King Horn, Floriz and Blauncheflur, The Assumption of Our Lady
General
King Horn, Floriz and Blauncheflur, The Assumption of Our Lady
English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500; Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint -- Legends; Romances, English
82, L. _hundes_. Cf. also 91 L, 634 C H, 887, 1465, etc. For a possible
explanation of the term cf. ‘Rich. C. de L.’ 337-40: _Upon his creste a
rede hounde. The tayle henge to the grounde. That was Sygnyfycacioun The
hethene folke to brynge down._ Cf. 634 Note.
89, 90. _made_. Cf. ‘Lay.’ 28067-8: _deoren swið hende, þa ure drihten
make_ (Wissmann). The contracted form _made_ of L H, is that of the
original as shown by the rime and rhythm.
92. _quic flen_ perhaps a trace of a primitive custom in this
crystallized phrase (cf. also 1468 C).
98. _iseene_. Cf. Chaucer, ‘Knight’s Tale’ 65: _Now be we caytifs as it
is wel seene_ (Wissmann).
100. _strong_ : _long_. Cf. ‘Havelok’ 2242-3: _Non so fayr, ne non so
long, ne non so mikel ne non so strong_.
107, C. _stere_. Cf. Glossary.
109. Cf. the parallel historical incident where Aethelstan sets his
brother Eadwine adrift, in Thorpe’s translation of Lappenberg’s England
under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, II, iii, London, 1845 (Wissmann).
118. _wringinde_. Cf. ‘Havelok’ 152: _He wrungen hondes and wepen sore_
(Wissmann).
121-122. _wo_ : _þo_. A stereotyped couplet in romance. Cf. ‘Lay.’
8429-30, 20383-4, 8677-8, ‘Sir Isumbras’ 380-1, 759-60, ‘Rich. C. de L.’
6521-2.
123. _Horns_. Perhaps a scribal error, so common in this MS.; perhaps a
trace of the OF. inflection with _-s_ in the nom. sing. Cf. _Horns_
1560 H, _enimis_ 1023 C, 1024 H; also _page_ and _crois_ in Glossary.
127. _flowe_. Cf. ‘Proverbs of Alfred,’ v. 197 (M. and S. selections):
_Uppe þe see þat floweþ_. Kölbing (Eng. Stud. vi. 154) thinks _flowe_
means ‘flood’ as distinguished from ‘ebb.’
128. _rowe_. The ‘ship’ was a ‘galeie,’ cf. 199, 1084, 1086, etc.: cf.
also ‘Rich. C. de L.’ 2521-4: _They rowede hard, and sungge ther too
With henelow and rumbelooo. The galeye wente also faste As quarrel dos
off the arweblast._
131-2. _ywis_ : _ymis_. Cf. ‘Lay.’ 19067-8: _for æuere heo wende ful
iwis þat it weoren þe eorl Gorlois_.
134. _sprang_. Cf. ‘Owl and Nighting.’ 734: _Wane þe liȝt of daie
springe_. Also ‘Ipomydon’ 776: _To-morrow, or the day sprynge_. Hence
the modern word ‘dayspring.’ For reflexive phrase, _him sprong_, cf. 27
Note.
150, L. _dawes_, the natural phonetic development from OE. nom. accus.
plur. _dagas_. The more usual forms _daies_, _dayes_, are formed by
analogy with the singular.
161, C H. _hol and fer_. Cf. ‘Ass.’ 62 Cambr.: _so hol ne fer_.
168. _dales and dune_. A common collocation of words. Cf. ‘Lay.’
27352-3: _iseȝen alle þa dales, alle þa dunes_ (Wissmann).
170. _blessing_. The accent on the second syllables of dissyllabic words
as revealed by the rimes in ‘Horn’ is an interesting feature. This
accent is no doubt in part to be explained as a French characteristic,
in part as the survival of an OE. secondary accent. For further
instances cf. 209-10, 219-20, 233-4, 239-40, 243-4, 253-4, 263-4,
359-60, 467-8, 529-30, 609-10, 859-60, 1169-70, 1235-6, etc.
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