"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.
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.
Beowulf
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. 1165. þā gȳt points to some future event when "each" was not "true to
other," undeveloped in this poem, suhtor-gefæderan = Hrōðgār and Hrōðulf,
l. 1018. Cf. āðum-swerian, l. 84.
l. 1167 almost repeats l. 500, æt fōtum, etc. , where Unferð is first
introduced.
l. 1191. E. sees in this passage separate seats for youth and middle-aged
men, as in English college halls, chapels, convocations, and churches
still.
l. 1192. ymbutan, _round about_, is sometimes thus separated: ymb hīe ūtan;
cf. _Voyage of Ōhthere_, etc. (Sw. ), p. 18, l. 34, etc. ; _Bēowulf_, ll.
859, 1686, etc.
l. 1194. bewægned, a ἃπαξ λεγόμενον, tr. _offered_ by Th. Probably a p. p.
wægen, made into a vb. by -ian, like _own, drown_, etc. Cf. hafenian ( <
hafen, < hebban), etc.
l. 1196. E. takes the expression to mean "mantle and its rings or
broaches. " "Rail" long survived in Mid. Eng. (_Piers Plow. _, etc. ).
l. 1196. This necklace was afterwards given by Beowulf to Hygd, ll. 2173,
2174.
ll. 1199-1215. From the obscure hints in the passage, a part of the poem
may be approximately dated,--if Hygelāc is the _Chochi-laicus_ of Gregory
of Tours, _Hist. Francorum_, iii. 3,--about A. D. 512-20.
l. 1200. The Breosinga men (Icel. _Brisinga men_) is the necklace of the
goddess Freya; cf. _Elder Edda, Hamarshemt. _ Hāma stole the necklace from
the Gothic King Eormenrīc; cf. _Traveller's Song_, ll. 8, 18, 88, 111. The
comparison of the two necklaces leads the poet to anticipate Hygelāc's
history,--a suggestion of the poem's mosaic construction.
l. 1200. For Brōsinga mene, cf. B. , _Beit. _ xii. 72. C. suggests flēah, =
_fled_, for fealh, placing semicolon after byrig, and making hē subject of
flēah and gecēas.
l. 1202. B. conjectures gecēas ēcne rǣd to mean _he became a pious man and
at death went to heaven_. Heime (Hāma) in the _Thidrekssaga_ goes into a
cloister = to choose the better part (? ). Cf. H. -So. , p. 98. But cf.
Hrōðgār's language to Beowulf, ll. 1760, 1761.
l. 1211. S. proposes feoh, = _property_, for feorh, which would be a
parallel for brēost-gewǣdu . . . bēah below.
l. 1213. E. remarks that in the _Laws of Cnut_, i. 26, the devil is called
se wōdfreca werewulf, _the ravening werwolf_.
l. 1215. C. proposes heals-bēge onfēng. _Beit. _ viii. 570. For hreā- Kl.
suggests hrǣ-.
l. 1227. The son referred to is, according to Ettmüller, the one that
reigns after Hrōðgār.
l. 1229. Kl. suggests sī, = _be_, for _is_.
l. 1232. S. gives _wine-elated_ as the meaning of druncne. --_Beit. _ ix.
139; Kl. _ibid. _ 189, 194. But cf. _Judith_, ll. 67, 107.
l. 1235. Cf. l. 119 for similarity of language.
l. 1235. Kl. proposes gea-sceaft; but cf. l. 1267.
l. 1246. Ring armor was common in the Middle Ages. E. points out the
numerous forms of byrne in cognate languages,--Gothic, Icelandic, OHG. ,
Slavonic, O. Irish, Romance, etc. Du Chaillu, _The Viking Age_, i. 126. Cf.
Murray's _Dict. _ s. v.
l. 1248. ānwīg-gearwe = _ready for single combat_ (C. ); but cf. Ha. p. 43;
_Beit. _ ix. 210, 282.
l. 1252. Some consider this _fitt_ the beginning of Part (or Lay) II. of
the original epic, if not a separate work in itself.
l. 1254. K. , W. , and Ho. read farode = _wasted;_ Kolbing reads furode; but
cf. wēsten warode, l. 1266. MS. has warode.
ll. 1255-1258. This passage is a good illustration of the constant
parallelism of word and phrase characteristic of A. -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.
_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. 1165. þā gȳt points to some future event when "each" was not "true to
other," undeveloped in this poem, suhtor-gefæderan = Hrōðgār and Hrōðulf,
l. 1018. Cf. āðum-swerian, l. 84.
l. 1167 almost repeats l. 500, æt fōtum, etc. , where Unferð is first
introduced.
l. 1191. E. sees in this passage separate seats for youth and middle-aged
men, as in English college halls, chapels, convocations, and churches
still.
l. 1192. ymbutan, _round about_, is sometimes thus separated: ymb hīe ūtan;
cf. _Voyage of Ōhthere_, etc. (Sw. ), p. 18, l. 34, etc. ; _Bēowulf_, ll.
859, 1686, etc.
l. 1194. bewægned, a ἃπαξ λεγόμενον, tr. _offered_ by Th. Probably a p. p.
wægen, made into a vb. by -ian, like _own, drown_, etc. Cf. hafenian ( <
hafen, < hebban), etc.
l. 1196. E. takes the expression to mean "mantle and its rings or
broaches. " "Rail" long survived in Mid. Eng. (_Piers Plow. _, etc. ).
l. 1196. This necklace was afterwards given by Beowulf to Hygd, ll. 2173,
2174.
ll. 1199-1215. From the obscure hints in the passage, a part of the poem
may be approximately dated,--if Hygelāc is the _Chochi-laicus_ of Gregory
of Tours, _Hist. Francorum_, iii. 3,--about A. D. 512-20.
l. 1200. The Breosinga men (Icel. _Brisinga men_) is the necklace of the
goddess Freya; cf. _Elder Edda, Hamarshemt. _ Hāma stole the necklace from
the Gothic King Eormenrīc; cf. _Traveller's Song_, ll. 8, 18, 88, 111. The
comparison of the two necklaces leads the poet to anticipate Hygelāc's
history,--a suggestion of the poem's mosaic construction.
l. 1200. For Brōsinga mene, cf. B. , _Beit. _ xii. 72. C. suggests flēah, =
_fled_, for fealh, placing semicolon after byrig, and making hē subject of
flēah and gecēas.
l. 1202. B. conjectures gecēas ēcne rǣd to mean _he became a pious man and
at death went to heaven_. Heime (Hāma) in the _Thidrekssaga_ goes into a
cloister = to choose the better part (? ). Cf. H. -So. , p. 98. But cf.
Hrōðgār's language to Beowulf, ll. 1760, 1761.
l. 1211. S. proposes feoh, = _property_, for feorh, which would be a
parallel for brēost-gewǣdu . . . bēah below.
l. 1213. E. remarks that in the _Laws of Cnut_, i. 26, the devil is called
se wōdfreca werewulf, _the ravening werwolf_.
l. 1215. C. proposes heals-bēge onfēng. _Beit. _ viii. 570. For hreā- Kl.
suggests hrǣ-.
l. 1227. The son referred to is, according to Ettmüller, the one that
reigns after Hrōðgār.
l. 1229. Kl. suggests sī, = _be_, for _is_.
l. 1232. S. gives _wine-elated_ as the meaning of druncne. --_Beit. _ ix.
139; Kl. _ibid. _ 189, 194. But cf. _Judith_, ll. 67, 107.
l. 1235. Cf. l. 119 for similarity of language.
l. 1235. Kl. proposes gea-sceaft; but cf. l. 1267.
l. 1246. Ring armor was common in the Middle Ages. E. points out the
numerous forms of byrne in cognate languages,--Gothic, Icelandic, OHG. ,
Slavonic, O. Irish, Romance, etc. Du Chaillu, _The Viking Age_, i. 126. Cf.
Murray's _Dict. _ s. v.
l. 1248. ānwīg-gearwe = _ready for single combat_ (C. ); but cf. Ha. p. 43;
_Beit. _ ix. 210, 282.
l. 1252. Some consider this _fitt_ the beginning of Part (or Lay) II. of
the original epic, if not a separate work in itself.
l. 1254. K. , W. , and Ho. read farode = _wasted;_ Kolbing reads furode; but
cf. wēsten warode, l. 1266. MS. has warode.
ll. 1255-1258. This passage is a good illustration of the constant
parallelism of word and phrase characteristic of A. -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.
