Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. Part 2: Notes

Chapter XX: Part 20

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(2) =Of J.= The few divergences are briefly indicated. Nouns: eyen _pl. n._ 75, song _s. n._ 259; adjectives: vuele _s. a. neut. wk._ 8, iliche _s. n. f. str._ 235, o _a. s. f._ 403, non _s. d. m._ 168, icundere _s. n. neut._ 85 (unmetrical), beter _s. n. m. str._ 330, 331. The pronoun of the first person is often ic 245, 385; vr _pl. g._ 141; heo _s. n. m._ 23, 280, 375, 394, he _s. n. f._ 19, hi _pl. n._ 76, my _s. a. m._ 36, þi _s. a. m._ 264, þin _s. d. m._ 125, þine _s. d. f._ 383, eure _s. d. m._ 379; þe _s. n. f._ 26, þon _s. d. neut._ 350; þisse _s. d. neut._ 437, þeos _s. a. f._ 133; oþres _s. g._ 9, 11. Tellest 226, biholdeð 30, helpeð 127 are not syncopated; wenest 231, hateþ, luuyeþ 186, abit 421; wite 2 _pr. s. subj._ 318, unwryen _pp._ 118 (#wrigen#), vnne 1 _pr. s._ 382, beo _inf._ 198; beon _pr. pl. subj._ 137. Noteworthy are muchele _adv._ 413, ne conjunction 74, than.

#Vocabulary:# French are acorde 137, afoled 162, castel 131, certes 412, clerkes clerekes 340, 347, fals 166, gente 160, granti graunti 157 (the latter Anglo-French), grucching 301, ipeint 76, kanunes 347, maister maistre 147, 421, pes pays 373 (the former phonetic, the latter traditional spelling), plait plaid 5, 380, plaidi 140, plaiding 12, rente 410, schirme 222, possibly crei 251. Scandinavian are ilete lete 281, 358, 35, ille 299, lah(fulnesse) 384, nai 202, skentinge 324, sckile 142, þoȝ 220, wronge 152, possibly wailawai 176 and wise 54, if it means song. Noteworthy is the large number of expressive words bearing a popular stamp, such as clackes, clechest, crempe, galegale, misrempe, snepe, spale, totose, ȝollest, ȝoȝelinge.

#Dialect:# The poem was presumably written in Dorsetshire and so in the dialect of the Middle South; the evidence of the rhymes confirms this. But in its present form there are considerable traces of Anglian influence, and these, as appearing equally in both manuscripts, may be set down to the transcriber of their common exemplar or to one of his predecessors.

#Introduction:# There has been a wide difference of opinion as to the time when ON was written, but the weight of recent authority is in favour of a date somewhere about A.D. 1220. The references in the poem to passing events are mostly vague or obscure; only the passage ‘þe king Henri | Jesus his soule do merci’, ON 1091, 2, which can refer to no other than Henry the Second, fixes a superior limit of A.D. 1189. It would equally appear to exclude the reign of Henry the Third, for, as ten Brink concedes, such an indefinite expression would hardly be used when another Henry was on the throne. It is further arguable that its use points to a time when the death of the king was recent. Again such a reference as that to the minstrel go-between saved by the intervention of King Henry the Second from the vengeance of a wronged husband would be to a recent event. Furthermore, it would give point to the expression, ‘ȝet nis he (i. e. the king) nouþer ded ne lame’, 171/375, if it were referred to the good peace kept by the Justiciar Hubert Walter, during Richard the First’s absence from England in A.D. 1194-8. These external considerations, slight though they be, are in favour of the end of that reign as the date of the composition of the poem. The stage of development reached by the language may be held to support this view. Our manuscripts are copies of a copy, probably not far removed from the original poem. That copy is primitive in the fullness of the inflections, the extensive preservation of grammatical gender and the form of the new diphthongs.

Of the author nothing is known. A certain Johan of Guldeuorde is recorded in a copied note in MS. J as declining to sing more, but any connexion of his with ON cannot be determined. If the author were the Nicholas de Guldeuorde mentioned in the poem, it would lend a characteristic spice of humour to the excellent testimonial which he gives himself (157/147-170, 173/389-401). His name indicates that he was a native either of Guildford in Surrey or of Guldeford near Rye in Sussex. What sort of court he presided over cannot be determined; he may have been bailiff of the hundred court, or steward of a manor, or commissary for the neighbouring Abbotsbury. The attempt made by Gadow to identify him with a certain Nicholaus Capellanus, who appears in the diocese of Salisbury in A.D. 1209, 1220, is not convincing.

The poem is in the favourite _débat_ form of the contemporary French literature. The Owl is the Cleric, living a secluded life under a strict rule, the Nightingale is the Minstrel, amateur of the open air and vagabond freedom, the Wren is a poet, like Philippe de Thaün, who has gained a secure place at Court. Though he tries to hold the balance even, the author’s secret sympathies are with the Nightingale; he had been himself sometime a wandering scholar.

Read 150/16 þat, 152/57 wit, 154/104 bysemar, 160/183 nyht, 160/185 vych, 160/191 quaþ, 166/289, 167/289 Þule, 167/310 eue, 168/336 Murehþe ilyche, 168/339 holy.

The references are to C, unless J is prefixed.

1. #sumere#, summer, _adj. s. d._ agreeing with dale; a summer valley. Gadow compares OE. #sumer-lida# and similar compounds. But Stratmann explains it as _s. d. f._ of sum, certain.

2. #diȝele#: comp. ‘on ænne swiðe faire stude. | in ane dale deope[;] diȝelen bihælues,’ L 26933. ‘North of Portisham is a valley now called Mystecomb, formed by Hampton and Ridge Hills, and on the east side of the former are some pits, where the hundred courts were formerly held and hundred silver paid,’ Hutchins, Dorsetshire, i. 556. Was this the scene of the ‘plait’?

5. #starc#: comp. ‘þat fiht was swiþe strong[;] swiþe starc and swiþe lang,’ L 4170, MS. O.

6. #among#, at intervals, at times: comp. 152/81; ‘þar was weping strong[;] þar was gredinge among,’ L 23563, MS. O, and see KH 1527 note. Similarly ‘bitweonen’, 132/28; ‘And also cussed his feet amyd’, CM 14015, MS. T.

7. #sval#, was puffed out with anger, like L. tumeo. Rare in this absolute use; for a common expression comp. ‘þin heorte in wið þe swelleð of sar grome,’ HM 31/27: see also 155/101.

11. #hure and hure#: see 15/91 note.

J 13. #þo speke#, then to speak: the scribe had before him þo speche, the speech, þo representing OE. #þā#, _s. acc. f._ of #se#, usually þe in these texts. Mistaking þo for the adverb, meaning then, he altered speche into speke, spoiling the rhyme. (Breier, 125.)

14. #breche# probably represents OE. #bræc#, #brec#, which occurs in the boundaries of charters and appears to mean land left untilled among cultivated fields, such as would be covered with underwood; it would go well with #hurne# in its dialectal meaning of ‘a nook of land projecting into another parish, district or field.’ The phrase would then mean, in a corner of a spinney, just the position where the nightingale would feel safe; see 153/59, 60. Mätzner takes the word to mean fallowland; there is a dialectic breck, mostly northern and not recorded for the south and a literary word break, given in NED under date 1674, with that meaning. #beche# in J is generally identified with Layamon’s bach, bæch, valley, but Kenyon holds that it represents OE. #bēce#, beech, if so, hurne must have its secondary sense of hiding place.

J 16. #þat#: a scribe’s mistake for þar.

17. #ore#: OE. #ānre#, _s. d. f._: #hegge# is descended from a strong fem. *#hecg#, but it is treated as masc. at l. 59, perhaps by confusion with OE. #hege#. #waste#: written for vaste, that is, faste (comp. ON, J 796), which Breier takes for an adverb qualifying þicke, very thick. But there is no evidence in ME. for the adverb, except with verbs and participles. It is an adjective, secure, safe, as in ‘wel he makede his castles[;] treowe ⁊ swiðe uæste,’ L 11897; comp. 153/53, 56-60, 157/130, 131, or possibly, dense.

18. Tall grasses and green flag plants grew up through the hedge.

19. #rise#, boughs; comp. ‘blisse was among þe rise,’ ON 1664.

20. #auele#: see 132/9 note.

21. #he#: see 135/127 note.

22. #þan#, than that.

26. #hire tide#, her hours; see 163/230 note, and comp. ‘Gif preost on gesetne timan tída ne ringe oððe tida ne singe, gebete þæt,’ Liebermann, Gesetze, i. 382/36.

27. #⁊#: comp. 81/82 note. #bigrowe#, overgrown: comp. ‘mid iui grene al bi-growe,’ ON 617.

30. #ouerseȝ#, looked down at from her higher position: comp. 34/75.

31. #þuȝte#: impersonal; supply hire from the subject of the preceding sentence: #wl# is predicative adjective.

35. #lete#, behaviour, i.e. hooting: comp. 165/281, 171/358.

37. #atfliþ#, takes flight, deserts me: comp. ‘expavit cor meum et emotum est de loco suo,’ Job xxxvii. 1. Mostly with _acc._, but comp. ‘leste þe heorte etfleo ⁊ wende ut,’ AR 50/19. #falt#, folds, collapses: comp. ‘and þi tunge foldet,’ PRL 250/3, 249/2; OEM 101/4 and see 2/19 note.

38. when you thrust yourself on me. Comp. ‘Bruttes him þrungen to[;] þræfliche swiðe,’ L 27796.

39. #Me luste bet#, it would please me better.

40. #of#, by reason of, as the result of.

41. #fort#: comp. 163/248 and see 72/179 note. #for# in J is due to the scribe who avoids the unusual word; comp. 162/248, 166/310.

42. #bileue#, hold in, keep still; a somewhat forced sense.

44. #atschet#, shot out, drove out of her body; its subject and that of warp in the next line is heo, contained in the preceding hire: comp. 98/71. The editors, however, treat fnast as the subject, but in the only other place where the verb occurs, ‘Ah þah mi lif me beo at-schote,’ ON 1623 it is transitive.

45. #warp#, sent forth; see 13/45.

48. #writelinge#, ‘trilling, singing in shakes and flourishes,’ Specimens; a meaning apparently deduced from the context here and ON 914, the only places where the word occurs. It may be a miswriting of wrixelinge or wriselinge; OE. #wrixlian#, to modulate, vary the voice, as in ‘Ic þurh muþ sprece monȝum reordum. | wrencum singe, wrixle ȝeneahhe | heafodwoþe, hlude cirme,’ Riddle ix (by some interpreted of the nightingale), Grein, iii. 189/1, to which Toller parallels ‘Vox mea diversis variatur pulcra figuris,’ Aldhelm, 252/27; ‘wrixleð woðcræfte . . . | beorhtan reorde,’ Phoenix 127.

49, 50. #grame . . . tone . . . schame#: comp. 40/165 note.

51. #on#, within the compass of, under.

52. May it so happen that I have the opportunity, a parenthesis; #⁊# in the next line is equivalent to and if.

54. #wise# may mean, song.

56. #loki--bare#, guard myself against the open, i.e. keep in my thicket, as at l. 59, 155/106. Other adjectives used as nouns are blete, l. 57, unsheltered place; woȝe ll. 120, 154, crooked conduct; harde, ON 459, 527, bitter weather, 703, difficulty; toȝte 703, puzzling situation. #loki wit# appears to be without parallel, but wiþ is common in conjunction with similar verbs, see 48/299 note; from is usual, 149/77 as with schilde, 153/62, 157/119.

63. #tukest#: the usual construction of this verb in OE. and ME. is seen in, ‘þa halgan . . . to ealre yrmðe tucode,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 494/106 (afflicted the Saints with every kind of misery); ‘ha tukeð ure godes to balewe ⁊ to bismere,’ SK 551. Whether to is to be inserted, or wroþe (which is a noun, ON 944) and vuele are to be regarded as adverbs, in any case the verb must have a direct object; #over# is probably a misreading of the common original MS. for oþer; comp. ON 1524 where J has correctly oþer and C over. The mistake would lead to the omission of to before wroþe. The sense then is, thou dost harass with evil and harm other small birds wherever thou canst. #fugele# as _pl. acc._ in rhyme can be supported by bridde : amidde, ON 123; wrenche : atprenche, id. 813.

67. #bischricheþ#, screech at; apparently only here. Comp. 160/215.

68. #narewe#, strictly, harshly; comp. 74/203 note. #biledet#, treat, like L. afficere; comp. ‘He iseyh hw ihesu crist. wes vuele biled,’ OEM 45/278; ‘And luþre heom biledeþ | Mid pykes and myd eaule,’ id. 83/329. The word appears to descend as to form from OE. #belǣdan#, to lead (astray), and as to meaning from OE. #belecgan#, to treat (ill), afflict, through the intermediary of their common _pp._ #belēd#. The expression is somewhat like ‘mettre à l’estroict, to put vnto the pinch,’ Cotgrave.

70. #Hire þonkes#, gladly; see 10/167 note.

72. #in monie volde#, lit., in many folds, that is, in many respects. The phrase seems to be a mistaken resolution of some such adverbial expression as *#on manigfealdum#; in ME. on manyfolde, bi manifold are found, as well as many a folde. A natural extension is seen in, ‘ne uint he red in one (none J) uolde,’ ON 696.

76. #Riȝt swo#, just as if; comp. 155/98, 163/222.

78. #cliure#, claw: six times in ON, only once again in ME., see ES xxxi. 7, 17. ‘#clifra#, _ungularum_,’ OE. Glosses, ed. Napier, 135/5341, 148/458.

80. #owel#: see 58/67 note.

J 81. #euer among#: see 148/6 note.

83. #to#: the construction appears to be quite isolated, for #þrēatian#, þreatien take the _acc._ of the person or thing threatened. The simple _dat._ is seen in, ‘swiþe hii gonne þretie[;] Arthur þan kinge,’ L 20341, MS. O. Comp. ‘escade to,’ 77/44 note.

85. Lit. It would be more natural to thee in respect of a frog, i.e. A frog would suit you better. #to one frogge# is the virtual subject of #were#. The same construction is implied in ‘Ov nas neuer icunde þarto,’ ON 114. Different is ‘Ne lust him nu to none unrede,’ 159/168, for lusten has a prepositional construction (see 52/383 note), while icunde has not. For the usual construction of icunde, see 3/32 note.

86. #cogge#: probably for cog-stone, a stone propped up at the edge.

88. #cunde . . . riȝte#: datives singular.

90. #on# should be omitted, it is unmetrical and, no doubt, due to un- in the following word. #unwiȝt#, hideous.

92. #Bi#, with reference to; see 4/30, 13/18, and comp. the similar use of ‘on’ in l. 94.

94. In them (i.e. in their case) thou rearest a very foul brood. For #on hom# comp. 161/211 note.

100. #noþerward#, downward: comp. 56/51.

101. #to svolle# &c.: comp. 149/7; ‘heorte to-bollen ⁊ to-swollen,’ AR 282/8.

104. #a bisemar#, a mockery, but ‘a bisemere,’ ON 1311 means in mockery.

106. #bare#: see 152/56.

107. #þare#: so the MS.; Wells thinks it a scribe’s mistake for ware representing #hwæþer#, but C has elsewhere only hwaþer, wather, hweþer, weþer, and the interrogative pronoun is apparently not contracted. Probably the scribe has left out the first syllable and has been influenced in writing the second by bare in the preceding line.

109. The nightingale answers.

110. #Ne kepich noȝt# &c., Nor do I care for your clawing me, i.e. I would rather that you did not claw me.

112. #tonge#, pair of tongs.

113. #so--ilike#, as those like you do, after the manner of your kind.

118. #svikelhede#, attempt at deception: apparently only here and at ON 838.

120. And conceal your wickedness beneath an appearance of righteousness. For the combination comp. ‘myd wowe ne myd ryhte,’ OEM 49/412; ‘þat is woh ⁊ na wiht riht,’ L 4333, 5043, 6373; ‘Man mai þer of et inoȝ | Al wiþ riȝt and noȝt wiþ woȝ,’ Heuser, Kildare-Gedichte, 146/62.

J 121. The second #þu# is a scribe’s mistake for þin.

125. #unwrenche#, evil tricks; comp. ‘For þine fule sunnen | ⁊ for þin uniwrenche,’ OEM 174/93, and for the rhyme 29/2.

127. #to þriste#: see 30/17.

128. #liste . . . strengþe# are often contrasted, ‘Betere is liste þen luðer strencðe’, AR 268/27; ‘hit wes ȝare iqueðen | þat betere is liste[;] þene ufel strenðe. | for mid liste me mai ihalden[;] þat strengðe ne mai iwalden,’ L 17209.

130. #on brede . . . lengþe# goes with #god#, good in all dimensions, in every respect: comp. ‘A fairer child neuer i ne siȝ, | Neiþer a lingþe ne on brade,’ Sir Beues 536, with Kölbing’s note.

132. ‘Wel fyht þat wel flyþ,’ Hendyng, Böddeker, AE. Dicht. 291/77; ‘Mieuz vaut bone fuie que mauvaise atente,’ Li Proverbe au Vilain, no. 64; ‘þu most turne þe rug ȝif þu wult ouercumen ⁊ wið fluht fehten,’ HM 17/28.

133. #lete awei#, give up, drop; comp. 50/348 note.

135. #fo we on#, let us proceed; comp. 143/67.

136. #wsome#: miswritten for ysome, concordant, peaceable, which is _adj._ as at 171/378: Kenyon points out that the word-order is idiomatic. In J, #some#, concord, is a noun; comp. 70/158 note.

137. #at one acorde#: the phrases at accord, in accord and with one accord are all found, but this combination is at any rate rare: a similar tautology is seen in ‘Two dogges and one bone | Maye never accorde in one,’ Rel. Ant. i. 233.

140. #foȝe#, fitness, decency: OE. #fōg#, a joint. Kock (Anglia, xxv. 323) translates, ‘reason, reasonableness, justice and moderation.’ Wells compares G. mit Fug und Recht. The word does not occur elsewhere in ME.; soþe in J is a substitute for a word not known to the scribe.

143. #us seme#, reconcile us, settle our dispute. OE. #sēman#.

148, 149. Comp. 18/16, 30. In J 149, #worde# is faultily repeated from l. 148.

151. #wot insiȝt in#, has skill in: the usual verb is seen in ‘insiht he cuðe[;] a winde and a mone,’ L 30497.

153, 154. Comp. 157/120 and 161/186.

J 155. #bihouhte# appears to be a scribal error for biþouhte, which occurs in the same text in a similar line, ‘Ful wel myd rede hire biþouhte,’ l. 704. It can hardly represent OE. *#behogode# or *#behogde#, pasts of #behogian#, #behycgan#.

158. #wile#, at one time.

161. #suþe acoled#, made cold or grown cold. In J, #nu þe# may mean now for thee; Skeat takes it for nuþe, now: but the scribe had probably suþe in his original.

164. Should condemn me and give you the upper hand: legge goes better with adun than with buue. Comp. ‘That brynges me vnder ⁊ not above,’ Ipomedon 43/1428, 106/3681; ‘who so . . . may not come to his above,’ id. 1/5 with Kölbing’s note; ‘Leve thy resoun and bileve in the wondir | For feith is aboven, and reson is undir,’ Rel. Ant. i. 127.

167. #him#: see 13/34 and add ‘Þe ston hym hys of swiche grace,’ KH MS. O. 585; ‘For horn hym was so longe,’ id. 977. #fastrede#, steadfast of purpose.

168. #to#: comp. 52/383.

170. #a#, on.

171. #ȝare#, J #ware#: the same variation occurs ON 488, 860. #ȝare# is the better reading.

181. #þinchest#: a scribe’s mistake for þincheþ. #snepe#, foolish; apparently only here: now a Lincolnshire dialect word.

184. #þar of#: comp. ‘Þes meiden wes awundret swiðe of þes wordes,’ SJ 37/1; ‘þe sunne wundrieð of faire,’ OEH ii. 19/29. For #of# = at, see 121/132.

186. Comp. 159/154.

187. #þat#, to which: see 44/250, 257 note, 46/292 note.

188. #to his dede#, as accompaniment of his actions.

194. Let thy tongue have a holiday. #spale#: OE. #spala#, a substitute, #spelian#, to take the place of another, ME. spelien mostly means to use sparingly. A related word is spell, a neutral word with meaning like þroȝe l. 196, a stretch of time; so a spell of work, a spell of rest: in Somerset dialect it means relaxation, in Australia, cessation from labour.

200. #riȝte soþe#: comp. 156/140. #spelle#, long story; comp. 175/437.

202. #nich ne nay#, not I nor nay.

203. #lust#: imperative, as at l. 199; but Skeat, ‘I am pleased to tell,’ which would require me lust.

208. #wune#: miswritten for wunne as the rhyme shows. The original probably had ƿ̇unne, which the scribe of J copied as ynne.

209. #me draȝe to#, incline towards, act in accordance with. The physical sense, betake oneself, is seen in ‘þes duc mid his drihte[;] to þare sæ him droh,’ L 92, and intransitively at 32/47. Comp. also ‘heald þin cunde,’ follow thy nature, OEH ii. 31/6.

210. #me#, as in J, seems necessary as the object of schende, immediately before which it should be inserted.

211 is formal; comp. ‘on me hit is isene,’ ON 367; ‘On þe hit is wel eþ sene,’ OEH ii. 255/5; Minot viii. 79 note. #on me#, in my case; for this use of on, comp. 155/94; similar is bi, 4/30. #hit# represents l. 212.

212. #vor riȝte cunde#, it is purely because of my nature that I am so keen.

215, 216. Comp. 153/67, 68. #to me ledeþ#, lead against me, bring to attack me; comp. ‘Me þinkþ þu ledest ferde to me,’ ON 1672.

220. #bi#, near.

221. #goþ#: go might have been expected, as bigrede is subjunctive.

222. #Riȝt so#: comp. 153/76.

223. #rede#: dative.

225. #me . . . of#, about me; comp. 1/3. #Þet# in J is a mistake for ȝet.

227. #woning#: comp. 159/176, 182.

228. #to ihire#, to be heard, to listen to; comp. 159/180.

229. #efne#, uniformly, without trillings; comp. 153/48.

230. #Mid fulle dreme#, with good round volume of sound, in contrast with the nightingale’s thin shrill pipe, ll. 235, 236.

236. #weode unripe#, half-grown weed, like Milton’s ‘scrannel pipes of wretched straw.’

239-246. #a riȝte time#. The owl takes credit for singing, not all night like the nightingale, l. 247, but only to call the religious to their hours, #an eue#, Vespers (#æfen-sang#); #bedtime#, Compline (#niht-sang#); #ad middelniȝte#, Mattins with Lauds (#ūht-sang#); #dairim#, Prime (#prīm-sang#), ‘þærrihte upasprungenum dægriman dægredsang sy begunnen,’ Benedictine Rule, ed. Schröer, 32/22. S. Brendan in his wanderings came to the bird’s paradise where ‘þe foweles sunge ek here matyns: wel riȝt, þo hit was tyme, | ⁊ of þe sauter seide þe uers: ⁊ siþþe also prime, | ⁊ vnderne siþþe ⁊ middai: ⁊ afterwardes non, | ⁊ eche tyde songen of þe dai: as cristene men scholde don,’ Legendary, ed. Horstman, 225/223. #note#, employment, here divine service; comp. 74/210. The nightingale claims her share in this at ll. 347-353.

248. #fort#: see 72/179 note.

251. #crei#: found here only; it has been explained as crowing, or crying, it can hardly be connected with F. cri, but it may possibly be, as Breier suggests, connected with OE. #crāwan#. More likely it is an imitative word invented by the writer.

252. #þat#, so that.

256. A mixed construction combining (i) that one esteems nothing of thy song, values thy song at nothing, and (ii) thy song is worth nothing; with the latter comp. ‘nis noht wurð þratte[;] buten þer beo dede æt,’ L 26555, with the former 124/265 note; ‘Thei tolde right nauȝt of thyn awe,’ Laud Troy Book, 2178. #of þar#, thereof, of thy song.

258. #wel unwreste#, right feebly.

261. Be the song pleasing beyond all measure, ever so pleasing. #ne# does not negative the verb, but goes with and strengthens neuer; comp. ‘Ne beo he nefre swa riche, forð he scal þenne is dei cumeð,’ OEH 35/21; similarly 23/168, 43/225; ‘treouðe nefde he nane[;] to nauer nane monne,’ L 25471.

262. #þat# is not the correlative of so in the preceding line, which is a conditional clause; it is an illogical repetition of ‘þat’ in ll. 256, 258: the sense is, though the song be ever so pleasing, it must appear unpleasing, if it continues &c. For #ne#, see 25/240.

263. #ouer unwille#, ‘beyond what is desirable,’ Specimens, but in the glossary unwille is translated, displeasure. Wells takes unwille as an adverb qualified by ouer, ‘too unpleasantly.’ Probably #ouer# is written for ower which with #unwille# would form an adverbial phrase, against your will, or pleasure, representing OE. #ūrum unwillum#, the latter element being _pl. d._ of #unwilla#; comp. ‘ure gast biþ swiþe wide farende urum unwillum,’ Boethius 152/4. Similar combinations descending from OE. #unwill# are seen in ‘þe man . . . here wuneð on wanrede ⁊ þoleð his unwille hwile druie, ⁊ hwile wete,’ OEH ii. 123/5; ‘hire unwilles,’ 140/25; ‘hire unwil,’ 141/136, HM 31/32; ‘min unwil,’ SM 13/3: see 140/25 note.

264. #aspille#, waste.

268. #unmeþe#: comp. 118/47.

276. #so foruorþ iladde#, carried so far, i.e. she had said so much. #foruorþ#, lit. far onwards; but forþ comes to mean simply, far; comp. ‘uorþ ase ȝe muwen,’ AR 46/10; ‘ouer al ase forð as imei,’ SJ 47/6. With #iladde# comp. ‘Of ðis kinge wil we leden song,’ GE 699; ‘talewise men þe speches driuen,’ OEH ii. 193/27.

278. #ifare#, ‘conveyed,’ Specimens, as if a strong _pp._ from the weak verb #ferian#. But the writer has elsewhere (l. 1709) ifare as _pp._ of #faran#, and the sense yielded, ‘should not be presented, conveyed, aright,’ does not suit the context. #Weorðan#, wurðen are sometimes used with past participles of intransitive verbs, ‘Denum eallum wearð | æfter þam wælræse willa gelumpen,’ Beowulf 823; ‘swa hit agangen wearð | eorla manegum,’ id. 1234; ‘þa þat forme ȝer[;] wharð forð igan,’ L 4942; and similarly ‘þe arcebiscop ongan to tellende . . . hu hit gefaran wes,’ AS. Chron. ed. Plummer, i. 130/30: the natural meaning of #ariht faran# is, to fare well, to prosper, and the present phrase may well mean, that her answer might not turn out prospered, well.

281. #berþ grete ilete#, assumes a haughty bearing; comp. 151/35, 171/358, and for _pl._ 110/273, 129/35.

282. So that he do not, through cowardice, give up his case, give way. #hit# is a vague object; comp. 42/214 note.

284. #svicst#: see footnote: Wells adopts the correction of the MS. and reads vicst, fightest, and Breier thinks the original had fihst; in Specimens niswicst is read without reference, and explained, ‘ceasest not.’ The readings of the MSS. may be accounted for thus. The author probably wrote biswicst (comp. 155/114, ON 930), deludest by a show of fight; the copyist of the exemplar common to CJ, with iswiken (#geswīcan#), cease, in his mind, altered to iswicst; C copied that, but noting its unfitness emended it to vicst, spoiling the rhythm, while J rejected i and adopted swykst, deceivest.

286. He will make a barrow-pig of a boar, i.e. he will climb down, from a fierce animal he will become quite tame. The boar is typically fierce, ‘brem as a bare,’ Sir Degrevant, 1240.

298. #cumeþ to londe#, comes to dwell with us, like ‘Þa æstre wes aȝeonge[;] and sumer com to londe,’ L 24241 (‘to toune,’ MS. O). See KH 153 note.

299. #þe ille#, the evil one, the devil; in modern dialect, the ill man, the ill thief: comp. ‘wurse’ 98/81. Wells says ‘the evil man.’

305, 306. Nor would he mind though flocks (coarse felted stuff made of refuse of wool and cotton) were muddled up with fine carded wool and hair, that is, he would take a perverse delight in a confusion which would be troublesome to sort out. #roȝte#: _pt. s. subj._ appears to owe its time to #wolde#. With #flokkes# comp. ‘xv capella nigra . . . falsi operis et mixti de lana et flokkes,’ Munim. Gildh. Lond. iii. 433 (quoted in NED, _s.v._ flock^2). #Imeind bi#: #mengan#, mengen mostly take wiþ, ON 131 or mid, 151/18, 38/142, ON 870; #bi# appears to be quite isolated.

310. #fort#: see 72/179.

312. #for mine þinge#, on my account: comp. ‘Ða ic þas stemne gehyrde and for minum þingum ongeat beon geclypode,’ Ælf. Lives ii. 32/485; ‘þat ich for þine þinge[;] mid sæxe me of-stinge,’ L 5033.

313. #blisseþ hit# can mean only, causes it to rejoice, comp. 14/50, 52. Alteration to hine would give a common reflexive use, rejoices; comp. ‘Ne mei nan mon . . . blissien him mid þisse wordle,’ OEH i. 33/29: hine would go with #hiȝteþ# also, as in ‘hyhte me myd my skentinge,’ ON 532; ‘ic . . . | ellen wylle | habban ⁊ hlyhhan | ⁊ me hyhtan to,’ Cod. Exon. ed. Thorpe, 456/19. J means, blesses my coming.

318. #þat--wte# may mean, that thou mayest know, but the reading of J gives a better sense, though you find fault with her action, and #þat# is probably a scribe’s mistake for þah.

320, 323. #shulle#: the ordinary construction of #biddan# where its object is expressed by a clause is þat with the subjunctive of the verb, as at 77/60, 141/39; ‘þa bæd he eaðmodlice þæt he hiene ne sende,’ Cura Past., 48/6; the insertion of #shulle#, which apparently does not alter the sense, is new; comp. ‘Ðeo apostles hine beden ꝥ he scalde suggen hwet þeo saȝe bicweðe,’ OEH 133/23.

327. #sume#: a mistake of the common exemplar for sumere, as Mätzner pointed out: comp. ‘vor sumeres tide is al to wlonc,’ ON 489.

328. Comp. ‘eorlum bringe | blisse in burgum,’ Grein, Poesie, iii. 189.

333. Comp. 161/203.

334. #to wan#, to what end, for what purpose: OE. #tō hwan# (#hwon#).

340. #ginneþ . . . wurche#, do compose, or, sing: for the periphrasis see KH 1277 note, Anglia xxix. 129. But Sweet translates ‘anginnað ðonne oftrædlice mare secggean,’ Cura Past. 66/3 ‘often try to speak more.’

341. #bi#, through the agency of.

342. Comp. 42/210, 48/326, 327. #shal#, must go: comp. 2/2 note. bon: _inf._ depending on shal.

345. And note from the church song.

348. #wicke tunes#, monasteries and other religious houses: OE. #wīctūn#, which translates L. atria, ‘introite in atria ejus,’ ‘ingangað on his wic-tunas,’ Ps. xcv. 8, xcix. 3: in form the ME. word is possibly influenced by #wīce#, office; wike occurs three times in ON.

349. #to#, at; see 163/241.

351. #prostes#: that is, seculars, #upe londe#, in their parishes, as distinguished from the clerks (l. 347), who are either monks or canons.

353. Repeated from ON 484. #wat# (hwat), as far as; an adverbial _acc._ of extent: comp. ‘wet we on þisse middelerd liuien,’ OEH 11/2, as long as; ‘also wat se we sinegen,’ OEH ii. 101/29, as soon as; ‘also wat swo þe þridde dageð,’ id. 103/26: see ‘alwat,’ 15/84, 215/26.

354 begins a paragraph with large initial in both MSS., but it goes with the preceding line ‘heo walde neoþeles ȝefe answere.’ The owl’s language was threatening. Comp. ‘Þe niȝtingale at þisse worde, | mid sworde an mid speres orde, | ȝif ho mon were, wolde fiȝte,’ ON 1067; ‘men weorreð mid þreo kunne wepnen, mid scheotunge, mid speres ord ⁊ mid sweordes egge,’ AR 60/14.

356. #⁊--schelde# goes with orde.

358. #ilete#: see 165/281.

363. #þah#, not in J, is necessary to the sense.

365. #awille#, to their pleasure.

367. Added at bottom of leaf. #awolde#, in the woodland; for though by her place of birth she was weak in woodcraft, she had learnt wisdom from the men among whom she had been brought up.

369. #þenne#, thence.

371. Even if she had to speak in the king’s presence. #Touore# takes a dative: see 102/144 and read kinge with J.

373. #Hwat#: an exclamation, What!

374. #þan kinge#: correction by Stratmann: perhaps his is to be read for #þis# in the preceding line: comp. l. 377.

375. #lame#, crippled, unable to act: comp. ‘_Debilis uel eneruatus_ lame,’ Wright-Wülcker, Vocab. 162/1.

376. #Hunke#: strange in form, as in meaning: we should expect inc, as Wells points out: we, J 377 is more consistent.

378. #Lateþ beo#, cease from your strife.

384. #do# obviates the repetition of an: comp. 122/185. #lahfulnesse#, loyal holding to her offer, ll. 145-147, contrasted with #unrihtfulnesse#, l. 385.

J 390. #eu# is, of course, a mistake for us.

391. #An ȝef# is clearly wrong, while #ȝet# in J, meaning moreover, gives a poor sense. The original may have been, ȝif, als ich wene, þat he wolde, if, as I think, he would be willing to act as umpire. Ȝif þat, if, occurs in ‘ac ȝif þat he forlost his wit,’ ON 693, where J rejects þat and spoils the metre: perhaps the avoidance of the construction has caused the corruption of the text.

394. #nuȝte#: in all probability the original had nuste. The scribes, being acquainted with the graph st for ȝt, ht (see KH 249 note), mechanically substituted the latter here. C, starting correctly from nuste, wrote nuȝte; J read the original as miste, which for him meant myhte. There is a similar trouble in the text of ON 1300, where for nustest C has miȝtest or mistest and J nustest, ‘very like mistest,’ Wells.

397. #utlete#: the passage to the sea, now represented by the Fleet between the Chesil Bank and the mainland. Portisham is now about three miles inland, near Abbotsbury, to the monastery in which place it formerly belonged (Dugdale, Monast. iii. 52).

400. #þurh# &c.: by his delivered judgements and by his writings; that they righted matters as far as Scotland is a playful exaggeration.

407. Why will they not betake themselves to counsel, that is, take counsel: comp. ‘þe traytours of Scotlond token hem to rede, | þe barouns of engelond to brynge to dede,’ Bödd. AE. Dicht. 133/225; ‘Þe Irise oft tok hem to red, | To ston þat douhti kniȝt to ded,’ Horn Childe, 214; ‘Cnihtes eoden to ræde,’ L 19238; Minot vi. 68 note.

409. #for teche#: see 40/180.

410. #rente#, income of any sort, here probably from church preferments. #a uale stude#, in many a place; another playful touch.

413. #riche men#, men in high place.

414. #leteþ#, neglect.

415. #of . . . con#: comp. ‘He couþe of wode ⁊ of ryuere,’ R. of Brunne, Chron. 4006, and contrast ‘Brennes cuðe on hundes[;] Brennes cuðe an hauekes,’ L 4895.

417. See 44/260 note.

418. #litle childre#: the appointment of well-connected boys to valuable preferments was an abuse of that time. Comp. ‘Si nepotibus suis paruulis [prelati] mille animas strangulandas tradiderint et dixerint adulatores quod bene faciunt, tales in curiis laudantur,’ Eudes de Cheriton, p. 262. It is frequently referred to in Grosseteste’s letters, as no. 17, 19, 26, 30 &c.

420. In this way their wit adjudges them in error, namely, inasmuch as Master Nicholas continues to endure such neglect. #swo# is explained by the clause which begins with #þat#. Wells translates, ‘So they condemn their intelligence [as] in error (foolish),’ but that is against the order of the words and syncopated _pres. plurals_ are rare.

423. In J, #þat# is a mistake for þar.

425. #rede#, present, report.

428. #al#: _acc._ after telle. #ende of orde#, end from beginning, that is, from beginning to end; a strange expression, but not more so than ‘ord fram þan ende,’ L 15770, 22983. In OE. as now, ‘from ord oð ende forð,’ Elene, 590; ‘ord and ende,’ Ælf. Hom. ii. 220/34.

430. #misrempe#: only here and in ‘misrempe ⁊ misdo,’ ON 1353, where J substitutes ‘misnyme,’ and the scribe of C adds in the margin ‘steppe’ as a gloss on rempe. The simple verb occurs twice, ‘Oft mon biþ suiðe rempende,’ Cura Past. 149/12, corresponding to ‘praecipitata actio’ of the Latin original, and ‘þe Bretons sawe þer syde ȝede lowe | þey rempede þem to reste a þrowe,’ R. of Brunne, 3491, where Wace has ‘a une part se sont retret,’ 3160. The root of the word, as of OHG. rimpfan, G. rümpfen, F. rampe, a slope, OE. *hrimpan, Gk. κράμβος, Eng. rimple, rumple, appears to mean, crooked, out of straight, hence ‘rempende’ said of headlong action, ‘rempede,’ drew aside, ‘misrempe,’ to go crooked, out of the straight path, in this place, to act on the cross, be dishonest.

431. #crempe#, restrain, check; only here and in the compound forcrempeþ, ON 510: related to cramp, and ultimately to the word with which it here rhymes.

433. Absolutely without army or following; comp. ‘Ne scalt þu neuere þider faren[;] bute mochelere ferde,’ L 3678.

434. #ꝥ#: þat, until; comp. 72/179 note; ‘æuere heo uerden alle niht[;] þat hit wes dæi-liht,’ L 19200; KH 123 note. #þer# in J may mean where, but it is more probably a mistaken expansion of the original. For #bicome# see 147/134.

_Greek_

κράμβος [krambos]

_Cross-References_

2/19, 3/32 (notes) = I. B (Worcester Fragments)
10/167 (note) = III. (The Peterborough Chronicle)
15/91 (note) = V. (A Parable)
48/299, 52/383 (notes) = VIII. (Poema Morale)
58/67 (note) = IX. A (Ancrene Wisse: Seven Deadly Sins)
72/179 (note) = IX. B (Ancrene Wisse: Outer Rule)
132/9, 135/127 (notes) = XVIII. (The Orison of our Lady)
140/25 (note) = XIX. (Saint Juliana)
148/6, 163/230 (notes) = _present selection_
p. 285 = VI. (The Proverbs of Alfred) under Manuscripts.
p. 293 = VI. (The Proverbs of Alfred) under Metre.
p. 450 = XIV. (Layamon)
452 = XIV. Layamon, Phonology, near end of “ā” section

_Errata_

#Phonology:# ... þane 414 is LWS. #þane# [L.W.S.]
#ea# before #r# ... #gef#, EWS. #gief# [E. W. S.]
#a# + #g# ... liȝte 119 r. w. riȝte [liȝte]
In bisemar 104 ... _u_ for #e#
[_#e# misprinted as italic instead of bold_]
(2) =Of J.= ... #eo#, _u_- and _å_-umlaut of #i#
[_#i# misprinted as italic instead of bold_]
#ēo# is mostly preserved [#eo#]
The new diphthongs ... of þuhte 275 [ofþuhte]
#Accidence:# ... OE. are blo 108, 319, (Portes)hom 395
[319 (Portes)hom]
Adjectives ... #āgen# has lost n [agen]
#Metre:# ... þíd|er fúnd|eþ eúr|ich mán 337
[_text unchanged: error for “éur|ich”?_]
þe níȝt|ingál|e bigón | þe spéche [níȝt | ingál|e]
He wún|eþ át | pórt|es hóm [pórt | es hóm]
Þo húl|ẹ one wíl|e hí | biþóȝte [húl | ẹ]
Read ... 160/185 vych [_corrected by author from “160/186”_]
5. ... L 4170, MS. O. [L.]
132. ... Hendyng, Böddeker, AE. Dicht. [Æ. Dicht.]
167. ... KH MS. O. 585 [KH.]
239-246. ... the bird’s paradise
[_text unchanged: expected word “birds’”_]
298. ... (‘to toune,’ MS. O) [Ms. O]

XXI. THE BESTIARY

#Manuscript:# Arundel 292, British Museum: on vellum, 200 × 130 mm.: late thirteenth century. Its miscellaneous contents, English, Anglo-French, and Latin, are described in Altdeutsche Blätter, ii. 141-148. The Bestiary is written continuously, but the initials of the lines and, in the long metres, of the half lines are mostly rubricated. In most cases the long lines are divided into half lines by a space and a stop, sometimes one or both are missing. At ll. 439, 493, two words are carried below the last full line of the folio. Final g of ll. 42, 43, 316, 317, 332, 333, 338, 339, 358, 359, 463, 464, 475, 476, 477, 478, 542, 543, 662 has a stroke or hook added, which appears to be merely ornamental: similarly the g of wrengðe 69, among 147, ðing 392, strong 509; h and b are much alike; ƿ is open at the top as in Genesis and Exodus. Latin headings are in red, some are on the margin, the others at the head of their sections. As will be seen from the footnotes, the manuscript was much corrected or altered over erasures, and that after it was finished, for the substituted words do not always fill the gaps left by the scraper. The first leaves of the exemplar were probably damaged at the lower margin, since defective or difficult passages occur at regular intervals, so l. 32, ll. 89-92, 120, 121, 143, 144, 173, 200, 201.

#Editions:# Wright, T., Altdeutsche Blätter, Leipzig, 1836, 1840, ii. 99-120; Reliquiae Antiquae, London, 1841, i. 208-27. Mätzner, E., Altenglische Sprachproben, Berlin, 1867, i. 55-75. Morris, R., An Old English Miscellany, 1872, 1-25.

#Literature:# (1) =of the English Bestiary=. Hallbeck, E., The Language of the M. E. Bestiary, Lund, 1905. Holthausen, F., Archiv, lxxxviii. 365-9 (emendations). (2) =of the Bestiaries in general=. A detailed bibliography will be found in Anglia, Beiblatt, x. 274-87, xii. 13-23, xiii. 18, 19, 236-9. The following will provide an introduction to the subject: Ahrens, K., Zur Geschichte des sogennanten Physiologus, Ploen, 1885; Carus, J. V., Geschichte der Zoologie, München, 1872; Land, J. N. P., Encyclopaedia Britannica, _s.v._ Physiologus; Lauchert, F., Geschichte des Physiologus, Strassburg, 1889; Mann, M. F., Französische Studien, vi. Heft 2, Heilbronn, 1888; Peters, E., Der Griechische Physiologus und seine orientalischen Uebersetzungen, Berlin, 1898.

#Source:# With the exception of the last section, the English poem is generally an adaptation of the Latin Physiologus, written in a variety of verse forms as the concluding line informs us, by one Tebaldus or Thetbaldus, who is variously described in the headings as Italicus, Senensis, Placentinus episcopus, and is identified by some with the Abbot Theobald who presided over Monte Cassino from 1022 to 1035. The poem is extant in a large number of manuscripts and early printed editions, the first of which latter with place and date is that of Antwerp, 1487. It will be found printed in Hildeberti Turonensis Archiepiscopi Opera, ed. D. A. Beaugendre, Paris, 1708, p. 1174, from which it is repeated in Migne, P. L., tom. 171, p. 1218, and also as Appendix i, p. 201 in An Old English Miscellany, ed. Morris. The text is very unsettled, apparently scribes and editors felt themselves free to rewrite it on occasion. The passages where the English adapter notably departs from his original are pointed out in the notes. He was, no doubt, acquainted with one of the older Latin prose versions of Physiologus enumerated by M. F. Mann in Anglia vii. 443-6; there is no positive evidence that he knew the Bestiary of Philippe de Thaün.

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Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. Part 2: NotesChapter XX: Part 20

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