Page:Runic and heroic poems of the old Teutonic peoples.djvu/30

This page needs to be proofread.
14
The Anglo-Saxon Runic Poem

13Rad[1] byþ on recyde    rinca gehwylcum
sefte ond swiþhwæt,    ðamðe sitteþ on ufan
meare mægenheardum    ofer milpaþas.

16Cen[2] byþ cwicera gehwam,    cuþ on fyre
blac ond beorhtlic,    byrneþ oftust
ðær hi æþelingas    inne restaþ.

19Gyfu[3] gumena byþ    gleng and herenys,
wraþu and wyrþscype    and wræcna gehwam
ar and ætwist,    ðe byþ oþra leas.

22Wenne[4][5] bruceþ,    ðe can weana lyt
sares and sorge    and him sylfa hæfþ
blæd and blysse    and eac byrga geniht.

25Hægl[6] byþ hwitust corna;    hwyrft hit of heofones lyfte,
wealcaþ hit windes scura;[7]    weorþeþ hit to wætere syððan.

27Nyd[8] byþ nearu on breostan;    weorþeþ hi þeah oft niþa bearnum
to helpe and to hæle gehwæþre,    gif hi his hlystaþ æror.

29Is[9] byþ ofereald,    ungemetum slidor,
glisnaþ glæshluttur    gimmum gelicust,
flor forste geworuht,[10]    fæger ansyne.

  1. Bad (Salz. AS. rada, Goth, reda), as in other alphabets. It is most satisfactory on the whole to take rad as " riding," cf. rseiif, reiff of the Norwegian and Icelandic poems.
    "Biding seems an easy thing to every warrior while he is indoors, and a very courageous thing to him who traverses the high-roads on the back of a stout horse," though it is doubtful whether byf> can mean "seems," and neither hw&t nor any of its compounds are used of things.
    Professor Chadwick has, however, suggested to me that the proper name of this letter is rada of the Salzburg Codex, corresponding to the ON. reiffi, "tackle (of a ship)," " harness," hence "equipment" generally. Here it would be used in a double sense, in the first half as "furniture" (cf. ON. reiffustol, "easy-chair," AS. rsadesceamu), in the second as "harness."
  2. Cen (Salzburg AS. cen, Goth, c/tozma?) found only as the name of the Hume letter C. Cf. OHG. kien, ken', pinus, fax, taeda, "resinous pinewood," hence "torch." Like the ON. K (kaun), it is descended from the K (<) of the earliest inscriptions. From the sixth century, at least, English and Scandinavian developed on independent lines, the point of divergence being marked by the lance-shaft from Kragehul (Fyn) and the snake from Lindholm (Skane), which has the same intermediate form of K (^) as the earliest of English inscriptions, the SKANOMODU coin and the scabbard-mount from Chessell Down. But in AS. c and g became palatal before front vowels, and the original letters were used for this sound, new
  3. Hickes, wen ne.
  4. geworulit.