"And because that he saw that she was troubled at his word, he took to comfort her anon." Southern writers, by metathesis, formed from _dreuen_ (_dreue_) the vb. _deruen_ (_derue_), thereby confounding it with another vb. _deruen_ or _derue_, pret. _dorue_, p.p. _doruen_ (A.Sax. _deorfan_, pret. _dearf_, p.p. _dorfen_), to labour, perish, be in trouble. _Dreue_ is a transitive vb. of the weak conjugation, while _derue_ is intransitive and of the strong conjugation, nevertheless we find _derue_ (pret. _dorue_), taking the signification of _dreue_. "Stute nu earme steorue ant swic nuðe lanhure swikele swarte deouel, þ_a_t tu ne _derue_ me na mare."—(Seinte Marherete, p. 12.) "Stop now, poor stern one, and cease now at once, deceitful swart devil, that thou harm me no more." In Laȝamon we find not only pret. _drof_ = distressed, but _derfde_, and the p.p. _iderued_. In the Owl and Nightingale (ed. Wright), p. 40, we find the p.p. _idorve_ = troubled, injured. "Other thou bodest cualm of oreve (orve), Other that lond-folc wurth _i-dorve_." 322 _And senkede hire hure aldre bale_ = And poured out to her the bale of us all, _i. e._ gave her the cup of sorrow, of which we all drink; _senkede_ = _schenkede_, to pour out, to give to drink, to _skink_. See Orm. ii. 181. Laȝ. ii. 202, 431; Alys. 7581; Owl and Nightingale, p. 70. 324 _Quat oget nu ðat for-bode o-wold_ = What does now that prohibition signify? _i. e._ What is the meaning of the prohibition; _oget_ = has, possesses _o wold_ = _a wold_ = in force, in signification. Cp. _Quat-so his dremes owen a wold_ = What-soever his dreams do mean. In ll. 1671, 2122 _wold_ occurs as a noun = interpretation, meaning. The connection between the idea of _power_, and _meaning_, _interpretation_, is not, after all, so very remote. Do we not speak of the _force_ of a word, its _power_, _use_, etc., in an expression? See Ormulum, p. 56, l. 11815. 327 _for is fruit sired [sireð?] mannes mood_, = for its fruit enlighteneth (cleareth) man's mind. 330 _witent_ for _witen it_ = know it. 333 _on hire mod_ = in her mind. 339 _scroðt_ = _scroð_ = solicited; the pret. of _scriðe_. The original meaning of the verb is, (1) to go; (2) to cause to go, to urge; (3) to solicit. 341 _for to forðen is fendes wil_, for to further (do) his foe's will. "For up he rigteð him redi to deren, to deren er to ded maken if he it muge forðen."—(O.E. Miscell. pp. 5, 6.) 342 _At he ðat fruit, and dede unskil_, Ate he that fruit and committed sin. _unskil_, literally, signifies indiscretion, folly, and by an easy transition, sin, crime. (See Ormulum, vol. i. p. 12. Cf. O.E. _unskilwis_ = irrational.) P. 11. l. 345 _Vn-buxumhed_ = disobedience; but in line 346 it signifies weakness, _un-lithesomeness_. 347-8 _Vn-welde woren and in win Here owen limes hem wið-in._ Their own limbs within them Were powerless and in strife.