I. Beówulf: an Anglo-Saxon poem. II. The fight at Finnsburh: a fragment.
General
I. Beówulf: an Anglo-Saxon poem. II. The fight at Finnsburh: a fragment.
Dragons -- Poetry; Epic poetry, English (Old); Monsters -- Poetry
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 ... hâl: 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 hâdor by _receptaculum_; cf. Gering, _Zachers
Zeitschr._ xii. 124. Toller-Bosw. ignores Gr.'s suggestion.
ll. 420, 421. B. reads: þær ic (_on_) fîfelgeban (= _ocean_) ýðde eotena
cyn. Ten Br. reads: þær ic fîfelgeban ýðde, eotena hâm. Ha. suggests
fîfelgeband = _monster-band_, without further changes.
l. 420. R. reads þæra = _of them_, for þær.--_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 Geátas, but the Jutes, as the inhabitants of Swedish West-Gothland.
Alfred translates Juti by Geátas, 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
heáfod-weard, _a guard of honor_, such as sovereigns or presumptive rulers
had, to be meant by hafalan hýdan; 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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