Part 9
l. 682. gôdra = _advantages in battle_ (Gr.), _battle-skill_ (Ha.), _skill in war_ (H.-So.). Might not nât be changed to nah = ne + âh (cf. l. 2253), thus justifying the translation _ability_ (?) --_he has not the ability to_, etc.
l. 695. Kl. reads hiera.--_Beit._ ix. 189. B. omits hîe as occurring in the previous hemistich.--_Beit._ xii. 89.
l. 698. "Here Destiny is a web of cloth."--E., who compares the Greek Clotho, "spinster of fate." Women are also called "weavers of peace," as l. 1943. Cf. Kent's _Elene_, l. 88; _Wîdsîð_, l. 6, etc.
l. 711. B. translates þâ by _when_ and connects with the preceding sentences, thus rejecting the ordinary canto-division at l. 711. He objects to the use of com as principal vb. at ll. 703, 711, and 721. (_Beit_, xii.)
l. 711. "Perhaps the Gnomic verse which tells of Thyrs, the giant, is written with Grendel in the writer's mind,--þyrs sceal on fenne gewunian âna inuan lande, _the giant shall dwell in the fen, alone in the land_ (Sweet's Read., p. 187)."--Br. p. 36.
l. 717. Dietrich, in _Haupt._ xi. 419, quotes from Ælfric, _Hom._ ii. 498: hê beworhte þâ bigelsas mid gyldenum læfrum, _he covered the arches with gold-leaf_,--a Roman custom derived from Carthage. Cf. Mod. Eng. _oriel_ = _aureolum_, a gilded room.--E. (quoting Skeat). Cf. ll. 2257, 1097, 2247, 2103, 2702, 2283, 333, 1751, for various uses of gold-sheets.
l. 720. B. and ten Br. suggest _hell-thane_ (Grendel) for heal-þegnas, and make häle refer to Beowulf. Cf. l. 142.
l. 723. Z. reads [ge]hrân.
l. 727. For this use of standan, cf. ll. 2314, 2770; and Vergil, _Ecl._ ii. 26:
"Cum placidum ventis _staret_ mare."
l. 757. gedräg. _Tumult_ is one of the meanings of this word. Here, appar. = _occupation, lair_.
l. 759. R. reads môdega for gôda, "because the attribute cannot be separated from the word modified unless the two alliterate."
l. 762. Cf. _Andreas_, l. 1537, for a similar use of ût = _off_.--E.
l. 769. The foreign words in _Beówulf_ (as ceaster-here) are not numerous; others are (aside from proper names like _Cain, Abel_, etc.) deófol (diabolus), candel (l. 1573), ancor (l. 303), scrîfan (for- ge-), segn (l. 47), gigant (l. 113), mîl- (l. 1363), stræt (l. 320), ombeht (l. 287), gim (l. 2073), etc.
l. 770. MS. reads cerwen, a word conceived by B. and others to be part of a fem. compd.: -scerwen like -wenden in ed-wenden, -ræden, etc. (cf. meodu-scerpen in _Andreas_, l. 1528); emended to -scerwen, _a great scare under the figure of a mishap at a drinking-bout_; one might compare bescerwan, _to deprive_, from bescyrian (Grein, i. 93), hence ealu-scerwen would = _a sudden taking away, deprivation, of the beer_.--H.-So., p. 93. See B., _Tidskr_. viii. 292.
l. 771. Ten Br. reads rêðe, rênhearde, = _raging, exceeding bold_.
l. 792. Instrumental adverbial phrases like ænige þinga, nænige þinga (_not at all_), hûru þinga (_especially_) are not infrequent. See Cook's Sievers' Gram., p. 178; March, _A.-S. Gram._, p. 182.
l. 811. myrðe. E. translates _in wanton mood_. Toller-Bosw. does not recognize _sorrow_ as one of the meanings of this word.
ll. 850, 851. S. reads deóp for deóg and erases semicolon after weól, = _the death-stained deep welled with sword-gore_; cf. l. 1424. B. reads deáð-fæges deóp, etc., = _the deep welled with the doomed one's gore_.--_Beit._ xii. 89.
l. 857. The meaning of blaneum is partly explained by fealwe mearas below, l. 866. Cf. Layamon's "and leop on his _blancke" = steed_, l. 23900; Kent's _Elene_, l. 1185.
l. 859. Körner, _Eng. Stud_. i. 482, regards the oft-recurring be sæm tweónum as a mere formula = _on earth_; cf. ll. 1298, 1686. tweóne is part of the separable prep. _between_; see be-. Cf. Baskerville's _Andreas_, l. 558.
l. 865. Cf. _Voyage of Ôhthere and Wulfstân_ for an account of funeral horse-racing, Sweet's Read., p. 22.
l. 868. See Ha., p. 31, for a variant translation.
l. 871 _seq._ R. considers this a technical description of improvised alliterative verse, suggested by and wrought out on the spur of the moment.
l. 872. R. and B. propose secg[an], = _rehearse_, for secg, which suits the verbs in the next two lines.
ll. 878-98. "It pleases me to think that it is in English literature we possess the first sketch of that mighty saga [the Volsunga Saga = Wälsinges gewin] which has for so many centuries engaged all the arts, and at last in the hands of Wagner the art of music."--Br., p. 63. Cf. _Nibelung. Lied_, l. 739.
l. 894. Intransitive verbs, as gân, weorðan, sometimes take habban, "to indicate independent action."--Sw. Cf. hafað ... geworden, l. 2027.
l. 895. "brûcan (_enjoy_) always has the genitive."--Sw.; cf. l. 895; acc., gen., instr., dat., according to March, _A.-S. Gram._, p. 151.
l. 898. Scherer proposes hâte, = _from heat_, instr. of hât, _heat_; cf. l. 2606.
l. 901. hê þäs âron þâh = _he throve in honor_ (B.). Ten Br. inserts comma after þâh, making siððan introduce a depend. clause.--_Beit._ viii. 568. Cf. weorð-myndum þâh, l. 8; ll. 1155, 1243.--H.-So.
l. 902. Heremôdes is considered by Heinzel to be a mere epithet = _the valiant_; which would refer the whole passage to Sigmund (Sigfrid), the eotenas, l. 903, being the Nibelungen. This, says H.-So., gets rid of the contradiction between the good "Heremôd" here and the bad one, l. 1710 _seq._--B. however holds fast to Heremôd.--_Beit._ xii. 41. on feónda geweald, l. 904,--_into the hands of devils_, says B.; cf. ll. 809, 1721, 2267; _Christ_, l. 1416; _Andreas_, l. 1621; for hine fyren onwôd, cf. _Gen._ l. 2579; Hunt's _Dan._ 17: hîe wlenco anwôd.
l. 902 _seq._ "Heremôd's shame is contrasted with the glory of Sigemund, and with the prudence, patience, generosity, and gentleness of Beowulf as a chieftain."--Br., p. 66.
l. 906. MS. has lemede. Toller-Bosw. corrects to lemedon.
l. 917. Cf. Hunt's _Exod._, l. 170, for similar language.
l. 925. hôs, G. hansa, _company_, "the word from which the mercantile association of the 'Hanseatic' towns took their designation."--E.
l. 927. on staþole = _on the floor_ (B., Rask, ten Br.).--_Beit._ xii. 90.
l. 927. May not steápne here = _bright_, from its being immediately followed by golde fâhne? Cf. Chaucer's "his eyen _stepe_," _Prol._ l. 201 (ed. Morris); Cockayne's _Ste. Marherete_, pp. 9, 108; _St. Kath._, l. 1647.
l. 931. grynna may be for gyrnna (= _sorrows_), gen. plu. of gyrn, as suggested by one commentator.
l. 937. B. (_Beit._ xii. 90) makes gehwylcne object of wîd-scofen (häfde). Gr. makes weá nom. absolute.
l. 940. scuccum: cf. G. scheuche, scheusal; Prov. Eng. _old-shock_; perhaps the pop. interjection _O shucks!_ (!)
l. 959. H. explains we as a "plur. of majesty," which Beówulf throws off at l. 964.
l. 963. feónd þone frätgan (B. _Beit._ xii. 90).
l. 976. synnum. "Most abstract words in the poetry have a very wide range of meanings, diverging widely from the prose usage, synn, for instance, means simply _injury, mischief, hatred_, and the prose meaning _sin_ is only a secondary one; hata in poetry is not only _hater_, but _persecutor, enemy_, just as nîð is both _hatred_ and _violence, strength_; heard is _sharp_ as well as _hard_."--Sw.
l. 986. S. places wäs at end of l. 985 and reads stîðra nägla, omitting gehwylc and the commas after that and after sceáwedon. _Beit._ ix. 138; stêdra (H.-So.); hand-sporu (H.-So.) at l. 987.
l. 986. Miller (_Anglia_, xii. 3) corrects to æghwylene, in apposition to fingras.
l. 987. hand-sporu. See _Anglia_, vii. 176, for a discussion of the intrusion of u into the nom. of n-stems.
l. 988. Cf. ll. 2121, 2414, for similar use of unheóru = ungeheuer.
l. 992. B. suggests heátimbred for hâten, and gefrätwon for -od; Kl., hroden (_Beit._ ix. 189).
l. 995, 996. Gold-embroidered tapestries seem to be meant by web = _aurifrisium_.
l. 997. After þâra þe = _of those that_, the depend, vb. often takes sg. for pl.; cf. ll. 844, 1462, 2384, 2736.--Sw.; Dietrich.
l. 998. "Metathesis of l takes place in seld for setl, bold for botl," etc.--Cook's Sievers' Gram., p. 96. Cf. Eng. proper names, _Bootle, Battle_field, etc.--Skeat, _Principles_, i. 250.
l. 1000. heorras: cf. Chaucer, _Prol._ (ed. Morris) l. 550:
"Ther was no dore that he nolde heve of _harre_."
ll. 1005-1007. See _Zachers Zeitschr._ iii. 391, and _Beit._ xii. 368, for R.'s and B.'s views of this difficult passage.
l. 1009. Cf. l. 1612 for sæl and mæl, surviving still in E. Anglia in "mind your _seals and meals_," = _times and occasions_, i.e. have your wits about you.--E.
ll. 1012, 1013. Cf. ll. 753, 754 for two similar comparatives used in conjunction.
l. 1014. Cf. l. 327 for similar language.
ll. 1015, 1016. H.-So. puts these two lines in parentheses (fylle ... þâra). Cf. B., _Beit._ xii. 91.
l. 1024. One of the many famous swords spoken of in the poem. See Hrunting, ll. 1458, 1660; Hûnlâfing, l. 1144, etc. Cf. Excalibur, Roland's sword, the Nibelung Balmung, etc.
l. 1034. scûr-heard. For an ingenious explanation of this disputed word see Professor Pearce's article in _Mod. Lang. Notes_, Nov. 1, 1892, and ensuing discussion.
l. 1039. eoderas is of doubtful meaning. H. and Toller-Bosw. regard the word here = _enclosure, palings of the court_. Cf. _Cædmon_, ll. 2439, 2481. The passage throws interesting light on horses and their trappings
l. 1043. Grundt. emends wîg to wicg, = _charger_; and E. quotes Tacitus, _Germania_, 7.
l. 1044. "Power over each and both"; cf. "all and some," "one and all."
For Ingwin, see _List of Names_.
l. 1065. Gr. contends that fore here = de, _concerning, about_ (Ebert's _Jahrb._, 1862, p. 269).
l. 1069. H.-So. supplies fram after eaferum, to govern it, = _concerning_ (?). Cf. _Fight at Finnsburg_, Appendix.
l. 1070. For the numerous names of the Danes, "bright-" "spear-" "east-" "west-" "ring-" Danes, see these words.
l. 1073. Eotenas = _Finn's people, the Frisians_; cf. ll. 1089, 1142, 1146, etc., and _Beit._ xii. 37. Why they are so called is not known.
l. 1084. R. proposes wiht Hengeste wið gefeohtan (_Zachers Zeitschr._ iii. 394). Kl., wið H. wiht gefeohtan.
ll. 1085 and 1099. weá-lâf occurs in Wulfstan, _Hom._ 133, ed. Napier.--E. Cf. daroða lâf, _Brunanb._, l. 54; âdes lâfe, _Phoenix_, 272 (Bright), etc.
l. 1098. elne unflitme = _so dass der eid (der inhalt des eides) nicht streitig war_.--B., _Beit._ iii. 30. But cf. 1130, where Hengist and Finn are again brought into juxtaposition and the expression ealles (?) unhlitme occurs.
l. 1106. The pres. part. + be, as myndgiend wære here, is comparatively rare in original A.-S. literature, but occurs abundantly in translations from the Latin. The periphrasis is generally meaningless. Cf. l. 3029.
l. 1108. Körner suggests ecge, = _sword_, in reference to a supposed old German custom of placing ornaments, etc., on the point of a sword or spear (_Eng. Stud._ i. 495). Singer, ince-gold = _bright gold_; B., andiége = Goth, _andaugjo, evidently_. Cf. incge lâfe, l. 2578. Possibly: and inge (= _young men_) gold âhôfon of horde. For inge, cf. Hunt's _Exod._ l. 190.
ll. 1115-1120. R. proposes (hêt þâ ...) bânfatu bärnan ond on bæl dôn, earme on eaxe = _to place the arms in the ashes_, reading gûðrêc = _battle-reek_, for -rinc (_Zachers Zeitschr._ iii. 395). B., Sarrazin (_Beit._ xi. 530), Lichtenfeld (_Haupts Zeitschr._ xvi. 330), C., etc., propose various emendations. See H.-So., p. 97, and _Beit._ viii. 568. For gùðrinc âstâh, cf. Old Norse, _stiga á bál_, "ascend the bale-fire."
l. 1116. sweoloðe. "On Dartmoor the burning of the furze up the hillsides to let new grass grow, is called _zwayling_."--E. Cf. _sultry_, G. _schwül_, etc.
l. 1119. Cf. wudu-rêc âstâh, l. 3145; and _Exod_. (Hunt), l. 450: wælmist âstâh.
l. 1122. ätspranc = _burst forth, arose_ (omitted from the Gloss.), < ät + springan.
l. 1130. R. and Gr. read elne unflitme, = _loyally and without contest_, as at l. 1098. Cf. Ha., p. 39; H.-So., p. 97.
l. 1137. scacen = _gone_; cf. ll. 1125, 2307, 2728.
l. 1142. "The sons of the Eotenas" (B., _Beit._ xii. 31, who conjectures a gap after 1142).
l. 1144. B. separates thus: Hûn Lâfing, = _Hûn placed the sword Lâfing_, etc.--_Beit._ xii. 32; cf. R., _Zachers Zeitschr._ iii. 396. Heinzel and Homburg make other conjectures (Herrig's _Archiv_, 72, 374, etc.).
l. 1143. B., H.-So., and Möller read: worod rædenne, þonne him Hûn Lâfing, = _military brotherhood, when Hûn laid upon his breast_ (the sword) _Lâfing_. There is a sword _Laufi, Lövi_ in the Norse sagas; but swords, armor, etc., are often called the _leaving_ (lâf) of files, hammers, etc., especially a precious heirloom; cf. ll. 454, 1033, 2830, 2037, 2629, 796, etc., etc.
l. 1152. roden = _reddened_ (B., _Tidskr_. viii. 295).
l. 1160. For ll. 1069-1160, containing the Finn episode, cf. Möller, _Alteng. Volksepos_, 69, 86, 94; Heinzel, _Anz. f. dtsch. Altert._, 10, 226; B., _Beit._ xii. 29-37. Cf. _Wîdsîð_, l. 33, etc.
ll. 1160, 1161. leóð (lied = _song, lay_) and gyd here appear synonyms.
ll. 1162-1165. "Behind the wars and tribal wanderings, behind the contentions of the great, we watch in this poem the steady, continuous life of home, the passions and thoughts of men, the way they talked and moved and sang and drank and lived and loved among one another and for one another."--Br., p. 18.
l. 1163. Cf. _wonderwork_. So _wonder-death, wonder-bidding, wonder-treasure, -smith, -sight_, etc. at ll. 1748, 3038, 2174, 1682, 996, etc. Cf. the German use of the same intensive, = _wondrous_, in _wunder-schön_, etc.
l. 1165. þâ gyt points to some future event when "each" was not "true to other," undeveloped in this poem, suhtor-gefäderan = Hrôðgâr and Hrôðulf, l. 1018. Cf. âðum-swerian, l. 84.
l. 1167 almost repeats l. 500, ät fôtum, etc., where Ûnferð is first introduced.
l. 1191. E. sees in this passage separate seats for youth and middle-aged men, as in English college halls, chapels, convocations, and churches still.
l. 1192. ymbutan, _round about_, is sometimes thus separated: ymb hie ûtan; cf. _Voyage of Ôhthere_, etc. (Sw.), p. 18, l. 34, etc.; _Beówulf_, ll. 859, 1686, etc.
l. 1194. bewägned, a [Greek: hapax legomenon], tr. _offered_ by Th. Probably a p. p. wägen, made into a vb. by -ian, like _own, drown_, etc. Cf. hafenian ( < hafen, < hebban), etc.
l. 1196. E. takes the expression to mean "mantle and its rings or broaches." "Rail" long survived in Mid. Eng. (_Piers Plow_., etc.).
l. 1196. This necklace was afterwards given by Beowulf to Hygd, ll. 2173, 2174.
ll. 1199-1215. From the obscure hints in the passage, a part of the poem may be approximately dated,--if Hygelâc is the _Chochi-laicus_ of Gregory of Tours, _Hist. Francorum_, iii. 3,--about A.D. 512-20.
l. 1200. The Breosinga men (Icel. _Brisinga men_) is the necklace of the goddess Freya; cf. _Elder Edda, Hamarshemt_. Hâma stole the necklace from the Gothic King Eormenrîc; cf. _Traveller's Song_, ll. 8, 18, 88, 111. The comparison of the two necklaces leads the poet to anticipate Hygelâc's history,--a suggestion of the poem's mosaic construction.
l. 1200. For Brôsinga mene, cf. B., _Beit._ xii. 72. C. suggests fleáh, = _fled_, for fealh, placing semicolon after byrig, and making hê subject of fleáh and geceás.
l. 1202. B. conjectures geceás êcne ræd to mean _he became a pious man and at death went to heaven_. Heime (Hâma) in the _Thidrekssaga_ goes into a cloister = to choose the better part (?). Cf. H.-So., p. 98. But cf. Hrôðgâr's language to Beowulf, ll. 1760, 1761.
l. 1211. S. proposes feoh, = _property_, for feorh, which would be a parallel for breóst-gewædu ... beáh below.
l. 1213. E. remarks that in the _Laws of Cnut_, i. 26, the devil is called se wôdfreca werewulf, _the ravening werwolf_.
l. 1215. C. proposes heals-bêge onfêng. _Beit._ viii. 570. For hreâ- Kl. suggests hræ-.
l. 1227. The son referred to is, according to Ettmüller, the one that reigns after Hrôðgâr.
l. 1229. Kl. suggests sî, = _be_, for _is_.
l. 1232. S. gives _wine-elated_ as the meaning of druncne.--_Beit._ ix. 139; Kl. _ibid_. 189, 194. But cf. _Judith_, ll. 67, 107.
l. 1235. Cf. l. 119 for similarity of language.
l. 1235. Kl. proposes gea-sceaft; but cf. l. 1267.
l. 1246. Ring armor was common in the Middle Ages. E. points out the numerous forms of byrne in cognate languages,--Gothic, Icelandic, OHG., Slavonic, O. Irish, Romance, etc. Du Chaillu, _The Viking Age_, i. 126. Cf. Murray's _Dict._ s. v.
l. 1248. ânwîg-gearwe = _ready for single combat_ (C.); but cf. Ha. p. 43; _Beit._ ix. 210, 282.
l. 1252. Some consider this _fitt_ the beginning of Part (or Lay) II. of the original epic, if not a separate work in itself.
l. 1254. K., W., and Ho. read farode = _wasted;_ Kolbing reads furode; but cf. wêsten warode, l. 1266. MS. has warode.
ll. 1255-1258. This passage is a good illustration of the constant parallelism of word and phrase characteristic of A.-S. poetry, and is quoted by Sw. The changes are rung on ende and swylt, on gesýne and wîdcûð, etc.
l. 1259. "That this story of Grendel's mother was originally a separate lay from the first seems to be suggested by the fact that the monsters are described over again, and many new details added, such as would be inserted by a new singer who wished to enhance and adorn the original tale."--Br., p. 41.
l. 1259. Cf. l. 107, which also points to the ancestry of murderers and monsters and their descent from "Cain."
l. 1261. The MS. has se þe, m.; changed by some to seo þe. At ll. 1393, 1395, 1498, Grendel's mother is referred to as m.; at ll. 1293, 1505, 1541-1546, etc., as f., the uncertain pronoun designating a creature female in certain aspects, but masculine in demonic strength and savageness.--H.-So.; Sw. p. 202. Cf. the masc. epithets at ll. 1380, 2137, etc.
l. 1270. âglæca = _Grendel_, though possibly referring to Beowulf, as at l. 1513.--Sw.
l. 1273. "It is not certain whether anwalda stands for onwealda, or whether it should be read ânwealda, = _only ruler_.--Sw.
l. 1279. The MS. has sunu þeod wrecan, which R. changes to sunu þeód-wrecan, þeód- = _monstrous_; but why not regard þeód as opposition to sunu, = _her son, the prince?_ See Sweet's Reader, and Körner's discussion, _Eng. Stud._ i. 500.
l. 1281. Ten Br. suggests (for sôna) sâra = _return of sorrows._
l. 1286. "geþuren (twice so written in MSS.) stands for geþrúen, _forged_, and is an isolated p. p."--Cook's Sievers' Gram., 209. But see Toller-Bosw. for examples; Sw., Gloss.; March, p. 100, etc.
ll. 1292. þe hine = _whom;_ cf. ll. 441, 1437, 1292; _Hêliand_, l. 1308.
l. 1298. be sæm tweonum; cf. l. 1192; Hunt's _Exod_. l. 442; and Mod. Eng. "to _us_-ward, etc.--Earle's _Philol._, p. 449. Cf. note, l. 1192.
l. 1301. C. proposes ôðer him ärn = _another apartment was assigned him_.
l. 1303. B. conjectures under hrôf genam; but Ha., p. 45, shows this to be unnecessary, under also meaning _in_, as _in_ (or _under_) these circumstances.
l. 1319. E. and Sw. suggest nægde or nêgde, _accosted_, < nêgan = Mid. Ger. _nêhwian_, pr. p. _nêhwiandans, approach_. For hnægan, _press down, vanquish_, see ll. 1275, 1440, etc.
l. 1321. C. suggests neád-lâðum for neód-laðu, _after crushing hostility_; but cf. freónd-laðu, l. 1193.
l. 1334. K. and ten Br. conjecture gefägnod = _rejoicing in her fill_, a parallel to æse wlanc, l. 1333.
l. 1340. B. translates: "and she has executed a deed of blood-vengeance of far-reaching consequence."--_Beit._ xii. 93.
l. 1345. B. reads geó for eów (_Zachers Zeitschr._ iv. 205).
ll. 1346-1377. "This is a fine piece of folk-lore in the oldest extant form.... The authorities for the story are the rustics (ll. 1346, 1356)." --E.
l. 1347. Cf. sele-rædende at l. 51.
l. 1351. "The ge [of gewitan] may be merely a scribal error,--a repetition (dittography) of the preceding ge of gewislîcost."--Sw.
l. 1352. ides, like firas, _men_, etc., is a poetic word supposed by Grimm to have been applied, like Gr. [Greek: númphæ], to superhuman or semi-divine women.
ll. 1360-1495 _seq._ E. compares this Dantesque tarn and scenery with the poetical accounts of _Æneid_, vii. 563; _Lucretius_, vi. 739, etc.
l. 1360. firgenstreám occurs also in the _Phoenix_ (Bright, p. 168) l. 100; _Andreas_, ll. 779, 3144 (K.); _Gnomic Verses_, l. 47, etc.
l. 1363. The genitive is often thus used to denote measure = by or in miles; cf. l. 3043; and contrast with partitive gen. at l. 207.
l. 1364. The MS. reads hrinde = hrînende (?), which Gr. adopts; K. and Th. read hrinde-bearwas; hringde, _encircling_ (Sarrazin, _Beit._ xi. 163); hrîmge = _frosty_ (Sw.); _with frost-whiting covered_ (Ha.). See Morris, _Blickling Hom_., Preface, vi., vii.
l. 1364. Cf. Ruin, hrîmige edoras behrofene, _rimy, roofless halls_.
l. 1366. nîðwundor may = nið- (as in nið-sele, _q. v._) wundor, _wonder of the deep_.
l. 1368. The personal pronoun is sometimes omitted in subordinate and even independent clauses; cf. wite here; and Hunt's _Exod_., l. 319.
l. 1370. hornum. Such "datives of manner or respect" are not infrequent with adj.
l. 1371. "seleð is not dependent on ær, for in that case it would be in the subjunctive, but ær is simply an adverb, correlative with the conjunction ær in the next line: 'he will (sooner) give up his life, before he will,' etc."--Sw.
l. 1372. Cf. ll. 318 and 543 for willan with similar omitted inf.
l. 1373. heafola is found only in poetry.--Sw. It occurs thirteen or fourteen times in this poem. Cf. the poetic gamol, swât (l. 2694), etc., for eald, blôd.
l. 1391. uton: hortatory subj. of wîtan, _go_, = _let us go;_ cf. French _allons_, Lat. _eamus_, Ital. _andiamo_, etc. + inf. Cf. ll. 2649, 3102.
l. 1400. H. is dat. of person indirectly affected, = advantage.
l. 1402. geatolîc probably = _in his equipments_, as B. suggests (_Beit._ xii. 83), comparing searolîc.
ll. 1402, 1413 reproduce the wk. form of the pret. of gân (Goth, _gaggida_). Cf. _Andreas_, l. 1096, etc.
l. 1405. S. (_Beit._ ix. 140) supplies [þær heó] gegnum fôr; B. (_ibid._ xii. 14) suggests hwær heó.
l. 1411. B., Gr., and E. take ân-paðas = paths wide enough for only one, like Norwegian _einstig_; cf. stîge nearwe, just above. _Trail_ is the meaning. Cf. enge ânpaðas, uncûð gelâd, _Exod._ (Hunt), l. 58.
l. 1421. Cf. oncýð, l. 831. The whole passage (ll. 1411-1442) is replete with suggestions of walrus-hunting, seal-fishing, harpooning of sea-animals (l. 1438), etc.
l. 1425. E. quotes from the 8th cent. Corpus Gloss., "_Falanx_ foeða."
l. 1428. For other mention of nicors, cf. ll. 422, 575, 846. E. remarks, "it survives in the phrase 'Old Nick' ... a word of high authority ... Icel. _nykr_, water-goblin, Dan. _nök, nisse_, Swed. _näcken_, G. _nix, nixe_, etc." See Skeat, _Nick._
l. 1440. Sw. reads gehnæged, _prostrated_, and regards nîða as gen. pl. "used instrumentally," = _by force._
l. 1441. -bora = _bearer, stirrer;_ occurs in other compds., as mund-, ræd-, wæg-bora.
l. 1447. him = _for him_, a remoter dative of reference.--Sw.
l. 1455. Gr. reads brondne, = _flaming_.
l. 1457. león is the inf. of lâh; cf. onlâh (< onleón) at l. 1468. lîhan was formerly given as the inf.; cf. læne = læhne.
l. 1458. Cf. the similar dat. of possession as used in Latin.
l. 1458. H.-So. compares the Icelandic saga account of Grettir's battle with the giant in the cave. häft-mêce may be = Icel. _heptisax_ (_Anglia_, iii. 83), "hip-knife."
l. 1459. "The sense seems to be 'pre-eminent among the old treasures.' ... But possibly foran is here a prep. with the gen.: 'one before the old treasures.'".--Sw. For other examples of foran, cf. ll. 985, 2365.
l. 1460. âter-teárum = _poison-drops_ (C., _Beit._ viii. 571; S., _ibid_. xi. 359).