Page:Beowulf (Wyatt).djvu/72

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48

BEOWULF.

hāmas ond hēa-burh.⁠Hengest ðā gyt
wæl-fāgne winter⁠wunode mid Finn
el[ne] unflitme;^[1]⁠eard gemunde,
1130þēah þe hē [ne]^[2] meahte⁠on mere drīfan
hringed-stefnan;⁠holm storme wēol,
won wið winde;⁠winter ȳþe belēac
īs-gebinde,⁠op ðæt ōþer cōm
gēar in geardas,⁠swā nū gyt dēð,
1135þā ðe syngales⁠sēle bewitiað,
wuldor-torhtan weder.⁠Ðā wæs winter scacen,
fæger foldan bearm;⁠fundode wrecca,
gist of geardum;⁠hē tō gyrn-wræce
swīðor *þohte,⁠þonne tō sǣ-lāde,Fol. 155a.
1140gif hē torn-gemōt⁠þurhtēon mihte,
þæt hē Eotena bearn⁠inne gemunde.
Swā hē ne forwyrnde⁠worold-rǣdenne,
þonne him Hūnlāfing⁠hilde-lēoman,
billa sēlest,⁠on bearm dyde;^[3]

↑ 1128—9. MS. ‘mid finnel unhlitme’; Heyne ‘mid Finne [ealles] unhlitme’; Rieger suggested the emendation in the text from l. 1097, and has been followed by Grein and Wülcker.
↑ 1130. Grundtvig’s emendation; Grein read ne in place of hē. Cf. l. 648.
↑ 1142—4. In this difficult passage I have preserved the MS. reading. In l. 1143, it has ‘hun lafing,’ which Zupitza transliterates ‘hun-lafing.’ We constantly find proper names divided into two parts in the MS., e.g. ‘hroð gar,’ l. 339; ‘hun lafing,’ therefore, may stand equally well for Hunlafing or for Hun Lafing. There is much in this whole episode which is still obscure and uncertain, and until more light is thrown upon it, I adhere to the MS. and to Grein’s explanation of the text. While accepting generally Möller’s reconstruction of the Finn saga (for which see his “Das altenglische Volksepos”), I cannot adopt his emendation worod-rǣdenne, which is accepted by Bugge (who, however, assigns to it a signification different from Möller’s), Heyne and Socin, and Earle. For one thing, the form worod is unknown to O.E. poetry. With regard to this

[1] 1128—9. MS. ‘mid finnel unhlitme’; Heyne ‘mid Finne [ealles] unhlitme’; Rieger suggested the emendation in the text from l. 1097, and has been followed by Grein and Wülcker.

[2] 1130. Grundtvig’s emendation; Grein read ne in place of hē. Cf. l. 648.

[l1142-3] 1142—4. In this difficult passage I have preserved the MS. reading. In l. 1143, it has ‘hun lafing,’ which Zupitza transliterates ‘hun-lafing.’ We constantly find proper names divided into two parts in the MS., e.g. ‘hroð gar,’ l. 339; ‘hun lafing,’ therefore, may stand equally well for Hunlafing or for Hun Lafing. There is much in this whole episode which is still obscure and uncertain, and until more light is thrown upon it, I adhere to the MS. and to Grein’s explanation of the text. While accepting generally Möller’s reconstruction of the Finn saga (for which see his “Das altenglische Volksepos”), I cannot adopt his emendation worod-rǣdenne, which is accepted by Bugge (who, however, assigns to it a signification different from Möller’s), Heyne and Socin, and Earle. For one thing, the form worod is unknown to O.E. poetry. With regard to this

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