Page:Runic and heroic poems of the old Teutonic peoples.djvu/32

32Ger^[1] byþ gumena hiht,    ðonne^[2] God læteþ,
halig heofones cyning,    hrusan syllan
beorhte bleda    beornum ond ðearfum.

35Eoh^[3] byþ utan    unsmeþe treow,
heard hrusan fæst,    hyrde fyres,
wyrtrumun underwreþyd,    wyn on eþle.^[4]

38Peorð^[5] byþ symble    plega and hlehter
wlancum [on middum],^[6]    ðar wigan sittaþ
on beorsele    bliþe ætsomne.

41Eolh-secg eard^[7] hæfþ    oftust on fenne^[8]
wexeð on wature,    wundaþ grimme,
blode breneð^[9]    beorna gehwylcne
ðe him ænigne    onfeng gedeþ.

45Sigel^[10] semannum    symble biþ on hihte,
ðonne hi hine^[11] feriaþ    ofer fisces beþ,
oþ hi brimhengest    bringeþ to lande.

1. Ger (Salz. OE. gaer, Goth, gaar) = summer.
   Gear originally meant the warm part of the year (cf. Russian ярь, "spring-corn"), parallel to winter; this meaning is occasionally found in AS., e.g. Beowulf, v. 1134. Then both gear and winter were used for the whole year, though at a later time winter was restricted to its original significance.
   In Scandinavian dr came to denote the "products of the summer," hence "plenty, abundance," e.g. til drs ok friðar, " for peace and plenty."
   In the older alphabet the letter stood for J; but the initial j, falling together with palatal g in AS., is almost invariably represented by the gyfu letter in inscriptions. Cf., however, v. 87, iar.
2. H. Son.
3. Eoh: except in Runic alphabets this word is written iw, se hearda iw of Riddle LVI. 9; but cf. OHG. iha beside iwa.' The original form may have been *ihwiz. Hickes gives the value as eo, doubtless taken from Domit. A. IX. The value of the letter in the original alphabet is quite unknown; but the Salzburg Codex has ih with the values i and h, and this agrees with the only intelligible inscriptions in England in which the letter occurs, viz. Dover: Gixlheard (value i); Ruthwell: Almehttig (value h); Thornhill II: Eateinne for Eadfiegne (value i).
   Eoh survived as yogh, yok, etc., the name of the 3 letter in Middle English. Cf. A. C. Panes, M. L. R. vi. 441 ff.
4. H. wynan on eple.
5. Peorff (Salzb. AS. peord, Goth, pertra). P was a rare sound in the parent language. It is absent from the earliest Northern Inscriptions, and in the alphabet from the Yadstena bracteate is represented by B. The brooch from Charnay, Burgundy, has in this place a letter much resembling the modern W, and in England it is found only in MS. lists of runic characters and on coins (e.g. Pada, Epa), never in inscriptions.
   PeorS is never found save as the name of the letter P, and no stress can be laid on any of the suggested meanings. Leo, At. Glossar. Halle, 1877,
6. on middum supplied by Grein.
7. H. eolhx seccard.