
only a secondary one; hata in poetry is not only _hater_, but _persecutor,
enemy_, just as nīð is both _hatred_ and _violence, strength_; heard is
_sharp_ as well as _hard_. "--Sw.
l. 986. S. places wæs at end of l. 985 and reads stīðra nægla, omitting
gehwylc and the commas after that and after scēawedon. _Beit. _ ix. 138;
stēdra (H. -So. ); hand-sporu (H. -So. ) at l. 987.
l. 986. Miller (_Anglia_, xii. 3) corrects to ǣghwylene, in apposition to
fingras.
l. 987. hand-sporu. See _Anglia_, vii. 176, for a discussion of the
intrusion of u into the nom. of n-stems.
l. 988. Cf. ll. 2121, 2414, for similar use of unhēoru = ungeheuer.
l. 992. B. suggests hēatimbred for hāten, and gefrætwon for -od; Kl. ,
hroden (_Beit. _ ix. 189).
l. 995, 996. Gold-embroidered tapestries seem to be meant by web =
_aurifrisium_.
l. 997. After þāra þe = _of those that_, the depend, vb. often takes sg.
for pl. ; cf. ll. 844, 1462, 2384, 2736. --Sw. ; Dietrich.
l. 998. "Metathesis of l takes place in seld for setl, bold for botl,"
etc. --Cook's Sievers' Gram. , p. 96. Cf. Eng. proper names, _Bootle,
Battle_field, etc. --Skeat, _Principles_, i. 250.
l. 1000. heorras: cf. Chaucer, _Prol. _ (ed. Morris) l. 550:
"Ther was no dore that he nolde heve of _harre_. "
ll. 1005-1007. See _Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii. 391, and _Beit. _ xii. 368, for
R. 's and B. 's views of this difficult passage.
l. 1009. Cf. l. 1612 for sǣl and mǣl, surviving still in E. Anglia in "mind
your _seals and meals_," = _times and occasions_, i. e. have your wits about
you. --E.
ll. 1012, 1013. Cf. ll. 753, 754 for two similar comparatives used in
conjunction.
l. 1014. Cf. l. 327 for similar language.
ll. 1015, 1016. H. -So. puts these two lines in parentheses (fylle . . .
þāra). Cf. B. , _Beit. _ xii. 91.
l. 1024. One of the many famous swords spoken of in the poem. See Hrunting,
ll. 1458, 1660; Hūnlāfing, l. 1144, etc. Cf. Excalibur, Roland's sword, the
Nibelung Balmung, etc.
l. 1034. scūr-heard. For an ingenious explanation of this disputed word see
Professor Pearce's article in _Mod. Lang. Notes_, Nov. 1, 1892, and ensuing
discussion.
l. 1039. eoderas is of doubtful meaning. H. and Toller-Bosw. regard the
word here = _enclosure, palings of the court_. Cf. _Cǣdmon_, ll. 2439,
2481. The passage throws interesting light on horses and their trappings
l. 1043. Grundt. emends wīg to wicg, = _charger_; and E. quotes Tacitus,
_Germania_, 7.
l. 1044. "Power over each and both"; cf. "all and some," "one and all. "
For Ingwin, see _List of Names_.
l. 1065. Gr. contends that fore here = de, _concerning, about_ (Ebert's
_Jahrb. _, 1862, p. 269).
l. 1069. H. -So. supplies fram after eaferum, to govern it, = _concerning_
(? ). Cf. _Fight at Finnsburg_, Appendix.
l. 1070.
For the numerous names of the Danes, "bright-" "spear-" "east-"
"west-" "ring-" Danes, see these words.
l. 1073. Eotenas = _Finn's people, the Frisians_; cf. ll. 1089, 1142, 1146,
etc. , and _Beit. _ xii. 37. Why they are so called is not known.
l. 1084. R. proposes wiht Hengeste wið gefeohtan (_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii.
394). Kl. , wið H. wiht gefeohtan.
ll. 1085 and 1099. wēa-lāf occurs in Wulfstan, _Hom. _ 133, ed. Napier. --E.
Cf. daroða lāf, _Brunanb. _, l. 54; ādes lāfe, _Phoenix_, 272 (Bright), etc.
l. 1098. elne unflitme = _so dass der eid (der inhalt des eides) nicht
streitig war_. --B. , _Beit. _ iii. 30. But cf. 1130, where Hengist and Finn
are again brought into juxtaposition and the expression ealles (? ) unhlitme
occurs.
l. 1106. The pres. part. + be, as myndgiend wǣre here, is comparatively
rare in original A. -S. literature, but occurs abundantly in translations
from the Latin. The periphrasis is generally meaningless. Cf. l. 3029.
l. 1108. Körner suggests ecge, = _sword_, in reference to a supposed old
German custom of placing ornaments, etc. , on the point of a sword or spear
(_Eng. Stud. _ i. 495). Singer, ince-gold = _bright gold_; B. , andīege =
Goth, _andaugjo, evidently_. Cf. incge lāfe, l. 2578. Possibly: and inge (=
_young men_) gold āhōfon of horde. For inge, cf. Hunt's _Exod. _ l. 190.
ll. 1115-1120. R. proposes (hēt þā . . . ) bānfatu bærnan ond on bǣl dōn,
earme on eaxe = _to place the arms in the ashes_, reading gūðrēc =
_battle-reek_, for -rinc (_Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii. 395). B. , Sarrazin
(_Beit. _ xi. 530), Lichtenfeld (_Haupts Zeitschr. _ xvi. 330), C. , etc. ,
propose various emendations. See H. -So. , p. 97, and _Beit. _ viii. 568. For
gùðrinc āstāh, cf. Old Norse, _stiga á bál_, "ascend the bale-fire. "
l. 1116. sweoloðe. "On Dartmoor the burning of the furze up the hillsides
to let new grass grow, is called _zwayling_. "--E. Cf. _sultry_, G.
_schwül_, etc.
l. 1119. Cf. wudu-rēc āstāh, l. 3145; and _Exod. _ (Hunt), l. 450: wǣlmist
āstāh.
l. 1122. ætspranc = _burst forth, arose_ (omitted from the Gloss. ), < æt +
springan.
l. 1130. R. and Gr. read elne unflitme, = _loyally and without contest_, as
at l. 1098. Cf. Ha. , p. 39; H. -So. , p. 97.
l. 1137. scacen = _gone_; cf. ll. 1125, 2307, 2728.
l. 1142. "The sons of the Eotenas" (B. , _Beit. _ xii. 31, who conjectures a
gap after 1142).
l. 1144. B. separates thus: Hūn Lāfing, = _Hūn placed the sword Lāfing_,
etc. --_Beit. _ xii. 32; cf. R. , _Zachers Zeitschr. _ iii. 396. Heinzel and
Homburg make other conjectures (Herrig's _Archiv_, 72, 374, etc. ).
l. 1143. B. , H. -So. , and Möller read: worod rǣdenne, þonne him Hūn Lāfing,
= _military brotherhood, when Hūn laid upon his breast_ (the sword)
_Lāfing_. There is a sword _Laufi, Lövi_ in the Norse sagas; but swords,
armor, etc. , are often called the _leaving_ (lāf) of files, hammers, etc. ,
especially a precious heirloom; cf. ll. 454, 1033, 2830, 2037, 2629, 796,
etc. , etc.
l. 1152. roden = _reddened_ (B. , _Tidskr. _ viii. 295).
l. 1160. For ll. 1069-1160, containing the Finn episode, cf. Möller,
_Alteng. Volksepos_, 69, 86, 94; Heinzel, _Anz. f. dtsch. Altert. _, 10,
226; B. , _Beit. _ xii. 29-37. Cf. _Wīdsīð_, l. 33, etc.
ll. 1160, 1161. lēoð (lied = _song, lay_) and gyd here appear synonyms.
ll. 1162-1165. "Behind the wars and tribal wanderings, behind the
contentions of the great, we watch in this poem the steady, continuous life
of home, the passions and thoughts of men, the way they talked and moved
and sang and drank and lived and loved among one another and for one
another. "--Br. , p. 18.
l. 1163. Cf. _wonderwork_. So _wonder-death, wonder-bidding,
wonder-treasure, -smith, -sight_, etc. at ll. 1748, 3038, 2174, 1682, 996,
etc. Cf. the German use of the same intensive, = _wondrous_, in
_wunder-schön_, etc.
l.
