This text is the “Notes” volume accompanying Selections from Early Middle English, Project Gutenberg e-text 26413.
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ǣ ē ẹ etc. (vowels with less common diacritics)
ἅπ. λεγ. (Greek)
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Preface
I. Worcester Fragments (A)
I. Worcester Fragments (B, C)
II. Saint Godric’s Hymns
III. The Peterborough Chronicle
IV. Charter of Henry the Second
V. A Parable
VI. The Proverbs of Alfred
VII. Memento Mori
VIII. Poema Morale
IX. Ancrene Wisse
A. The Seven Deadly Sins
B. The Outer Rule
X. In Diebus Dominicis
XI. Hic Dicendum est de Propheta
XII. Sermons for Palm Sunday and Easter Day
XIII. Vices and Virtues
XIV. Laȝamon
XV. Orm
XVI. Sawles Warde
XVII. Saint Katherine
XVIII. The Orison of our Lady
XIX. Saint Juliana
XX. The Owl and the Nightingale
XXI. The Bestiary
XXII. Genesis and Exodus
XXIII. Kentish Sermons
Thematic Index (added by transcriber)
SELECTIONS FROM
EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH
1130-1250
EDITED WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES
BY
JOSEPH HALL
M.A., Hon. D.Litt., Durham University
PART II: NOTES
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
M CM XX
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK
TORONTO MELBOURNE CAPE TOWN BOMBAY
HUMPHREY MILFORD
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
The order of the vowels in the phonological sections follows Bülbring’s Altenglisches Elementarbuch, that of the consonants, Sievers’ Old English Grammar, translated by Cook. The basis of comparison is Early West Saxon. The object of these sections has been to provide collections for the interpretation of the teacher. In accidence Sievers has been followed generally, but Zupitza’s classification of the strong verbs has been adopted for convenience of use with Bülbring’s Geschichte der Ablaute. In the literature sections books marked with an asterisk are those which the student will find more immediately useful.
This book has been a long time in preparation; it will perhaps help to excuse some lack of uniformity if it be known that a great part of the notes was in type by the end of 1915.
J. H.
Woodstock,
January,
CORRIGENDA.
225/39. Omit stop after Orm here and elsewhere.
231/1. unseihte represents unsæht
249/8. After &c., add wart 122
250/31. Add wart
253/27. Omit comma after sc͞i
254/20. Dr. Bradley’s restoration in M. L. Review, xii. 73, þa þestreden sona þas landes, appears to me certain.
263/31. wile
266/26. ālīesednesse (but once ālȳsendnesse)
266/27. ā + w
271/13. sǣdon
312/36. After Bodleian add (D)
318/37. gēar
356/1. C 6
396/6. Add with before which
428/14. Add ia in giarked 84
428/38. tōgēanes
457/8. Add hn to n before nap
567/13. nyht, 160/185
Omit stop after Orm
superfluous . (“Orm.”) occurs 21 times in the text. Corrections are not individually noted
254/20. Dr. Bradley’s restoration ...
the reference is to the note for l. 20, i.e. line 16 of the printed page
NOTES
Abbreviations: AR Ancren Riwle, ed. Morton; Archiv [für das Studium der neueren Sprachen]; BH Blickling Homilies, ed. Morris; CM Cursor Mundi, ed. Morris; ES Englische Studien; GE Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris; HM Hali Meidenhad, ed. Cockayne; KH King Horn, ed. Hall; L Layamon, ed. Madden; NED New English Dictionary; OEH i Old English Homilies, ed. Morris First Series; OEH ii Second Series; OEM Old English Miscellany, ed. Morris; ON Owl and Nightingale, ed. Wells; PRL Political, Religious, and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, second edition; SJ St. Juliana, ed. Cockayne; SK St. Katherine, ed. Einenkel; SM St. Marherete, ed. Cockayne; VV Vices and Virtues, ed. Holthausen.
SM St. Marherete, ed. Cockayne
text unchanged: apparent error for “Margerete”
I. WORCESTER FRAGMENTS
A
Manuscript: Worcester Cathedral Library, 174. It consists of sixty-six leaves of vellum, ‘which had been cut and pasted together to form covers for a book in the Cathedral archives’ (Catalogue of the Chapter Library, ed. Floyer and Hamilton, Oxford, 1906). Its contents are (1) an incomplete copy of Ælfric’s Grammar and Glossary, used by Zupitza for his edition of the text (Berlin, 1880); (2) the scrap here marked A; (3) the pieces B and C with five more fragments of the same poem. A completes the page on which the glossary ends, and B is on the verso of the leaf. The leaves have been slightly shorn at one side and reduced at top and bottom, but probably to no great extent: the conjectural complement, which is here printed within square brackets, is for the most part fairly obvious, the more so as portions of the lost letters often remain. The whole MS. is in the same large square hand, but the pieces in verse, which are written continuously, like prose, are less carefully executed. The handwriting is of the second half of the twelfth century, perhaps about 1180 A.D. The Latin headings are not in the MS.
Editions: Phillipps, Sir T., Fragment of Ælfric’s Grammar, &c., London, 1838; Wright, T., Biographia Britannica Literaria, AS. Period, p. 59, 60, London, 1842 (omits the last four lines); Varnhagen, H., Anglia, iii. pp. 423-25.
Phonology: The scribe is mainly faithful to the orthography of his original, which was in Anglo-Saxon script (as is shown by Sipum for Ripum) and older language. He still uses the rune for w. His spelling wavers between old and new, ǣ survives in ilærde, lærden, læreþ, beside e in ilerde, weren; ea persists in wireceastre, but wincæstre, rofecæstre; the inflection is not levelled in leodan, but leoden, hoteþ, losiæþ (æ = e). Drihten represents an OE. form in i; ie is e in derne; ā is o in hoteþ, eo (= o) in leore. OE. æ + g is æi in fæire, fæier, sæiþ; e + g is ei in lorþeines; ēo + h is i in liht; ēa + h, eih in unwreih. Bocare goes back to late OE. bōcre; c is written ch in wisliche; sć [š] is still sc in sceolen.
Accidence: The def. article is s. n. neut. þet 17, 19; s. a. f. þa 5; pl. n. þeo 3, 17; pl. d. þen 19; pl. a. þeo 4. Noteworthy nouns are the mutation pl. bec 7; diȝelnesse, s. a. 5; leoden, pl. n. 3, 18, leodan, pl. a. 15 (weak forms); leore, pl. n. 17. The relatives are þe, þeo 18 (as in L 257, 2999), þet 3: the demonstrative þis, pl. n. neut. 22, þeos, pl. n. m. 15, pl. a. m. 9 (properly a sing. form): possessives, ure 9, 15, 18; heore 16. Glod 16 is a weak preterite beside strong glēow, but the cognate forms in other languages are weak, and this may be a borrowing from the Norse (NED s.v.).
French are questiuns, probably its first appearance, and feþ 23, with its peculiar monophthong (OF. feid in which d was the spirant [ð]); comp. 8/91 note.
Dialect: Middle or Western South.
Metre: Alliterative long line, of somewhat rude construction, without transitional rhymes or assonances. The alliteration extends mostly to two consonants, sometimes to three, as 5, 17; l. 16 is pure syllabic verse. The scribe sometimes misplaced the pause stop, as at 9, and sometimes omitted it.
Introduction: In this scrap, some English patriot laments the wholesale substitution of foreign prelates for English under William the Conqueror. At the end of 1070 A.D. there were only two native bishops, Wulfstan at Worcester and Siward at Rochester. This may point roughly to the time, as the preponderance of names connected with Winchester to the place, of the composition. The absence of the names of Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester (1002-1016 A.D.) and Archbishop of York (1002-1023), the author of the Homilies; of
The heading is from Numbers xxvii. 17.
2. ⁊ = and: ond apparently does not occur in the twelfth century. [writen]: Varnhagen supplies bec. Comp. ‘þa writen me beoð to icume,’ L 9131. awende. Bede translated into English the Gospel of S. John and some extracts from Isidore (Baedae Opera Historica, ed. Plummer, i. pp. lxxv, clxii).
3. ꝥ . . . þurh, by which. The preposition separated from its relative and placed with the verb is common in ME. See Anklam, Das Englische Relativ im 11. und 12. Jahrhundert, pp. 15-19, 44-6. Comp. in these texts, þet . . . bi, 72/182; inne, 84/45, 131/104; of, 38/155, 66/96, 116, 117/8, 139/11, 211/476; on, 96/53, 179/112; to, 142/75, 79, 143/98; þe . . . embe, 81/77; inne, 11/3, 4; mide, 81/79; offe, 85/84; one, 83/9, 119/73; to, 96/54; uppe, 84/71; þer . . . in, 7/59, 54/1, 147/148; of, 64/61; on, 106/210; to, 89/32; wið, 48/300. Similarly hem . . . to, 193/564; þa . . . to, 96/58.
4. C[not]ten: completed by Holthausen, Archiv, cvi. 347. Comp. ‘siȝewulf . . hine befran . . be ȝehwylcum cnottum þe he sylf ne cuþe,’ Interrogationes Sigewulfi, ed. MacLean, 58/12; ‘Ich habbe uncnut summe | of þeos cnotti cnotten,’ SK 1150, 1; and 202/168. With unwreih, comp. ‘Ac Augustinus se wisa us onwreah þas deopnysse,’ AS. Homilien, ed. Assmann, 5/103; ‘him þa toweardæn þing unwreah ⁊ swytelode,’ Twelfth Cent. Hom. 98/17; Cursor, 22445. questiuns: probably Bede’s In Libros Regum Quaestiones Triginta, answering questions put by Nothelm (Plummer, p. cli). But there appears to have been a work known as Bedae Quaestiones in utrumque Testamentum (Plummer, clv note), and there may be a reference to such of his commentaries as were replies to the queries of Acca, Bishop of Hexham. hoteþ: Wright supplies we after þe as in 6, but hoteþ may mean here ‘are called,’ though the passive sense is commoner in Central than in Early ME.
5. derne diȝelnesse. Comp. ‘Þatt dærne diȝhellnesse | Þatt writenn wass þurrh Moysæn,’ Orm 12945; and 125/296.
6. For Aelfric the Abbot see Skeat in E. E. T. S., O. S. 114, pp. xxii-xliv. The writer appears not to know his translations of Joshua, Judges, Esther, and possibly Job. His identification of Aelfric with Alcuin, who liked to call himself Albinus, is possibly due, as MacLean suggests, to the former having translated Alcuin’s Sigewulfi Interrogationes (p. 47, and Anglia, vi. pp. 463, 4).
7. bocare. Comp. ‘Beda, se mæra bocere,’ AS. Hom., ed. Assmann, 22/210. [fif]: supplied by Varnhagen.
8. Vtronomius: probably a blunder, but possibly an original attempt at abbreviation. Or the writer may have had in mind the explanation given in De Mirabilibus Sacrae Scripturae, ‘Deuteronomium, hoc est, iterationem Legis,’ S. Augustini Op., iii. App. p. 13a. Observe that he places the title next to Exodus; he would know from Jerome’s preface that it means ‘secunda lex.’ Numerus: so Ælfric, ‘on Lyden Numerus and on Englisc Getel,’ Grein’s Prosa, i. p. 179.
10. þet weren. Comp. for the singular of the demonstrative, 80/35: ‘Soðlice ða eagan þæt bioð ða lareowas, & se hrycg þæt sint ða hiremenn,’ Gregory’s Pastoral Care, ed. Sweet, 28/12; ‘hwet beoð þas vii ȝeate? Det beoð ure egan,’ OEH i. 127/29. Sometimes the verb also is singular, as at 76/8. Similarly hit, it, 117/13, 190/450. bodeden: this verb usually takes an acc. as here, so 15/86; ‘bodian þa soðen ileafen,’ OEH i. 97/31; but ‘bodiende umbe godes riche,’ id. 95/19.
11. Wilfrid, Bishop of York, d. 709. Ripum: Ripon; Beda’s Inhrypum (Plummer, i. 183, ii. 104). Johan of beoferlai, Bishop of York, d. 721. He is commonly associated with the foundation of a monastery at Beverley in Yorkshire, but see Memorials of Beverley Minster, Surtees Society, 1898, pp. xv-xix. Beverley is Beoforlic in AS. Chron. MS. D 721 (but written about 1070 A.D.); Beoferlic in MS. E; Bevrelie in Domesday (see Stolze, Zur Lautlehre der AE. Ortsnamen im Domesday Book, p. 28, and Zachrisson, Anglo-Norman Influence on English Place-Names, p. 152). Cuþb[ert], Cudberct, Bishop of Lindisfarne, d. 687. Dunholm occurs in AS. Chron. MS. D 1056 as the oldest name; Durham descends from AN. Dureme. The episcopal mint from Beke 1283 A.D. to Langley 1437 A.D. has Dunholm, Dunelm, and Dureme indifferently. The seal of Richard de Marisco (1217-1226) has Dunholmensis. Comp. Zachrisson, 133-5. Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, 962-91, Archbishop of York, 972-91, d. 992 (see Keller, pp. 11-21). For Latin books attributed to him, see Wright, Biographia, i. pp. 466, 7. Worcester in AS. Charters is Wigeran or Wiogeran Ceaster, also Wigernaceaster, Wigraceaster; in Domesday, Wirecestre. Egwin, Bishop of the Hwiccas, i.e. see of Worcester; founder of the Abbey of Evesham, d. 717 A.D. For works attributed to him, see Wright, Biographia, i. p. 227. heoueshame: in Domesday Evesham; in the foundation charter Egwin writes, ‘In quo loco (i.e. Ethomme) quum beata Virgo Maria cuidam pastori gregum, Eoves nomine, comparuisset (ob cujus viri sanctitatem eundem locum Eoveshamiam nuncupavi),’ Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham, ed. Macray, p. 18. æl[dhelm], Abbot of Malmesbury and Bishop of Sherborne, d. 709 A.D. (Plummer’s Bede, ii. pp. 308, 9). William of Malmesbury says in his Gesta Pontificum, p. 336, ‘nativae quoque linguae non negligebat carmina; adeo ut, teste libro Elfredi . . . nulla umquam aetate par ei fuerit quisquam.’ He is said to have translated the Psalms. Swiþþun, Bishop of Winchester, d. 862. æþelwold, pupil of S. Dunstan, Abbot of Abingdon, Bishop of Winchester, 963, d. 984 A.D. In the Latin Life by Ælfric as revised by Wulfstan, it is recorded, ‘Dulce namque erat ei adolescentes et iuvenes semper docere, et latinos libros anglice eis solvere,’ Acta Sanctorum, August, i. p. 94. His translation of the Rule of S. Benedict was edited by Schröer in the Bibliothek der AS. Prosa, ii. Kassel, 1885-8. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, d. 651. Biern: Birinus, Bishop of Winchester, d. 650. The spelling with ie appears to be analogic with the i-umlaut in such words as ierre, and so to belong to the scribe’s original. wincæstre: in the Chronicle, anno 744, Wintanceaster; Venta Civitas in Bede. [Pau]lin, Paulinus, the Missionary Bishop of York, and, after 634 A.D., Bishop of Rochester, seems more likely than the less-known Cuichelm,
15. on englisc, repeating 9. The writer does not mean that all these produced works in English, but only to contrast them with French-speaking clerics.
16. Comp. ‘Si ergo lumen, quod in te est, tenebrae sunt, ipsae tenebrae quantae erunt?’ S. Matt. vi. 23.
17. nu is: so Wright and Varnhagen, but read nu beoþ; for beo lore, those teachings, is plural.
19. lorþeines, teachers, apparently an ἅπ. λεγ., of which the second element represents OE. þegn, servant, disciple. Comp. the usual ‘larþawes,’ 15/82, ‘lorþeu,’ 20/68, ‘lorþeawes,’ 84/61, ‘larðewes,’ OEH ii. 41/28 (OE. *lārðēowas), ‘lareaw,’ OEH i. 241/21 (OE. lārēow). losiæþ, in the rarer intransitive use, perish. Comp. ‘ꝥ þa men ne losien, þe on him ilyfæð,’ Twelfth Cent. Hom. 2/31, 34/1, 38/23; ‘þenne losiað fele saulen,’ OEH i. 117/18. forþ mid, together with, also with, here in the rare adverbial use. Comp. ‘þenne losiað fele saulen ⁊ he seolf forð mid for his ȝemeleste,’ OEH i. 117/18; ‘& him seolf þer forð mide,’ L 608. It is common as a preposition, as at 40/176, 77/55, 195/611; ‘his þenegas forð mid him þe he þyder brohte,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 528/645; ‘forswoleȝeð þene hoc forð mid þan ese,’ OEH i. 123/11.
20. ‘Sicut aquila provocans ad volandum pullos suos, et super eos volitans, expandit alas suas, et assumpsit eum, atque portavit in humeris suis,’ Deut. xxxii. 11, spoken of God’s care and training of his people. See Bozon, Contes Moralisés, p. 60, for an elaborate application of the text.
22. to worlde asende. Comp. ‘fram Gode hider on world sended,’ BH 209/23.
23. [festen &c.]. Comp. 190/438, 10/154. The sense required is, That we should put our full trust in him.
Editions: ... London, 1842 (omits the last four lines);
text has : for ;
6. For Aelfric the Abbot see Skeat in E. E. T. S., O. S. 114
E.E.T.S., O.S. without spaces
11. ... Ælfric as revised by Wulfstan
Wulstan: spelling “Wulfstan” used everywhere else
20. ... Contes Moralisés, p. 60
Moralises
B, C
Manuscript: As for A, p. 223.
Editions: Phillipps, as above; Singer, S. W., The Departing Soul’s Address to the Body, London, 1845; Haufe, E., Die Fragmente der Rede der Seele an den Leichnam, Gryphiswaldiae, 1880; Buchholz, R., Die Fragmente der Reden der Seele an den Leichnam, Erlangen, 1889; afterwards enlarged in *Erlanger Beiträge, ii. 6. 1890.
Literature: (1) of the Worcester Fragment. Haufe, E., Anglia, iv. 237 (emendations); Holthausen, F., Anglia, xiv. 321 (emendations); Kaluza, M., Litteraturblatt, ii. 92; *Zupitza, J., Archiv, lxxxv. 78 (review of Buchholz). (2) of the Desputisoun. Heesch, G., Language and Metre, Kiel, 1884; Holthausen, F., Anglia, Beiblatt, iii. 302; Kaluza, M., Litteraturblatt, xii. 12; *Kunze, O., Critical Text, Berlin, 1892; Linow, W., Erlangen, 1889, edition enlarged in Erlanger Beiträge, i. 1. 1889; Mätzner, E., AE. Sprachproben, i. 90-103; Varnhagen, H., Anglia, ii. 225-52; Zupitza, J., Archiv, lxxxv. 84. (3) of the Legend in general. *Batiouchkof, Th., Romania, xx. 236; Bruce, J. D., Modern Language Notes, v. col. 385-401; Dudley, Louise, The Egyptian Elements in the Legend of the Body and Soul, Bryn Mawr, 1911; id. An Early Homily on the ‘Body and Soul’ Theme, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, April, 1909; Gaidoz, H., Revue Celtique, x. 463-70; Kleinert, G., Halle, 1880; Paris, Gaston, Romania, ix. 311-14; Varnhagen, H., Anglia, ii. 225, iii. 569; *Zupitza, J., Archiv, xci. 369.
Phonology: For an account dealing with all the seven fragments see Buchholz: what follows is based on the two here printed, with references, where necessary, to his text of the other five.
Oral a is a, so ac, farene, habban: a before nasals usually o, as from, mon, but a in licame (wavering characteristic of the Middle South): a before lengthening groups is o, as honden, imong, longe, psalm-songe. æ is a after w, as was, watere D 12, but nes D 19; otherwise e, as crefte, þene (OE. þænne), þet, but the traditional spelling survives in æt, æfter D 42, goldfæten, igædered, gæderedest (OE. gæderian), þæs, wræcche (OE. wræcca), wrænches G 48 (OE. *wrænc). Messe is a French loan-word. e is regularly e, as bedde, heui, met, þenchen, wel, &c., but i in siggen F 7, siggeþ G 34 (characteristic of South-East and Kent). i is regularly i, as him, nimen, willæn; it is u after w in nulleþ, wulleþ C 35; but i in wihte D 3, nowiht D 19. o is regularly o, as bodeþ, iboren, sorhliche; before nasal, onȝean C 6; after w, woldest D 50, noldest, iwurþen F 46; but a in aȝan C 18. eo is written for o in feorþsiþ. œ (o + i) is eo in seoruhfule, seorhful, seoruhliche, &c., neose. u is regularly u, as biwunden, cumeþ, ful, tunge, &c., but o in iworþen F 45 after w. y is u, as ifulled, ikunde, lutiȝ, sunne, ufel, wunne, wurmes, but y is preserved in synne F 33: iflut 2/30 is Scandinavian, OWScand. flytja; drihtenes 4/33, kinges E 39 descend from OE. forms in i.
ā is normally o, as bon, loc, more, sor,
ea, breaking of a before r + consonant is ea, earfeþsiþ, eart, scearp, æ in ært 4/16, e in ert D 15, scerpe F 29, imerked G 39; no examples of a. It is ea before lengthening cons. groups, earde, bearn. The i-umlaut of ea (WS. ie) is e in all cases, scerpeþ, erming D 18, yerde bidernan F 6. ea, breaking of a before l + cons. is a, alle, also, scalt, wale G 2 (wealh): before lengthening groups normally o, colde, coldeþ, itolde, holden G 32, 45, iwold C 8, isold D 38, monifolde, but e, heldan C 35. The i-umlaut is seen in wældeþ, 4/41. eo, breaking of e before r + consonant, is eo, heorte D 49 and o herborwen C 23: after w also eo, andweorke F 42, OE. handgeweorc, and e, werke D 30: the group weor, in LWS wur, has u, iwurþe F 45, wurþe G 25, unwerþ 4/37, o, beworpen D 12; before lengthening groups eo, yeorne, eorþe C 5. The i-umlaut of eo, which after w had already become y in OE. is here u, wurþest, deorwurþe, wurst D 30, wurþliche G 36. eo before l + consonant gives u in sulfen C 27, suluen F 28 (already sylf in LWS). eo, u-umlaut of e, is eo in heouene; å-umlaut of e is eo in freome, feole, weolen (Bülbring, § 234); u- and å-umlaut of i is eo, seouene, seoþþen. libbe 2/13 is OE. libban. ea, palatal diphthong, is ea, eæ in isceaft F 35, isceæftan; a in schal, scal. ie after g is e, ȝerde, biȝete C 13 (Bülbring, § 151 n.), i in ȝiuen 4/21. eo < WG. o after sc is o in scorteþ, scoldest C 28, but eo in sceoldest G 42. eo < u is u, onscunedest, sculen C 38. OE. heom is heom and ham C 18; eom, eam, am F 14.
ēa is normally ea, deaþ, heafod, bereaued, seaþe E 8, &c., but æ in dædan 3/42, beræfed C 7, sæþe, and e, birefedest G 12. The i-umlaut of ēa is e, alesed, iheren E 26, semdest 4/18, &c. (Bülbring, § 183 n.); and u, huned D 47 (WS. ȳ). ēo is normally eo, beoþ, teoreþ, leoflic, freonden, &c. Its i-umlaut does not occur; deore C 47, neowe C 29, neode F 5, retain eo (Bülbring, § 189, anm. 1). īe is e in isene, E 40; yet C 2.
a + g is usually aw, as in dawes 2/14, gnawen C 42, mawe C 49, but the older deaȝes survives 3/40. æ + g is normally ei, iseid, but isæid G 19, and once dai E 13. e + g is ei, ileide: weile 4/19 may represent OE. weg lā (see Björkman, Scandinavian Loan-Words, 51). OE. ongegn is onȝean C 6, aȝan C 18. o + g is ow, bowe C 4, forhoweþ: o + h, douhter G 31, wrouhte E 16, but wrohten D 25: u + ȝ, fuweles 4/42: y + h, tuhte E 22. ā + g is ow in owen C 45, sidwowes C 30: ā + h is seen in ohtest C 8, ahte E 2, 29 (a survival). ǣ + g is eiȝ, iseiȝe D 8, leiȝe D 11, keiȝe F 16; ei in clei: ǣ + h, aeihte 3/13, bitæiht G 52. ē + g, sweiȝe E 24. ō + g, h, inouh, unifouh D 39, souhte, ibrouht. ū + h is seen in þuþte 3/12 (= þuhte). ea + ht, becomes ei, istreiht, unseihte D 45. eo + h (LWS i) has i in riht; the i-umlaut is represented by besihþ 3/45. ēa + g, eiȝen, heiȝe E 39, but eȝen 3/42 and heie G 40: ēa + h is eih in neih, heih G 42, but þauh G 27. ēo + g, dreiȝen G 6, but driæn 4/36, written for drien, is due to the scribe and may be Mercian; ifreoed 4/28 is noteworthy. ā + w is usually ow, sowle C 2, blowen E 32, nowiht D 19, but soule, nouht. ō + w, touward F 29, but reoweþ C 45. ēa + w, strau D 14. ēo + w, usually eow, cneow C 27, icneowe C 27, þeow, þeowdome, but reouliche F 19, heou G 22.
In the vowels of final syllables, levelling has generally taken place, but a few older forms, isceæftan, heafod, dædan, cumaþ, biddan, offrian, weolan, remain from the original MS. In lufedæst, willæn, driæn, &c., æ is written for e. The prefix ge is represented by i.
The consonants present little of note. OE. nā māra becomes one word with doubled m and shortened a in nammore 3/34 (comp. wumme 2/13 note). farene 4/28, with n for nn, is exceptional. OE. ǣfre is æffre 2/14, so næffre C 6, but æfre 3/3. For f between two vowels u is generally written, bereaued 2/22, but beræfedest E 20. In mænet 2/7 t is French writing for þ: schal 2/9 is isolated, sc [š] is the rule, as in onscunedest 3/3: k is written mostly before e and ie, while ȝ is used initially for the palatal (y in yield) and between vowels, once finally in lutiȝ 3/2 where the original probably had lutiȝe; g in other cases and mostly in combination with consonants. For cw, French qu is used once in quale 4/42.
Accidence: The ā and jā stems add e in the nom., blisse 3/8, bote 3/11, seoruwe 3/8, sowle 2/28, soule 3/45, modinesse 3/4, accusatives are hwule 3/1, lore 4/29, soule 2/9, sunne 4/22, Godnesse 3/3. The g. of strong nouns ends in -es, the d. in -e, the pl. n. a. of Masculines in -es; of
The predicative adjective often shows strong declension, as grædie 3/13, fuse 4/15, ikunde 3/32; but heui 2/15, leas, lutiȝ 3/2, loþ 4/37, &c., and the adjs. in ig are not inflected. Inflected attributives are deope 4/40, s. d. m., muchele 2/23, s. d. f.; durelease 4/40, s. d. neut.; seoruhfulne 4/19, s. a. m.; alle 4/37, pl. d. m., &c. The termination of the weak declension is -e in all cases, as seoruhfule 2/8, s. a. m.; reade 4/27, s. d. neut.; dimme 3/42, pl. a. neut.
The pronoun of the third person has pl. d. ham, heom. The def. art. is s. n. þe- þeo- þat, d. m. þen, a. þene- þeo- þat, pl. n. þeo- þa -þa, þeo, þe. The relative is s. þet, s. and pl. þe, þeo, pl. only þa.
The terminations of the verb are inf. -en (but driæn, offrian); ind. pr., e -est (contr. list 4/38), -eþ (but cumaþ 3/44, mænet 2/6); contr. sæiþ 2/13, biþ 2/22, met 3/33, liþ 3/36; pl. -eþ. Come 3/11 is 2 pr. s. subj. Ind. pt. of weak verbs, s. -de, -dest (but lufedæst 3/4), -de; part. pt. -ed, d, t in ibrouht 4/39, part. pr. -inde, ende. Strong pasts are ȝeat 4/27, beden 3/11, 4/21, seten 3/10; part. pt.; iboren 2/6, &c.
Dialect: The Dialect is Southern, outside the Kentish area, and probably Middle South, with forms deriving from a Saxon patois. The poem may have been written, as the preceding piece probably was, in or near Winchester. The orthography belongs to two distinct stages of development, the later showing the copyist’s practice towards the end of the twelfth century, the more primitive being that of the original, which may have been fifty or sixty years earlier. The phonetic position of the scribe is in some respects more advanced than that of the Layamon MS. A.
Metre: Alliterative long line of loose construction mixed with rhymed syllabic verse. Occasionally four consonants alliterate, 2/6, 4/41, but usually three 2/5, 8, or two 2/4, 23. Crossed alliteration of consonants occurs at 2/16, 22, 27; 4/32, of consonant and vowels at 2/17; vowel alliteration at 4/37. At 2/4, read ⁊ lif ⁊ soule · him on ileide; at 3/11, bote come. The rhymes are sometimes perfect, as at 2/15, 25; 3/6, 8; 4/15, 27, 44, but assonances like lif : siþ 2/29; wif : siþ 3/43; dome : lore 4/29, and partial correspondences of sound like crefte : idihte 2/3; bedde : libbe 2/13; honden : wenden 3/38; modinesse : lufedæst 3/4; wæde : lufedest 3/9 are valid for this transitional verse. Sometimes alliteration and rhyme are combined, as at 2/3, 10 (read weopinde cumeþ), 3/4. Lines without either alliteration or rhyme must be regarded as corrupt. We may perhaps read semeþ for þuncheþ 3/39; riht ⁊ godnesse 3/3; beden þe fore 4/21: icwemen woldest for icwemdest ær 4/42. Compare the section on metre in the introduction to No. vi.
Introduction: This poem, in which, after an introduction on the miseries of birth and death, a lost soul reproaches the body it has just left, represents the original type of one of the most popular subjects of the Middle Ages. The idea is ancient, for Kunze, p. 3, quotes a passage from a treatise ascribed to Plutarch, and Linow, p. 2, another from the Talmud, which contain it in the germ. But as it is used in Christian literature, it originated in Alexandria under the influence of Egyptian conceptions of death and the unseen world. In England before the Conquest it had inspired (1) the poem printed in Grein-Wülker, ii. 92-105 from the Exeter and Vercelli MSS., in which a lost soul speaks; (2) the fragment from the latter MS., in which a blessed soul consoles the waiting body, id. 105-7; (3) the homily printed in Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, ed. Thorpe, ii. 396-400 (8vo ed.); (4) the homily in Wulfstan, ed. Napier, 140, 1. Versions 3 and 4 are based on a Latin original represented by an eleventh-century text, which is printed by Batiouchkof in Romania, xx. 576-8, comp. Zupitza in Archiv, xci. 369. This Latin prose text professes to be the relation of a vision by a monk to Macarius of Alexandria (d. 393 A.D.), and it, according to Batiouchkof, is based on earlier Greek legends wherein Macarius is himself the dreamer. The homily (5) printed in Angelsächsische Homilien, ed. Assmann, Kassel, 1889, p. 167, and (6) that published by Zupitza, Archiv, xci. 379, are independent of the Latin original just mentioned, and they have been influenced by the Judgment Day literature. The former contains addresses of a lost and a saved soul to their respective bodies on the Judgment Day, the homily (6) has only the latter.
After the Conquest, contemporary with (7) the Worcester Fragment, there is (8) the Oxford Fragment printed by Buchholz, p. 11. The theme is again treated in (9) the twelfth-century homily, De Sancto Andrea, OEH ii. 181, 3, which preserves as a quotation one line of its Latin original, see 4/19 note. Closely related to the last three versions is (10) the passage in the thirteenth-century poem printed in OEM p. 173, ll. 65-216. In (11) the Desputisoun bitwen þe Bodi and þe Soule, ed. Linow, based on the Latin Visio Philiberti, the matter is thrown into debat form for the first time in English. The Vision of Fulbert is again adapted in (12) the fifteenth-century poem printed by Halliwell, Early English Miscellanies (Warton Club), p. 12. Shorter passages in ME. literature, as OEM 83/331-6, Böddeker, Altengl. Dicht., 235-43 are fairly numerous.
The position of the Worcester Fragment among this literature is not easy to define. It appears to form a group with 8 and 10, to which 9, though too scanty to permit of an assured judgment, may be admitted. They probably descend from a lost Latin original. Our author may indeed have been acquainted with the oldest English version (1) and have drawn thence the leading ideas for his poem. If so, he treated them with much originality, for there is a wide difference between the austere simplicity and concentrated energy of the older composition and his diffuse and picturesque style, which
The lacunae in the text were mostly filled up by Singer. It seemed unnecessary to assign to each editor his contributions to this complement, much of which is obvious. For [fei]ge 2/30 and foot-note, read [fei]ȝe.
The heading is from the Book of Job, xxv. 6.
1. en earde is probably the remnant of on middenearde; elsewhere the writer uses eorþe for the uncompounded word.
2. And all the created things which pertain to it, i.e. to the earth. With isceæftan comp. ‘He iscop þurh þene sune alle isceafte,’ Frag. F 47, 34/84, 130/80, 139/17, 187/356. For the position of to comp. on, 2/4; fore 4/21, 23; 96/53, 54, mostly with relative pronouns. [s]cu[l]en, the tops of long s and l are cut off, as also those of h and f in the next line. It is not an auxiliary verb with ellipsis of a verb of motion (H., B.); it has independent meaning as in ‘Þas wyrte sculon to (= are proper for) lungen sealfe,’ Leechdoms, iii. 16/6.
3. [þe]ne. Singer’s þonne, then, next, adopted by H., may be right.
4. Comp. ‘se us lif forgeaf | Leomu lic and gæst,’ Christ, 775, 6, for which Grau, Quellen . . . der älteren germ. Darstellungen des jüngsten Gerichtes, p. 39, gives as source the poem ascribed to S. Cyprian, De resurrectione mortuorum, ‘Qui sibi conplacitum hominem formavit in aevum, | Hanc manibus caram dilexit fingere formam | Decoramque suam voluit inesse figuram, | Spiritu vivificam adflavit vultibus auram,’ Opera, ed. Hartel, iii. App. 310/51, 57-9. ileide on, put into, a meaning apparently without a parallel; perhaps, entrusted to.
5. Softliche, painlessly. isom[nede]. H. completed Singer’s isom[ne]. sor idol, a painful parting; comp. l. 8.
6. ꝥ = þet; see 3/43. The child by crying at its birth predicts the sorrowful separation of soul and body at death; comp. 2/23-28; ‘Þæt cild, þe bið acænned, sona hit cyð mid wope | ⁊ þærrihte witegað þissere worulde geswinc | ⁊ þa toweardan costnunga,’ AS. Hom. ed. Assmann, 77/126-8; ‘Quotquot nascuntur, vox illis prima doloris: | Incipit a fletu vivere quisquis homo,’ S. Anselm, p. 199, col. 2 b; ‘Omnis homo cum dolore mundum ingreditur, cum dolore iterum egreditur. Mox natus plorat, quia laborem et dolorem sibi futurum pronunciat,’ Honorius Augustod. Migne, P. L. clxxii, col. 1083.
7. The line is too short, but Buchholz’s conjecture is too long for the gap. Perhaps the original had hit woaneþ ⁊ weopeþ · ⁊ mænet þeo weowe.
8. B. translates siþ here and at 2/16 by ‘weg’; rather lot, experience, as in ‘wa heom þæs siðes þe hi men wurdon,’ Wulfstan, 27/3; ‘minegede alle his wrecche siðes, þe he þolede on þis wrecche worelde,’ OEH ii. 169/8; ‘weop for hire wei-sið | wanede hire siðes; ꝥ heo wæs on liues,’ L 25846-8. For compounds with siþ see 2/27. sori, not ‘schmerzlich,’ B, but mournful, sad.
9. Haufe’s completion is based on l. 28, where the verb is intransitive, but the construction is supported by, ‘for þat he deleð þe sowle; and þe lichame, þanne he wit of þisse woreld,’ OEH ii. 7/3. But the usual construction is seen in ‘gif he þurh ferliche deð; saule fro þe lichame deleð,’ id. 61/31, and it would be better to read [fro li] came here, for the position of ⁊ is awkward. Another construction is shown in ‘wið þone lichaman seo sawle gedælan,’ AS. Hom., ed. Assmann, 164/17.
10. weopinde ⁊ woniende, so, ‘wop and woninge,’ VV 17/32; see 42/231 note.
11. Haufe’s completion is too short, Singer’s too long, for the gap. For [swo], stressed form, comp. 3/4.
12. he, i.e. licame. walkeþ ⁊ wendeþ, tosses and turns in his bed. [oftes]iþes H. followed by B., who afterwards expressed his preference for [þe weas]iþes, based on ‘ȝet ic wulle þe ætwi[ten þ]e weasiþes,’ Frag. G 7. Singer read [his si]þes.
13. wo me, though written as one, are separate words; coalesced they become wumme; comp. 121/133; ‘wumme ꝥ ich libbe,’ SJ 72/5; ‘wumme ꝥ ich shal wunien on uncuðe erde,’ OEH ii. 149/10; ‘wel me,’ 210/441.
15. greoning . . . woaning: comp. 2/25; 196/662; ‘Heo woneþ ⁊ groneþ day and nyht,’ OEM 152/187.
16. biwunden. See 2/27, 79/13, 81/79, and for similar phrases comp. ‘swo faste bunden ⁊ swo biwunde þarinne,’ OEH ii. 11/9; ‘mid sorȝen ibunden,’ L 12635; ‘mid sorinesse bistonden,’ OEH ii. 147/26, 181/1.
17-21. Comp. ‘Hyse eres shullen dewen, | & his eyen shullen dymmen, | & his nese shal sharpen, | & his skyn shal starken,’ PRL 253/3-6, and the similar piece OEM 101/1. An adaptation of the last quoted line has been inserted at l. 19 to restore the alliteration. For him, comp. 80/47. deaueþ, become deaf, a rare meaning, but paralleled in the quotation above. OE. ā-dēafian has that meaning; see Deave, NED. So too scerpeþ, l. 18, grows sharp, usually means to make sharp.
19. scorteþ. Comp. ‘[þin] tunge is ascorted,’ Frag. G, l. 9. The phrase appears to be without parallel: the corresponding texts have, ‘And þi tunge voldeþ,’ OEM 101/4; ‘& his tonge shal stameren, oþer famelen,’ PRL 253/8.
20. teoreþ, flags, droops. Comp. ‘Ðin mægn is aterod · and þa mihte þu næfst,’ Ælfric, Lives, i. 86/611.
21. [siden]. S reads heorte, H muþ; something more extensive is wanted, and sides is often used vaguely for body (see passages in Minot, i. 15 note). liggeþ . . . stille occurs again, Frag. E 11, otherwise one might be tempted to conjecture, liggeþ he stan stille, as in Minot, ii. 32, with improved alliteration.
23. at, as in ‘beræfed | At þene eorþliche weole,’ Frag. C 7, 8. So L, ‘biræiuie hine at liue,’ MS. C 9205: it is the usual construction in the older version (but simple dat. in ‘biræfued þan liue,’ 15283), while MS. O has regularly of. With the meaning seize it takes the acc., ‘he biræuede mine æhte,’ MS. C 8801. also, an emphasized so, quite so, all the: comp. al = entirely, 2/29.
26, 27. So . . . so, even as, even so. feorþsiþ: comp. 135/117, 3/41, 24/189, 119/74: similar combinations are ‘balesið,’ L 567; ‘fæisið,’ L 3731; ‘houdsiþ,’ ON 1586; ‘sorhsiðes,’ L 11109; ‘vnsiþ,’ ON 1164; ‘wosið,’ OEH ii. 209/3; ‘wræc-sið,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 538/808.
29. This line is repeated with variations as a sort of refrain, Frag. C 15, 37; D 9, 16, 42; F 19.
30. iflut, transferred from the bed to ashes laid on the floor in the form of a cross. Comp. ‘Sori is the fore | Fram bedde to the flore,’ Rel. Ant. i. 160; ‘on flore licgende, bestreowod mid axum, on stiðre hǽran,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. ii. 516/30; ‘Postremo redimens
31. eastward. Burial with the feet to the east was formerly the usual practice (Rock, ii. p. 473), but the eastward placing of the dying man is a detail which I cannot illustrate.
32. [col]deþ. Zupitza’s conjecture fits the place, gives a good meaning, and accords with l. 36, but the usual phrase is seen in ‘þei clungin so þe cley,’ Archiv, xcvii, 309/17; ‘As a clot of clay þou were for-clonge,’ Hymns to the Virgin, 13/31; ‘ant clyngeþ so þe clay,’ Böddeker, AE. Dichtungen, 211/17; ‘The clot him clinge,’ M. L. Review, V. p. 105. hit is him ikunde. Comp. 154/85; ‘Nes hit þe nowiht icunde þet þu icore[n] hefdest | Nes hit icunde þe more þen þine cunne biuoren þe,’ Frag. D 19, 20; ‘unfæger, swa him gecynde wæs,’ AS. Hom., ed. Assmann, 176/208; ‘Ah nim þu þene kine-halm; he is þe icunde,’ L 18158, 22004, 23196; VV 57/28.
34, 35. Comp. ‘Now schaltow haue at al þi siþe | Bot seuen fet, vnneþe þat,’ Desputisoun, 91, 2.
36. Comp. ‘Nu lið þe clei-clot | al so þe ston,’ OEM 172/73, 4.
37. þeo he, those to whom he. With 37-40 comp. 4/15, 16, 37; 32/34; ‘& he þonne se deada byð úneaþe ælcon men on neaweste to hæbbenne,’ BH 59/14; ‘& se man næfre toðon leof ne bið his nehmagum & his worldfreondum, ne heora nan hine to þæs swiþe ne lufað ꝥ he sona syþþan ne sý onscungend, seoþþan se lichoma & se gast gedælde beoþ, & þincð his neawist laþlico & unfæger,’ id. 111/27-30; ‘Alle his frendes he shal beo loþ. | And helud shal ben wiþ a cloþ,’ PRL 253/1, 2. freome dude. Comp. ‘him to fremen and do frame,’ GE 173: and see 176/24, 186/323.
38. riht wen[den], set straight.
41. The copyist has allowed his eye to wander to the very similar line 43 and has transferred the second half of it here, to the exclusion of something like þe woneþ þe feorþsiþ.
43. [þon]ne. The last half of n and e are in the MS. riche is probably a mistake for wrecche, as S. suggests.
44. For love turns miserably into an evil under the stroke of misfortune. To have loved and lost is an evil thing.
45. besihþ . . . to, contemplates; comp. 124/249 note. Zupitza quotes, ‘When þe gost it schuld go, | It biwent ⁊ wiþstode, | Biheld þe bodi þat it com fro,’ Desputisoun, 9-11. Comp. ‘cum educerent eam (i.e. animam) de corpore commonuerunt eam angeli tercio, dicentes: O misera anima, prospice carnem tuam unde existi,’ Visio Pauli, Texts and Studies, ii. 3. 18/7.