Note 5
For ‘head-watch,’ cf. H.-So. notes and cf. v. 2910.—Th. translates: Thou wilt not need my head to hide (i.e., thou wilt have no occasion to bury me, as Grendel will devour me whole…
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Notes to Beowulf — Page 2
132 notes in J. Lesslie (John Lesslie) Hall translation. Follow a thought back to its place in the book.
132 notes
Note 6
S. proposes a colon after ‘nimeð’ (l. 447). This would make no essential change in the translation.
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Owing to the vagueness of ‘feorme’ (451), this passage is variously translated. In our translation, H.-So.’s glossary has been quite closely followed. This agrees substantially wit…
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B. and S. reject the reading given in H.-So., and suggested by Grtvg. B. suggests for 457-458: wáere-ryhtum Þú, wine mín Béowulf, and for ár-stafum úsic sóhtest. This means: From …
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Sit now at the feast, and disclose thy purposes to the victorious heroes, as thy spirit urges.—Kl. reaches the above translation by erasing the comma after ‘meoto’ and reading ‘sig…
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It has been plausibly suggested that ‘síð’ (in 501 and in 353) means ‘arrival.’ If so, translate the bracket: (the arrival of Beowulf, the brave seafarer, was a source of great cha…
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The repetition of ‘hwæðere’ (574 and 578) is regarded by some scholars as a defect. B. suggests ‘swá Þær’ for the first: So there it befell me, etc. Another suggestion is to change…
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Kl. suggests a period after ‘determined.’ This would give the passage as follows: Since they no longer could see the light of the sun, and lowering darkness was down over all, dire…
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Gr. understood ‘gódra’ as meaning ‘advantages in battle.’ This rendering H.-So. rejects. The latter takes the passage as meaning that Grendel, though mighty and formidable, has no …
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B. in his masterly articles on Beowulf (P. and B. XII.) rejects the division usually made at this point, ‘Þá.’ (711), usually rendered ‘then,’ he translates ‘when,’ and connects it…
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B. and t.B. emend so as to make lines 9 and 10 read: Never in his life, earlier or later, had he, the hell-thane, found a braver hero.—They argue that Beowulf’s companions had done…
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For ‘réðe rén-weardas’ (771), t.B. suggests ‘réðe, rénhearde.’ Translate: They were both angry, raging and mighty.
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It has been proposed to translate ‘myrðe’ by with sorrow; but there seems no authority for such a rendering. To the present translator, the phrase ‘módes myrðe’ seems a mere paddin…
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S. emends, suggesting ‘déop’ for ‘déog,’ and removing semicolon after ‘wéol.’ The two half-lines ‘welling … hid him’ would then read: The bloody deep welled with sword-gore. B. acc…
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Another and quite different rendering of this passage is as follows: Oft a liegeman of the king, a fame-covered man mindful of songs, who very many ancient traditions remembered (h…
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Might ‘guma gilp-hladen’ mean ‘a man laden with boasts of the deeds of others’?
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t.B. accepts B.’s ‘hé þæs áron þáh’ as given by H.-So., but puts a comma after ‘þáh,’ and takes ‘siððan’ as introducing a dependent clause: He throve in honor since Heremod’s stren…
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B. and t.B. read ‘staþole,’ and translate stood on the floor.
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For ‘snaring from Grendel,’ ‘sorrows at Grendel’s hands’ has been suggested. This gives a parallel to ‘láðes.’ ‘Grynna’ may well be gen. pl. of ‘gyrn,’ by a scribal slip.
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The H.-So punctuation has been followed; but B. has been followed in understanding ‘gehwylcne’ as object of ‘wíd-scofen (hæfde).’ Gr. construes ‘wéa’ as nom abs.
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Kl. suggests ‘hroden’ for ‘háten,’ and renders: Then quickly was Heorot adorned within, with hands bedecked.—B. suggests ‘gefrætwon’ instead of ‘gefrætwod,’ and renders: Then was i…
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The passage 1005-1009 seems to be hopeless. One difficult point is to find a subject for ‘gesacan.’ Some say ‘he’; others supply ‘each,’ i.e., every soul-bearer … must gain the ine…
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For 1084, R. suggests ‘wiht Hengeste wið gefeohtan.’—K. suggests ‘wið Hengeste wiht gefeohtan.’ Neither emendation would make any essential change in the translation.
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The separation of adjective and noun by a phrase (cf. v. 1118) being very unusual, some scholars have put ‘earme on eaxle’ with the foregoing lines, inserting a semicolon after ‘ea…
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