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

NOTES (continued 13)

Reading edition

482. o wolde, in the woodland: comp. 195/620.

484, 485. ‘Adversi coeunt, cum sibi conveniunt.’ The scribe has put sampnen in the place of some less common word; Holthausen proposes hemen which gives an assonance at any rate: if a verb *menen may be inferred from mæne, mene, intercourse, it would fit still better.

486. kolde of kinde, chaste by nature: comp. 191/495; ‘so kinde cold,’ GE 1999.

487. minde: see 184/263.

488. noten of, make use of: see 84/45. gres, herb, medicinal plant.

489. ðe, to which: see 46/292. mandragores, mandrake: L. mandragoras; in Philippe de Thaün mandragora. It is discussed at length in Bartholomeus Anglicus, lib. xvii, ‘dicitur autem habere virtutem prebetivam mulieribus concipiendi.’ There is no mention of it in T., but it is common matter in the Bestiaries.

490-494. ‘Hique semel pariunt quamvis tot tempora vivunt, | Hoc est ter centum, nec faciunt geminum, | Ast unum generant et per duo tempora gestans,’ T. (‘duo tempora’ = duos annos). See Ælf. Lives, ii. 104/569. wuneden: read wunen: more is probably an addition by the scribe.

495. blod ⁊ bon, subject of is: for the phrase, meaning the whole body, comp. 196/636; ‘nys non so feyr of blod ant bone,’ KH MS. L, 916 note.

496. ‘Cum parit in magna, ne cadat, exstat aqua,’ T. The Bestiaries generally say that she takes to the water for fear of the dragon. sal, has to, must.

498. to mid side: nothing corresponding in T., but ‘Tresque à sun ventre en l’unde,’ P. de Thaün, 1442; ‘pergit ad lacum magnum et ingreditur usque ad ubera,’ H. de S. Victor, ii. 427. midside is a compound noun; contrast ‘with a sadel to the midside,’ Desputisoun, ed. Linow, 59/517 (Laud MS.) with the corresponding, ‘Wiþ a sadel to middle þe syde,’ 101/517 (Digby MS.).

499. wanne—tide; Mätzner translates, ‘when mischief betides her,’ treating harde as a noun, like 152/56 note. The construction would then be the same as in ‘Aþulf tit no wounde,’ KH MS. L, 1352, and harde might better be translated birth pangs. But the order of the words is against that interpretation: tide is impersonal and harde is an adverb: comp. ‘wel þe sal bityde,’ L MS. O, 2236.

500. ðat is often repeated when a clause interrupts the construction, as in ‘sitteð all stille, ꝥ hwon he parted urom ou, ꝥ he ne cunne ower god, ne ower vuel nouðer,’ AR 64/20.

502. ‘Non habet ut (a.l. unde) surgat, quia nunquam crura recurvat,’ T. The elk is also without joints in its legs; see Elton, Origins of English History, p. 54.

504. Hu—wide depends on l. 506. With he comp. 119/77, 194/602.

505. walkeð wide, travels to a distance; a favourite phrase in the romances: comp. ‘Ihc habbe walke wide,’ KH 953 note.

506. her: in Physiologus.

507. For resting is difficult because his huge bulk prevents him from lying down.

508. to fuligewis: see 32/40.

509. ‘Incumbit trunco arboris haut modico,’ T.

510. trostlike, confidingly: ‘Idunc dort a seür,’ P. de Thaün, 1550.

511. of walke weri, weary from walking; so, ‘weri of sorȝen,’ L 28081.

512. ðis anticipates l. 514: the hunter notes the elephant’s favourite support, ‘his beste wune.’

514. wune, resort; usually custom, but comp. ‘Vyche day in þe temple . wes myne ywune,’ OEM 43/207. Eudes de Cheriton, 316/26, has, ‘Elephas, more consueto super illam appodians, simul cum illa cadit.’

515. For willen read wiken: to don hise wiken, to perform his functions, here, to sleep. The phrase ‘don wiken’ occurs in OEH i. 137/11, meaning, to do services. Comp. 84/45 note.

516. underset: ‘Quam notat atque secat venator, et obice celat,’ T. Mätzner translates, underprops; rather, wedges up, underpins.

517. bet: used for the rhyme, where best might have been expected.

518. he, the elephant. it . . . war, aware of it: see 200/116 note.

519. makeð char, returns: comp. 190/457.

520. ‘Clamque sedens spectat dum requiem repetat,’ T. biwalt is Mätzner’s correction for biwarlt; it is a rare word and means to rule, manage, wield, as in ‘þe holie þremnesse þe shop ⁊ biwalt alle shafte,’ OEH ii. 25/8. He explains the passage as, the hunter sits alone, observes whether his device helps him in any way. But olon for al one or one as in this text, 194/579, 580, the absence of a conjunction before bihalt and the meaning given to biwalt all raise doubts. Morris translates the last word as ‘deceiveth.’ Perhaps in olon lurks al on, which with *bihalt, observation, would give, intent on watching. *bihalt, noun of bihalden, is not found, but may be inferred from OE. geheald. biwalt may be miswritten for biualt, representing OE. befealleþ: l. 521 might then mean whether his device results in anything for him.

522. unride: see 188/389.

524, 525. ‘Ille velud quondam securus ad arboris umbram, | Cum venit, incumbit, cumque ruente ruit,’ T. boden, for boðen.

530. ðer, to that place. gangande: the author wrote gangen, and at l. 536 seken or more probably saken: comp. 108/232; ‘þer com o schelchene gon,’ OEM 45/279, 285; ‘Þer com go a wel fair mon,’ South English Legendary, 223/139, 226/265, 227/272; ‘þat him com biforen gon; a wunder ane fair mon,’ L 32064. The infinitive defines; here it means, on foot. ‘Tunc unus currit, qui relevare cupit,’ T.

531. ut is a scribe’s mistake for up.

532. Fikeð, bustles, fusses: still in dialectic use in the northern counties and Scotland. See Björkman, 145, 306. The combination with fondeð, tries, does not occur elsewhere.

533. forðen: see 180/126. no wigt, not at all.

534. canne, can he; nor can he do anything else. ‘Sed nequit et satagit: complorans hic quoque barrit,’ T.

536. manie: in the older Bestiaries twelve besides the first try to raise him. The original reading of the MS., sacande, for saken (shake), is preferable to the correction: see 182/193.

537. on stalle maken, put him in a standing position, set him up again; comp. 193/539, 547, 556, 557; ‘cumen . . . on stalle,’ 193/539. A deer is said to stall when it stands still in covert.

538. for, in spite of, notwithstanding; comp. ‘For roting es na better rede,’ CM 11505; ‘thei scholde come with-outen dwellyng | And speke with him for any thyng,’ Laud Troy Book, 3103: contrast ‘For,’ in consequence of, 193/542.

540-549. ‘Cum nequeunt omnes, contendunt mittere voces, | Ad quas fit subitus parvulus ac minimus | Cuius (et est mirum) promuscida sublevat illum, | Et sic predictas effugit insidias,’ T.

548. Comp. 186/344, 190/458. atbrested: supply he (the fallen elp) as subject: see 6/18 note.

552. ðat fele we, for that we suffer.

553. Holthausen would read, Moyses wulde him reisen rigt, | migte i forðen no wigt; but reisen : forðen is sufficient rhyme for this author. The lines are, however, short; insert up before reisen, he after migte.

556. her non, none of them.

557. By ‘upright’ I mean in his former position as possessor of the riches of heaven. For iseie see 56/46 note. Comp. ‘heoueriche wunne,’ AR 242/4; ‘heouenriche murhðe,’ OEH i. 115/1.

559. suggeden, sighed; comp. ‘Forr iwhillc mann birrþ wepenn her, ⁊ sikenn sare ⁊ suhhȝhenn,’ Orm 7923. weren in ðogt, were very anxious: comp. ‘Euer ⁊ oo for my leof icham in grete þohte,’ Bödd. AE. Dicht. 179/7.

560. ovt: read ogt, in any wise, at all.

561. onder steuene is meaningless. Mätzner suggested mid are steuene, with one cry; Holthausen for onder, luder. But alle is superfluous and the rhythm is defective: the original may have been, remeden he ðo ludere steuene. Comp. ‘Þa quað Membricius; ludere stefne,’ L 927; ‘Numbert heom to clepede; mid ludere stefne,’ id. 1428.

563, 564. ‘Ipsorum precibus venit ad hoc dominus,’ T. care, anxiety. hem . . . to, to them: see 1/3.

566. litel: ‘parvus, quoniam deus est homo factus,’ T.

567. drowing ðolede, endured suffering: comp. ‘Ac of cristes þruwinge · þet he þolede her,’ OEM 37/4; ‘He ðrowede and ðolede un-timing ðat,’ GE 1180.

568. under gede, went to the help of; said with a reference to l. 545: L. subvenire.

570. dim: comp. 186/341.

571. For the Turtle, the author follows the Latin original pretty closely.

572. boke: Physiologus. o rime, in verse: insert al before o.

573. lagelike, loyally, faithfully: comp. ‘ȝif ha hare wedlac laheliche halden,’ HM 13/33.

574. make: comp. ‘Forr fra þatt hire make iss dæd | Ne kepeþþ ȝho nan oþerr,’ Orm 1276. siðen: read seden, separate, depart, OE. scēadan; comp. ‘Þurrh þatt he wollde stilleliȝ | Fra Sannte Marȝe shædenn,’ Orm 2922, 16240. Omit ge as unmetrical.

575. muneð, keep in mind; comp. 185/284.

576, 577. ‘Nocte dieque juncta manebit | Absque marito nemo videbit,’ T. sundren ovt, separate at all, at any time: comp. 195/623.

578-583. ‘Sed viduata si caret ipso | Non tamen ultra nubet amico, | Sola volabit, sola sedebit: | Et quasi vivum corde tenebit | Opperiensque casta manebit,’ T.

579. one, alone: OE. āna. fareð, passes her life.

581. luue abit, awaits, watches for the return of her beloved.

585. reche, take heed, bethink thyself.

586. See 180/134. meche: ‘Namque maritus est sibi (i.e. animae) Christus,’ T.

588. fro himward: see 178/89 note. The metre requires the omission of -ward.

590. Read luue none: for the combination leue . . . luue, comp. 143/73. ne—newe, nor love any new one; comp. ‘Allas! is every man thus trewe, | That every yere wolde have a newe,’ Chaucer, H. F. 301; ‘He wolde not him chawnge for no newe,’ Guy of Warwick, 122. This gives the best sense and rhythm, but luue may be a noun governed by leue, and l. 581 favours that interpretation.

591-593. ‘Quem superesse credit in aethre, | Inde futurum spectat eundem | Ut microcosmum judicat omnem,’ T.

592. briche: see 185/293.

593. on geuelike: see 182/214.

594. Omit men. his loðe, those hateful to him.

598-600. ‘Qui niger ex albo conspergitur orbiculato,’ T. bro, eyebrow: OWScand. brá: see Björkman 231. Mätzner sees in the whale’s brow an expression for whalebone: Pliny says ‘ora ballaenae habent in frontibus, ideoque summa aqua natantes in sublime nimbos efflant,’ N. H. ix. 6, 16. The explanation is not convincing. Such comparisons are generally made with familiar objects, so ‘colblake,’ 153/75; ‘And worth al black sum ani cole,’ CM 22489; ‘Al blak so cole-brond,’ King Alisaunder 6260. Perhaps, so brond of cole: the scribe is given to leaving out the end of his words, and the rhyme cole : al is no worse than fel : al, 190/465. In other Bestiaries the panther is of many colours.

600. trendled &c., rounded as a wheel.

601. And it sets him off, adorns him, exceedingly: an early instance of this meaning. Comp. ‘þe kirtel bicom him swiþe wel,’ Guy of Warwick, Auch. MS. 14/210.

602. he: see 119/77 note.

603. der: T. has ‘Diversis pastus venatibus et saciatus,’ but the Bestiaries generally avoid making him carnivorous; ‘Divers mangiers manjue,’ P. de Thaün, 474; ‘Saoulee . . . De boenes viandes plusors,’ Guillaume, 1958, 1960; ‘diversis herbis vescitur,’ Honorius Augustod. (Migne), 887.

604. cul, rump: the earliest appearance of this French word in English. Mätzner explains it as cowl, fell.

607. After dages insert al: comp. 195/635.

609. lude so, as loudly as: but lude should probably be omitted, as the line is too long.

610-615. ‘Exit odor talis de gutture, tamque suavis, | Ut virtute sua superet vel aromata cuncta,’ T. mid . . . forð may be equivalent to forð mid, along with (see 1/19), but forð is more probably adverbial, far, as in, ‘Sum was wið migte so forð gon, | ðat hadden he under hem mani on,’ GE 835. oueral, widely spread.

612. haliweie, more usually halewei, some preparation of a balsamic nature used both as a lotion and a drink. It corresponds to an OE. *hǣlewǣg, healing water, but the spelling in the text shows an association with hālig (NED.). Comp. ‘hwo þet bere a deorewurðe licur, oðer a deorewurðe wete, as is bame, in a feble uetles, healewi in one bruchele glese,’ AR 164/13; ‘Kumeð þerof smel of aromaz, oðer of swote healewi,’ id. 276/11.

615. Comp. ‘For na drie ne for na wate,’ CM 6365. wete is by form a noun, as at l. 57; comp. ‘hwīlum fliht se wǣta ꝥ dryge,’ Boethius, ed. Fox, 234/10.

617. wor so . . . of londe, wherever in the world; comp. ‘Wher he beo in londe,’ KH 416 note. But the metre requires on ðe londe.

620. folegeð: ‘Ferunt odore earum mire sollicitari quadripedes cunctas,’ Pliny, N. H. viii. 17, 62. The original has ‘Ad quem mox tendit quae vocem belua sentit, | Ac sectatur cum nimia dulcedine plenum.’ Eudes de Cheriton says, ‘animalia crudelia, ut Lupus et Leopardus . . . eam pro bono odore sequuntur et non infestant,’ 232: he explains the sweet smell as the soft answer that turns away wrath.

621. ðe, of which: comp. 46/292 note.

623-625. ‘Cum sonat, aut fugiunt, aut segnes corpore fiunt | In caveisque latent, nec in ipso tempore parent,’ T. ogt, at all.

624. daren: see 185/310.

627. tokned: ‘per mistica dictus,’ T.

629. ‘Speciosus forma prae filiis hominum,’ Psalm xliv. 3.

630. fen, mud; comp. ‘Or or flum noe spredde his fen,’ GE 490.

631. taunede, displayed: taunen is an aphetic form of *at-awnen (see NED. s.v. tawne): it is found only here and several times in GE. ll. 631, 632 are the interpretation of ll. 603-605: ‘At satur ille fuit, quia quot vult, tot sibi sumit,’ T.

634. Well is it for the man for whom he was willing to suffer it. ‘Et somnum cepit cum nos moriendo redemit,’ T. For the omission of the verb after wel, see 21/92 note: for dat, to whom, see 46/292 note.

635. on on, continuously.

636. blod ⁊ bon: see 191/495.

637. Perhaps in wis of the MS. should not have been altered, as it occurs again in GE at 214/575: it may be a genuine, though mistaken, resolution of iwis.

639. vuemest, highest.

641. smel: ‘nimio suae incarnationis odore,’ H. de S. Victor, ii. 426.

642. let her, left behind in the world.

643. For him, hin, shortened form of hine, may be read: comp. ‘fleges kin sal hin ouer-gon,’ GE 3004.

644. For fin read afin or in fin; the meaning will be, into his divine presence at our ending. The original has ‘Celos ascendens, ubi regnat cum patre presens, | Quem gentes cuncte sunt sic credendo secute:’ the parallel passage in the description is l. 620. godcundnesse properly means, divinity, divine nature, here apparently, the manifestation of that divinity in heaven. For fin, death, comp. ‘Alle ðhe olde deden ðor fin,’ GE 3852.

645. ‘Serpens antiquus qui nobis est inimicus,’ T.

646. dine, sound, preaching: suggested by ‘rem,’ 195/611, and possibly by S. Paul’s use of Psalm xviii. 5, ‘in omnem terram exivit sonus eorum,’ Rom. x. 18.

648. ðer wile, whilst, so long as; comp. 198/37, 205/288, 446/59, ‘And mete quorbi ðei migten liuen, | ðor quiles he woren on water driuen,’ GE 573; ‘Therwhile, sire, that I tolde this tale | Thi sone mighte tholie dethes bale,’ Seuyn Sages, 701. he—beren, they maintain obedience and cherish love: he refers to noman: beren goes naturally with luue, with lage it stands for lage halden, to keep the commandments (of God).

649. Thetbald ends with the Panther, and this section is generally said to be taken from Neckam’s De Naturis Rerum, c. xlvi. His dove has eight ‘natures,’ three of which are wanting in our author’s seven, and lacks two of those given here (ll. 656, 657; ll. 660, 661), while Neckam’s explanation of the fifth, ll. 662, 663, is quite different. The matter is common to the Fathers and medieval writers, and our author may have drawn from more than one, but Hugh of S. Victor, De Bestiis et aliis Rebus, lib. i. c. 11, most nearly resembles him. His dove has ten qualities, six of which are here, and there is something resembling the seventh: each of them is quoted.

651. wes, we them. hauen in mode, keep in mind: so, ‘ben us minde,’ l. 653: see 184/263.

653. Mätzner takes alle it together as, all of them, comparing 190/450, where he says it = them, but see 1/10 note: the construction is similar here, it is a mere introductory word like there: the order is, it ogen alle &c., and the meaning, they ought all to be present in thought to us.

654. ‘Caret felle, id est, irascibilitatis amaritudine,’ V. Comp. ‘Loke nu þet tu, þet he cleopeð kulure, habbe kulure kunde, þet is wiðuten galle,’ AR 292/19; ‘Forr cullfre iss milde ⁊ meoc ⁊ swet, | ⁊ all wiþþutenn galle,’ Orm 1258; ‘Lauedi scho es o leuedis all, | Mild and mek witouten gall,’ CM 101.

655. simple: Comp. ‘Estote simplices sicut columbe · buð admode alse duue,’ OEH ii. 49/25, that is, humble. softe, gentle.

656. ‘Non vivit ex raptu, quia non detrahit proximo,’ V. Mätzner divided bi lagt and explained lagt as pp. of lacchen used substantively as prey: the word does not occur elsewhere.

657. The scribe probably understood this line as, Let us do aback all thieving; that is, renounce, reject, like ‘werpeð abec,’ 16/142: though aback descends from on bæc. But the rhyme is bad, and the emendation hac, due to Mätzner, does not improve it, besides being difficult of interpretation. If it is for ac (comp. 217/87) the meaning might be, Let us also put away from us all thieving. Morris suggests hagt = agt, mind, and the rhyme lagt : hagt occurs in GE, see 201/135, but the word hagt means, in ME., only care, anxiety, peril. Holthausen proposed iþagt, OE. geþeaht; in the sense, put out of our counsel, thoughts: the form apparently does not occur elsewhere, and it makes a metrical difficulty. Probably the corruption of the line began with Ilc; it may have run, Noman do we robbing of aght; comp. ‘If i giue þe for to kepe | . . . | Hors or ani oþer aght, | And it wit wiþerwin be laght,’ CM 6763; ‘For to spare his aune aght, | þis pore manes schep he laght,’ id. 7927.

658, 659. ‘Colligit grana meliora, id est, meliora dicta. Non vescitur cadaveribus, id est, desideriis carnalibus,’ V. leteð, abstains from. Omit ðe before sed.

660, 661. ‘Geminos nutrit pullos, id est, amorem Dei et amorem proximi,’ V, which is not like the text. Comp. rather, ‘Alienos pullos nutrit dum errantes a regno Dei alienos per poenitentiam reducit,’ Honorius Augustod., 962. ur ilk, each of us.

662, 663. ‘Columba pro cantu utitur gemitu, quia quod libens fecit plangendo gemit,’ V. woning &c.: see 2/15. lic: apparently adv., equally; likewise; her song is at the same time a lament: the order of the words and the absence at this date of a preposition with woning is against the meaning, her song is similar to a lament: comp. ‘Forr þeȝȝre (cullfre ⁊ turrtle) sang iss lic wiþþ wop,’ Orm 7931. For bimene, reflexive, see 40/168 note.

664, 665. ‘Super fluenta aquarum (Canticum Canticorum, v. 12) residet, ut, visa acciptris umbra, venientem citius devitet, quia in scripturis studet, ut supervenientis diaboli fraudem declinet,’ V. wis of, a variant of ‘war of,’ suggested by the frequent association of ‘wis and war:’ see 18/16. nome, seizing, clutches: only here and at 206/322.

666, 667. ‘Nidificat in foraminibus petrae, quia spem ponit in Christi passione,’ V.

Phonology: Oldest E. Texts 570 OE Texts

a + g ... Anglian tre(o): tre (o)

Accidence: ...nigt s. a. 582; 582:

The personal pronouns ... oðer 603 oder

eurilc 257, 286 euerilc 257, eurilc 286

Only three verbs ... I c. s. 3. wan 632 3,

For the octosyllable ... cundnéss|ẹ afín 644 afin

Verses of three measures ... tíl | it cúm|ẹð ðe tíme 403 timé

Syncope of the middle vowel ... sinịging 256 sinigịng

173. ... subj. past from healdan subj. past.

185. ... AR 50/15 AR/50/15

257. ... it would balance eurilcdel euerilcdel

260. ... Comp. ‘ðe sunenday | ðat is open quote missing

356. ... subject of is. period (full stop) missing

357. ... the Creator made these loathly things final “r” in “Creator” invisible

a common medieval idea “l” in “medieval” invisible

414. ... Huic religare citam pro tempestate carinam pre

428, 429 ... Mentes cunctorum qui sunt ubique virorum text unchanged: error for “ubicunque”?

467, 468. ... Turpibus indulgent,’ close quote invisible

489. ... habere virtutem prebetivam text unchanged: error for “prebitivam”?

612. ... It corresponds to an OE. *hǣlewǣg OE *hǣlewǣg

XXII. GENESIS AND EXODUS

Manuscript: Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 444, former mark R 11; on vellum, 186 × 116 mm., in one hand of the end of thirteenth or of the beginning of the fourteenth century. It contains on 81 folios the poem from which the present extract is made. On f. 1 r is the name of a former owner, Richard Southwell, with a motto nearly obliterated, Sapit qui sustinet, or suscepit (James). See further A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS. in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, by M. R. James, vol. ii, p. 357.

Editions: Morris, R., Genesis and Exodus. E. E. T. S., O. S. 7, 1865, revised 1873. Mätzner, E., Altenglische Sprachproben, i. 76-90. Specimens, 153-170. Emerson, O. F., ME. Reader, 21-35.

Literature: Fritzsche, A., Anglia, v. 43-90 (authorship, phonology, grammar, metre, notes); Hilmer, H., Ueber die Sprache der altenglischen Story of Genesis and Exodus, Sondershausen, 1876; Holthausen, F., ES xvi. 429-33, Archiv, xc. 143, 144, 295, cvii. 386-92, Anglia, xv. 191-4, xxii. 141 (notes and emendations); Kölbing, E., ES iii. 273-334, xvii. 292-6 (notes and emendations); Schumann, W., Anglia, vi. Anzeiger, 1-32; Stratmann, F. H., ES ii. 120, iv. 98 (notes).

Analogue: Die altfranzösische Histoire de Joseph, ed. W. Steuer, Erlangen, 1903, also as L’Estoire Joseph, ed. E. Sass, Berliner Dissertation, 1906.

Phonology: This section should be compared with pp. 581-586; explanations of abnormal forms offered there are not repeated. Oral a is a, asses 427, crauen 420; a before nasals is a, gan 8, man 446 r. w. chanaan, nam 84, quanne 14, ðanne 199; men 204 (3 times) is a reduced form of the indefinite pronoun man; a before lengthening groups is o, among 587, fond 30, but and 6 &c., handful 15, Orm’s hanndfull, with consonant following the lengthening group. æ is a, at 25, bad 93 (14), bar 22 (6), dale 79 r. w. bale, faste 93, 248, quat 37, ðat 9, was 1 &c.; the exceptions are fest 427 r. w. best, queðer 111, reste 82, reste 466 (5), weche 514, weches 521 (comp. ‘weciað,’ Vesp. Ps. 126/1), togider 406 r. w. hider. e is e, beden 266, beðen 501, deren 402 r. w. sheren, stede 81 r. w. dede, wel 10 &c. (wēl, Bülbring, § 284); before lengthening groups, ende 588, engeles 587, feld 29, but hate 12, 32, 33, influenced by haten, hatian and perhaps by OWScand. hatr, bi 150, quilke 134 (3), swilc 33, bliscing 452, influenced by blissung, rejoicing, wol 384, GE 621, ‘wol wel he dede,’ id. 724, ‘ðehg wol wel,’ id. 1266, due to labial influence and weakness of stress (Gabrielson, Influence of W-, 207, 8); seigen 548, seið 404 (secgað). i is i, bid 563, driuen 219, is 74 &c., ðider 55, wile 180, wliten 343 r. w. eten; before lengthening groups, bringen 213, wilde 71, winden 502; beðen 552 is a miswriting of bidden, welin 585 of wilen. o is o, biforen 16, on 32, soren 15, wrogt 36 r. w. nogt; before lengthening groups, forð 190, gold 194, ‘wolde,’ GE 1418, but an 95, a 40, 108, without stress, wulde 9 (4), wurðen 517. u is u, kuppe 101, wukes 527; before lengthening groups, grund 164, hunger 204, murnen 107, but boden 67, storue 54, ‘domme,’ GE 2821, French writings. y is regularly i, bigen 220, kin 240, 244 r. w. beniamin, kire 505 r. w. ȳre; before lengthening groups, kinde 129 (5), kinges 87, but deden (dǣdon) 2, 154, 265 r. w. beden, 431, 504, 538 r. w. abiden, dede 44, 82 r. w. stede, come 321, sundri 81 (3), analogy of sundor. ā is o, agon 292 (ongān), gon 242 r. w. pharaon, 249 r. w. symeon, non 283 r. w. symeon, on 320 r. w. symeon, ðo 13, wrot 581 r. w. mot; with oo, ‘ooc,’ GE 1873, ‘wooc,’ id. 1874; but ‘loac,’ GE 1798, ‘ðoa,’ id. 3894 r. w. salmona, 4129 r. w. fasga, ‘woa,’ id. 880 r. w. oba: slo 35, slon 34 r. w. on, come from forms with ā; before two consonants, homward 430, but a 81, an 58 &c., unstressed article, anoðer 43, ali 482, 493, 526, hali 492, clad 174? with shortened a as if from *clādd, gast 482, 492, quam 374 (hwām), bilef, 214, 251 (‘belāf,’ Peterborough Chron., an. 1131), probably by confusion with belǣfan, but Kluge, Grundriss § 125, assumes a change of ablaut, ‘ða,’ GE 1901 r. w. bozra, ‘wac,’ id. 1197 r. w. ysaac. ǣ₁ is e, bilewen 287, clene 493, leden 358 r. w. speden, 355 r. w. ðeden, segeð 286, form from sǣgan, meaning from sīgan; before two consonants, fette 154, helðe 398, lesteð 564, but ea in ear 202, 483, a in ani 235 (ā with shortening), ðan 212, 389, 550 (þām with shortening), and o in most 350, 422 (l N māst), ei in fleis 143 (= fles, comp. treweiðe 358), i in ilc 409, 410, 421 (ylc). ǣ₂ is e, bedden 327 (bǣdon from biddan in form, but budon from bēodan in meaning), dede 41 (4), mel 466 r. w. wel, red 45, 191 r. w. sped, 568 r. w. dead, sel 442 r. w. wel, ðer 95 r. w. prisuner, 170 r. w. buteler, weren 255 (6), were 228, wet 342, 396 r. w. gret; before two consonants, lewse 44, 407 (lǣswe), redden 34, vnselðehe 370, but ðor 42 r. w. sor, 48 &c., 471 r. w. ger, ðore 324, wor 82 (hwāra), quuor 482 (3), quor 462, wore 139, 246, woren 434 r. w. biforen, and six other instances. ē is e, bene 565, sped 46 r. w. red; before two consonants, kepten 25, but doðes 230. ī is i, but y is written for it in yre 506. ō is o, written oo in good 121, 448, ‘booc,’ GE 4124, ‘tooc,’ id. 4123, but cam 55 (8), bicam 202, breðere 7 (14), an umlaut form, wep (OE. wōp) 382 is a new formation from wēpan, briðere 325. ū is u, but ‘town,’ GE 2739, ‘out,’ id. 72. ȳ is i, hid 364, kid 411 r. w. bitid, srid 73 r. w. bitid, but ðe 357 (þȳ).

ea before r + cons. is a, harme 368; before lengthening groups, forward 290, harde 94 (3), but e in erd 148 (3), gerken 309, speren 248, sperd 93, 147 and wurð 116 (9). The i-umlaut is e, derne 46, erue 44, werneden 261, but chare 444. ea before l + cons. is a, alle 34 &c., salt 20 (3); before lengthening groups o, bold 13, 175, cold 39, 584, holden 94 (3), old 3 (3), sold 4 (4), wold 40 (4), but geld 206, ‘geald,’ GE 2581; the i-umlaut is e, eldere 483, 560, welden 197 (see 359/7 and comp. Bülbring § 175 anm.). eo before r + cons. is e, berge 583, fer 483, feren 31, herte 32 (6), sterres 17. To the wur group belong wurðe 111, 128, wurðen 465, 481, wurðed 20, wurðeden 18, wurðing 194. The i-umlaut is i, hirde 449, hirdnesse 26, but hertedin 76, smeren 496, 502 (smierwan), smered 509, 511, smerles 508 are without umlaut: a wyr word is wurð 39 (5). The u- and å-umlauts of a are wanting, as in bale 80 r. w. dale, faren 292, misfaren 7, as are also those of e, werlde 288 (7), beren 138, fele 425. eo, u- and å-umlaut of i, is e in her 13, but biueð 334, cliued 59, cliueð 438, liued 60, nimen 416, 532, siluer 268 (comp. OWScand. silfr, Björkman, 112), siðen 115 (6) have no umlaut. ea after palatals is a, sal 79 &c., shauen 174, bigat 332 r. w. get, forgaf 553, forgat 146, gaf 45 (5). ie after ġ is e, bigetel 88, bigeten 234, forgeten 156, geuen 452, 512, but forgiue 549 r. w. liuen, ME. gifte 520; after sc, e, sheren 401 r. w. deren. EWS. gief is if 7 (3). eo after ġ is u in gunge 335, gungest 214 (4); after sc, u, sulen 22 &c., sulde 9, sulden 355, ‘suuen,’ GE 107. eom is am 129 (4), heom, hem 9 &c.

ēa is e, bed 101, bred 102, dede 519, eddi 140, gret 341, 395 r. w. wet, lepes 132, ee in neet 151; before two consonants e, eðimod 303, lefful 578, but ea in bead 548, bread 133, dead 1 r. w. unred, 485, 547, 567 r. w. red, dead 286, eares 158, and a (shortening) before two consonants in chapmen 85, chafare 47, gatte 531, 567 (Björkman, 109). The i-umlaut is e, herde 107, heren 585, nede 215, 219, ned 295, 578 r. w. red, nedful 184. ēo is invariably e, bed 127, bedden 552, for beden, ben 10 &c., dep 38 r. w. slep, leue 475, sen 26 &c., ðeden 356 r. w. leden, ðre 132 r. w. me; it is written ee in seen 492, ‘teen,’ GE 1344; before two consonants e, fellen 326, 551, leuere 139; but ei in weis 343 (wēox from weacsan), comp. fleis 143: miswritten i in lif 481 for ‘lef,’ GE 340 (6). The i-umlaut is e, dere 301, 453, ten 51 r. w. men. gīet is get 39 (6). ēa after ġ is e, ger 1 (11).

a + g is ag, dragen 100, lages 500, slagen 58, but daiges 499, 509, 525, laiges 510, 526, daies 123. æ + g is ei, dei 141 r. w. weilawei, freinde 107, seide 19 (6), seiden 218 (7), seid 479, 482, and ai, abraid 165, dai 249, 359 r. w. wei, faire 447, mai 19 (6), waines 416, written ay in may 36: fagen 321 (3) is from fagen: æ + h is seen in lagt 135, ‘vnachteled,’ GE 796. e + g is ei, leid 284, weie 293: agen 55 r. w. sen, 125, 304, 403 r. w. ben comes from agēn. i + g is ig in manige 234, 332, but the spirant is absorbed in birien 478, biried 571, ybiried 574, and manie 446: birigeles 528, biriele 542 (byrgels) are analogic: beries 116 is LWS. berie. Final ig is i, eddi 140, seli 568; stiward 87, 317 is LWS. stīweard: i + h is seen in ‘sigðhe’ (gesihþ), GE 1630. o + g, h is og, bogt 90, drogen 456, wrogt 78, 272, ‘dogtres,’ GE 1090, 1094, but dowter 201 (? Northern). u + g, h is ug, fugeles 135, mugen 144. y + h is seen in ME. frigti 18. ā + g is og, ogen 108, but owen 40; ā + h, og, ‘oget,’ GE 324, but agte 363 (? influence of ǣht). ǣ₁ + h is ag, agte 144 (ǣht), bitagt 97 r. w. hagt: ǣ₂ + g, leigen 16. ō + h is og, brogt 274, nogt 35 r. w. wroht, sogt 30, other spellings are ‘broghten,’ GE 1008, ‘ðohgteful,’ id. 1437, ‘sowt,’ id. 2870, ‘ðhowtes,’ id. 3544, ‘wroutis,’ id. 456. ō + g is og, ug, ‘bog,’ GE 608, ‘ynog,’ id. 3670, buges 114, ynug 210. ū + g is ug, drugte 161, ðhugte 118. ea + h is seen in sag 7 (6), waxen 114; the i-umlaut in migt 504, migte 68 &c., nigt 103, 515 r. w. rigt. eo + h is seen in rigt 15, brictest 6, but sextene 3 (comp. Mercian sex, sexta, Bülbring § 319 anm.); fe 89 represents feoh, dat. fēo. ēa + g is eg, bege 194; hegest 196 may represent hēahsta, but is more probably a new formation from hēh; ēa + h, ‘ðehg,’ GE 1266. ēo + g is also eg, drege 262; ēo + h is seen in wex 211; wexen 158, 556; the i-umlaut in ligten 79 (līhtan). ā + w is ou, ow, sowen 401, soules 578, sowle 579. ī + w, newe 412 is Anglian nēowe. ēa + w is ew, shewed 67, ðewed 10. ēo + w is also ew, knewen 31, 216, reweli 382, rewðe 393, trewthe 390, but gure 232 (5), final, gu 314 &c., knew 221, 222, wintre 113; without umlaut are trewið 91, trewed 439.

In syllables without stress a is levelled to e, moneð 516, vten 460, so o in hunger 230; ofrigt 104, 279 representing āfyrht has been influenced by ME. offriȝt: on is an 95. An e, often unmetrical, has been inserted in bodẹward 336, bodẹwurd 548, breðere 7 &c., briðẹre 325, coren 158 (9), engẹles 587, manigẹfold 556, gadẹren 188, eldẹre 483, 560, fugeles 135, 143, leuelike 329, leuere 139, reweli 382 (but rewli 64), vnselðẹhe 370, similarly ei, i in trewẹịðe 358, birịgeles 528 (byrgels); an irrational e is added finally in ðogẹ 24, towardẹ 49; e is omitted in bettre 44, biforn 326, first 185, forward 88, 318, gur 314, herdne 127 (ǣrende), mor 260 r. w. or: i is written for e in michil 260, and inserted in eðimod 303 (ēaþmōd), sinịgeden 259. The prefix in tawnen 180 is æt; be- is regularly bi, biforen 16, biment 256, bitwen 23; ge- is generally lost, kinde 129, lefful 578, seli 192, writ 70, but it survives in gede 43, 341 (yet g may be merely parasitic), yoten 470, ynug 210, it is disguised in to ful in wis 575 (comp. 196/637); the suffix ung is regularly ing, ending 283, wurðing 194.

Metathesis of r takes place in wrigtful 258, wrigteleslike 130; rr is simplified in chare 444 r. w. fare, charen 490 r. w. faren, duren 293, fer 483, feren 31. ll is simplified in al 167 &c., handful 15, wil 28 (3), wilen 358. n is added in dalen 27, against metre, and lost in a 40, 108, o 103, 177, 280 for on; nn is simplified in gunen 432, mankin 460 (manncynn), quane 4, 356. p is inserted in dempt 92, ME. drempte 37, 103, and lost in ME. chafare 47. f between vowels and vowellikes is u, crauen 420, erue 44, louerd 237, luue 18, ouer 541, wiue 201, written w in bilewen 287, wiwes 91, but ‘wifwes,’ GE 857, ‘wifuede,’ id. 1588 and even ‘wifes,’ id. 453 also occur; otherwise it is f, fare 85, lif 493; it is doubled in off 476, and lost in lord 226. t is doubled in bettre 44, lutten 217, lost in best 350 and finally in an 122, 575 (the original had ant), ða 128, 244, 372, ef 391, GE 3081, ‘hef,’ id. 4019, ‘flig,’ id. 3084; tt is simplified in fet 152; for t, þ is written in anð 218, and th, ‘soth,’ GE 3685, ‘leth,’ id. 3385: ts is sc in bliscing 452; a curious letter substitution is p for t in waspene 6, GE 1440 (wæstm). d is doubled in bedden 327, 552, eddi 140 (? shortening); b is written for it in glaðe 351 r. w. scaðe, wurðen 517 and frequently elsewhere: dd is simplified in fordred 245. For þ, th appears in trewthe 390, ‘tholen,’ GE 508; it is often written ðh, biðhogte 169, ðhenke 126, ðhing 476, ðhogt 165, 221, 308, ðhogte 24 (3), ðhugte 118, ðhurg 246, welðhe 428, but ðinkeð 457, ðogte 448. Initial þ in pronominal words is seldom assimilated after t, s, so, ðat ðin 189, ‘malt ðat,’ GE 1017, ‘salt ðu,’ id. 1043, but ‘at te,’ GE 2756, ‘and (for ant) te,’ id. 615, ‘and tin,’ id. 926, ‘is tis,’ id. 334. For þ, d is written in dan 54, dat 70, 534, de 97, dogt 486, dor 45, endede 575 (endeð), helped 77, kude 168, quad 35 (4), wid 41 (4), and t in quat 77, 383, ‘Betel,’ GE 760. þþ is simplified in siðen 115 &c., d is substituted for it in siden 509. Noteworthy is derke 291, 399 with rk for rþ. sć is mostly s, sal 79, salt 20, soren 15, srid 73, srud 61, 421, sulde 9, sulen 22, finally, fleis 143, weis 343 (cs), doubled in wassen 345, but shauen 174, sheren 401, shewed 67, schilde 579; she 21, ‘sche,’ GE 235, ‘sge,’ id. 1444, ‘che,’ id. 1227 are equivalent. The stop c is k before e and i and in combination with other consonants, biwaken 498, wukes 527, kid 411, drink 106, often before u, kumen 31, 48, kuppe 101, kude 420, but cloðes 73, folc 82, ranc 159, cumen 123 &c., cuppe 364, 372, cuðe 208, and the proper names ‘Cedar,’ GE 1257, ‘Ceturam,’ id. 1446; otherwise it is c, cam 55, comen 75, coren 158 &c., spac 395, woc 165. For c, g is written in ‘ðig,’ GE 564, ‘swing,’ id. 566, ‘ðengen,’ id. 1571. č is ch, chare 444, childes 61, lich 495 (5), michel 89, riche 324, but biseken 546, euerilk 379, ic 21, swilc 33 &c., are not palatalized: swil 442 has lost c; similarly ‘Qwel,’ GE 170, ‘quil,’ id. 3631. čč is ch, drechen 42, fechen 417, rechen 140, 176, rechede 178, reching 112, wech 514, weches 521: smaken 497 is a ME. formation. čǧ is g in bigen 220, 300, comp. 481/7, 8. cw is regularly qu, quad 35 &c. Palatal ġ is written g, geld 206, ger 1, gunkeste 5; ġe is y in yoten 470, ynug 210; it is lost in if 7 &c. An interpolated y sound appears to be indicated by g in ‘digere’ (dīere), GE 3483, ‘tgen’ (tēon), id. 3824, ‘tgen’ (tīen), id. 3413, 3418, ‘tgelt,’ id. 1840, the second and third also appear as ‘then,’ GE 1514, 3305 (h pronounced separately), similarly ‘thaunen,’ GE 32: comp. 365/23. The guttural spirant is g in swolgen 72, sorge 74 (comp. Orm’s bollȝhenn, sorrȝhe); later forms are sorwe 59 (3), morwen 359; it is lost in sorfull 380. The voiceless spirant is also written g, frigti 325, nigt 103, sogt 30, sag 7, ðog(e) 24, ðurg 577, so probably drugte 161 (drūgað, in Orm, druhhþe), other representations of the same sound are seen in brictest 6, ‘brocte,’ GE 237, ‘hicte,’ id. 713: ‘sagt,’ GE 1301, ‘burgt,’ id. 727 have added an irrational t by analogy of sogt &c. Noteworthy is the insertion of the spirant in the French words haigre 73, ‘olige,’ GE 1624, ‘astronomige,’ id. 792, where ig may be written for ī, but olie 512. ǧ appears in egypte 86 &c. h is lost in adde 14 (5), adden 504, 505, ali 482 (3), aue 442, aueð 523, e 39, 395, 476, is 14 (9), om 324, yoten 470, also by coalescence in fonde 29, madim 62, weli 582, wexem 11. h is added in halle 394, herdes 464, herdne 127, hunne 303, hure 260, 549. hl is l, lene 153, lord 226: hr, r, rad 535, raðe 367, rem 58, ring 193: hw, qu, quane 4, quan 190, quat 37, queðer 111, quiles 37, quilke 134, quam 374, quor 462 and quu, quuan 365, quuor 482, but nā-hwǣr is ‘nogwer,’ GE 1271.

Accidence: Strong declension of masc. and neut. nouns. In the s. n. a. hate 12, stede 43, 81, sune 5, 72, wlite 342, kire 505, mete 138, bale 80, erue 44, herdne 127 have e corresponding to their OE. vocalic ending, bege 194, bode 69, 437 (gebod, comp. boda, messenger), liche 542, 569 (but lich 495), weie 305 have added e, wliten 343, GE 3614, n, fe 89 represents feoh, drugte 402, drūgaþ. Gen.-es, flodes 150, kinges 87, wiwes 91, but louerdis 326: dat. -e, bale 92, 579, come 321, ende 588, here 533, mete 348, stede 468, 521, sune 443, with vowel termination in the nominative, dale 79 (dalen 27 has added n, against metre), gilte 463, harme 368, kinge 235 (but king 451), liue 471 (but lif 493), londe 386, 572 (but lond 129 &c.), ofspringe 236, tune 365, wastme 6, wedde 252, weie 293, 534, wiue 201; without inflection are fulsumhed 182, grund 164, strem 150, ðogt 384 and a large number of others, mostly with long stem vowel or of more than one syllable; yre 506 has lost n, tre 113 is an Anglian nominative form trēo, wo 458 is indeclinable. The pl. n. a. of masculines end in -es, fugeles 135, sunes 2 (7), lepes 132, muðes 270, but meten 133, 309, r. w. eten (translating cibos, panes; at GE 363 it is probably singular with added n), sunen 229 r. w. cumen: neuters are der 71, folc 498, 505, ger 181 (7), ?kin 556, neet 151, srud 421, gere 190, bones 566, geres 207, liches 501, wiues 417. Genitive is teres 342, 396, datives, engeles 587, semes 427, teres 410. Of the fem. nouns of the strong declension helpe 83, herte 339, luue 340 have original e in the nominative, bene 565, bere 535, blisse 122, dede 41 (3), rewðe 393, sonde 367, trewðe 513, vnselðehe 370, sinne 36, sorwe 59, sorge 74 (3), wede 68 have added e, without it are ending 474 and other verbal substantives in -ing, ned 295, sped 192. Genitives are drugte 161, soules 578, werldes 494; helle pine 584, helle dale 79 may be regarded as composition forms. Dative -e, blisse 586, helðe 398, lewse 44, nede 215, 219, werlde 288 (7); onsagen 99, ðeden 356 have added n; but bering 232, hond 197 (3), as often in OE., ned 578, smerles 508, sped 46, 275, wurðing 194 are without inflection. Acc. -e, fare 85, hirdnesse 26; gifte 520, kinde 490 have added e; without inflection are bimening 538, bliscing 452, ending 283, forward 88 (3), stund 95, 163 and, as in OE., hond 117, migt 504. Pl. n. are blisses 404, dedes 513, hertes 13, lages 500, sondes 219, agte 144; d. laiges 526; a. agtes 278, laiges 510, agte 198, weden 423. Nouns of the weak declension have -e in the nom., bode 529, bredwrigte 131, wille 388; d. wune 6; a. kuppe 101, time 474; genitive is weches 521, but ‘sterre,’ GE 134. Pl. n. are sterres 17, wukes 527; d. wunes 347, but ‘feren,’ GE 1275; a. asses 427, beries 116, feres 532, but ‘wunen,’ GE 3137. The minor declensions are represented by fot s. d. 326, 551, ‘fote’ pl. d., GE 376; man s. n. 167, s. d. 302, men pl. n. 184, chapmen 85, hirdemen 449, men pl. d. 587, pl. a. 47; moneð s. a. 516; boc s. n. 576; biri s. d. 311; nigt s. d. 103, s. a. 515, pl. a. 501 (5), nigtes 499; fader s. n. 19, faderes s. g. 229, fader s. d. 8; broðer s. n. 110, s. a. 244, breðere pl. n. 21 (9), briðere 325, breðere pl. g. 267, pl. d. 429, pl. a. 7; moder s. d. 338; dowter s. a. 201; childes s. g. 61, childre pl. n. 282, pl. a. 304, childer 203; eares pl. n. 158; bred s. a. 102, bread 133.

Adjectives which in OE. end in a vowel have e throughout, bliðe 413, 429, riche 324, 327, 408; those in -ig lose g and are invariable, miri 312, sundri 81, 408, 468, similarly rewli (hrēowlic) 64. Weak inflections are gunge s. n. m. 335 (insert þe before it), leue s. a. m. 475, wis[e] s. d. m. 461 (similarly ‘ðe strong[e] god of israel,’ GE 1846 is to be read). All others are uninflected in the singular; they either belong to the classes mentioned above, or are predicative, or come after the noun qualified. mycel is michil s. n. f. 281, michel s. n. neut. 89, lȳtel, litel s. a. f. 95. The plural has -e, fette 158, fulle 400, glaðe 351, gode 513, harde 108, smale 161; the exceptions, mostly dissyllabic or predicative, are bold 13, fulsum 207, nedful 184, niðful 13, ranc 159, 162, sorful 380, wis 533 (read wisẹ), wrigtful 258. ān as article without stress is before consonants, a, an, 58, 64, 81, 149, 159 &c., once on 469, before h, an 455, 555, as elsewhere before a vowel. The numeral and pronoun is on, 101, 179, 227, 233 &c.; nān, pronoun and adjective is mostly non, but the adjective is twice no, 296, 352. Adjectives used as nouns with inflections are pl. n. fette 164, d. dede 519, fette 154, a. fette 155, sibbe 557. Comparatives have -e, bettre 53, more 420, leuere 139, eldere 483, but bet 420 (adverb form); superlatives are mostly without it, best 350 (3), brictest 6, first 185, gungest 214, 239, hegest 196, most 350, but gunkeste 5, gungeste 244 have weak inflection: boðen is pl. n. with added n, 179, pl. d. 103.

The personal pronouns are ic 21 (4), ‘hic,’ GE 34, rarely i, id. 309, me, we, ur pl. g. 316, us, ðu, (‘redes)tu,’ GE 2934, ðe, ge pl. n., gure g. 372, gu d. 314, a. 561, ge 406. Dual forms occur elsewhere, ‘wit,’ GE 1775, ‘unc,’ id. 1776, ‘gunc,’ id. 2830. The pronoun of the third person is s. n. he m. 4 &c., e 29 (4), (wel) i 582, she f. 21, ‘sche,’ GE 235, ‘sge’ id. 1444, ‘che,’ id. 1227, ghe 203, ‘ge,’ GE 1024, it neut. 12, (was)t 53, (‘stod)et,’ GE 590, with pl. verb, id. 1770, g. ‘hire’ f. id. 2035, d. him m. 60, (mad)im 62, ‘hin,’ GE 47, ‘hire’ f., id. 322, ‘it’ neut., id. 6, a. him m. 37, ‘hine,’ GE 3468 r. w. dine, ‘hin,’ id. 3004, ‘in,’ id. 3887, ‘hire’ f., id. 971, it neut. 63, (‘tell)et,’ GE 3526; pl. n. he 31 &c., once ‘ðei,’ GE 573, g. here 263, 410, 421, ‘ere,’ GE 2855, her 312, d. hem 14, (wex)em 11, a. hem 26 &c., is 184, 458, 503 (‘warp)es,’ GE 3025, ‘hes’ (= he them), id. 911, 943. Reflexives are ‘ðe self,’ GE 934, gu 358, him 169, hem 256, 355, ‘himseluen,’ GE 1338, ‘hemseluen,’ id. 537; definitive is self s. d. m. 235; possessives, mi s. n. m. 110, mine f. 565, in other cases min 72, 80, 371; pl. n. a. mine 566, min 282, 304, 404; ði s. n. f. 388, s. a. neut. 143, in other cases ðin 110, 125, 189, 436; pl. n. ðine 21; his 8 &c. as general form for the singular, written is 15 (6), but hise 91, 191, 236, 396, 474, 475, 490, 495, 569, 579, at all these places his is metrically admissible; pl. hise as the general form 25 &c., but his 40, 73, 75, is 14, 410, 429, hise being in all these places metrically admissible; ‘hire’ f., GE 333; ‘his’ neut., GE 120, ‘is,’ id. 327; ure 315, 547, 560, hure 260, 549, ur 226; ‘gunker,’ GE 398, gure 232 (4), gur 314; here 16 (8), ‘ere,’ GE 3773, her 13. The definite article is ðe 82 &c., de 97, ‘(at) te,’ GE 2756, miswritten ðo 164, instrumental, ðe 357, for ði 11; ðat 169 &c., ða 244, pl. ðo 98 &c. are demonstratives: wið ðan ðat conj. 389, miswritten wið ðanne ðat 550. The compound demonstrative is s. ðis 19, 131, ðes 166; pl. ðise 185, ðis 179, 186, ðes 253, in the last three places ðise is admissible. The relatives are ðat 22, 185 (= that which), ðe 102. Interrogatives are ‘quo,’ GE 2821, ‘quase,’ id. 2870, quam 374, quat 107 (5), ‘Queðer,’ GE 1471, quilc s. 474, ‘quil,’ GE 3631, quilke pl. 134, 404, ‘qwel,’ GE 170; the correlative is swilc s. 33, 59, 393, swil 442, pl. swilke 234, swilc 236, 500 (metre requires swilke in the latter place). Indefinites are quat so 37, 40, 388, quat so euere 386; men 204, 232, 277, ‘man,’ GE 1, 3; sum 515, 516, 517, ‘summe’ pl., GE 399, 401; ani 235; oðer s. 202, oðere pl. 183 (5), toðere 394, oðer 133, 510 (read oðre); anoðer 43, 157; ilc 410, euerilc 152, euerilk on 379; ‘mani,’ s., GE 696, manie 446 (read mani), manige pl. 234, 332, ‘manie,’ GE 4068; fele 425; fo 457; al s. 167, but allẹ s. d. f. 428, pl. alle 16 &c., halle 394, al 250, 325 (read alle).

Only two verbs, fare 443, reste 82, have infinitive in -e; all others, including thirteen of the second weak conjugation, end in -en. Contract verbs are bisen 195, sen 19 (5), seen 492, ten 9. The dative infinitive is not inflected, it has for prefix mostly to, but for to with bigen 300, cumen 123, geuen 452, slon 34. Presents are s. 1. bid 563, chare 444, rede 187; 2. findes 374, ‘betes,’ GE 3974, ‘haues,’ id. 360 and others in -es, ‘tregest,’ GE 3975 is isolated; 3. bimeneð 280, liueð 437, cliued 59, endedẹ 575, haued 92, helped 77, liued 60, ðinked 461, trewið 91; contracted are bitid 235, bit 292, hað 560, lið 12 (‘ligeð,’ GE 889, against metre), wurð 39 (5); pl. 1. holden 290, drege we 262; 2. senden 294, cume ge 225, haue ge 369; 3. hauen 72, wunen 518: subjunctive s. 2. friðe 389; 3. berge 583, helpe 582, leue 586, wurðe 111, deren 534 r. w. here, with irrational added n; pl. 1. liuen 550: imperative s. 2. bed 127, tel 110, forgiue 549, ðhenke 126; pl. 2. bereð 297, hoteð 564, seið 404. Past of Strong Verbs: I a. s. 3. bad 93, 175, bigat 332, forgaf 553, forgat 146, gaf 45, quad 35, quat 77, quað 121, sag 7, spac 395; pl. 3. bedden 327, leigen 16: I b. s. 3. bar 22, bicam 202, cam 55, nam 84, tobar 200; pl. 3. comen 75, nomen 61: I c. s. 1. gan 459, wrong 118, wurð 116; 3. abraid 165, bigan 462, fond 30, gan 8, geld 206, unbond 277, wurð 145, freinde 107 (weak form); pl. 3. funden 69, gunnen 546, gunen 432, gunne 49 (if the word following ends in n, there is a tendency to drop the verbal n, comp. 10, 420), wurðen 104: subjunctive s. 1. wurðe 128; 3. wurðe 272, wurð[e] 477: II. s. 3. bilef 214, 251, ros 32, wrot 578; pl. 3. abiden 537, smiten 163: III. s. 3. bead 548, bed 101, gret 71; pl. 3. boden 67, lutten 217: IV. s. 1. stod 113; 3. stod 15, swor 487, understod 264, woc 165; pl. 3. foren 536, token 254: V. IV. s. 3. wex 13, 291, weis 343; pl. 3. wexen 158: V. s. 3. forlet 494, het 419, knew 221, let 222, slep 37; pl. 3. fellen 326, knewen 31. Participles present: ‘sigande,’ GE 1436, ‘betende,’ id. 2713, ‘stondende,’ id. 3149; past: I a. beden 266, ?forgeten 233, freten 155, geuen 512: I b. bicumen 281, boren 214, cumen 190, forholen 371, fornumen 282, numen 32, ouercumen 162, stolen 129, soren 15, vndernumen 189: I c. bunden 270, swolgen 72, worpen 39, wurðen 517: II. driuen 375: III. drogen 456, forloren 565: IV. dragen 100, grauen 485, shauen 174, slagen 58, sworen 530: V. IV. waxen 114: V. fordred 245, holden 94, hoten 239, yoten 470, inflected, hotene s. d. 562. Past of Weak Verbs: s. 1. hadde 117; 3. bitagte 193, gatte 531, herde 107, likede 353, made 580, seide 19, missed 57, trewed 439, set 58, told 177, ðoht 352, went 543; pl. 1. sinigeden 259, werneden 261; 3. chidden 23, ferden 360, leiden 65, luueden 206, maden 88, senten 66, skinden 85, hertedin 76, biried 571, shewed 67, stunden 83. Participles present: ‘tuderande,’ GE 164, ‘wuniende,’ id. 2742; past: maked 524, smered 509, ðewed 10, bitid 74, mad 469, seid 479, sperd 93, srid 73, biment 256, ?fest 427, filt 361, ligt 306, ofrigt 104, went 365, inflected, welkede 161. Minor Groups: ‘witen’ inf., GE 328, wot 1 pr. s. 231, pr. s. 166, ‘witen’ pr. pl., GE 74, wiste 2 pt. s. 383, pt. s. 316, wisten pt. pl. 271; hunne pr. s. subj. 303; og 1 pr. s. 241, ‘oc’ pr. s., GE 197, ogen pr. pl. 108, owen 40, ‘agtes’ 2 pt. s., GE 1762, agte pt. s. 363, ‘oget,’ GE 324; duren pr. pl. 293, ‘durste’ pt. s., GE 2593, ‘dursten’ pt. pl., id. 1863; can pr. s. 176, ‘cunen’ pr. pl., GE 4054, cuðe pt. s. 208, kude 168, ‘cuðen’ pt. pl., GE 2996, kude 420, ‘kuð’ pp., GE 2666; sal 1 pr. s. 79, salt 2 pr. s. 20, ‘sal,’ GE 1815, ‘saltu,’ id. 1041, sal pr. s. 126, sulen 1 pr. pl. 22, 2 pr. pl. 408, sule ge 242, sulen pr. pl. 143, ‘sule’ GE 305, ‘suldes’ 2 pt. s., id. 3984, sulde pt. s. 24, sulden pt. pl. 355, sulde 10; ‘munen’ inf., GE 1622, ‘mune,’ id. 972, ‘to munen’ dat. inf., id. 197, ‘for to munen,’ id. 687, muneð pr. s. 463, ‘munen’ 1 pr. pl., GE 558, mune ?pr. s. subj. 476, ‘mune’ 2 pr. s. imp., GE 45; ‘mugen’ inf., GE 1818, mai pr. s. 19 &c., may 36, ‘muwen’ 1 pr. pl., GE 3316, ‘mugen’ pr. pl., id. 3017, ‘mogen,’ id. 3227, mugen pr. pl. subj. 144, migte 1 pt. s. 137, pt. s. 68, migt he 238, ‘migten’ pt. pl., GE 573; mot pr. s. 582, ‘mote’ 1 pr. s. subj., GE 1621, pr. s. subj., id. 2645, ‘muste’ pt. s., id. 2624; ben inf. 10, for to ben d. inf. 196, am 1 pr. s. 129, ‘best’ 2 pr. s., GE 2884, ‘beas,’ id. 365, ‘art,’ id. 356, is pr. s. 74, ‘beð,’ GE 182, ben 1 pr. pl. 258, 2 pr. pl. 223, pr. pl. 123, be 454, aren 282, ‘arn,’ GE 16, be pr. s. subj. 388, 565, ben pr. pl. subj. 566, beð 2 pr. pl. imp. 317, was 1 pt. s. 120, ‘wore’ 2 pt. s., GE 1759, was pt. s. 1, wast (= was it) 53, were we 1 pt. pl. 228, weren pt. pl. 255 (6), woren 100 (7), ‘worn,’ GE 61, wore pt. s. subj. 139, 246; wile pr. s. 180, nile 59, wilen 2 pr. pl. 358, welin (for wilen) pr. pl. 585, wulde pt. s. 9, ‘wolde,’ GE 912, ‘wulden’ pt. pl., id. 1075, ‘wolden,’ id. 3756, ‘nolden,’ id. 3029; ‘don’ inf., GE 194, vndon 168, to don d. inf. 28, doð(es) pr. s. 230, don 2 pr. pl. 285, pr. pl. 519, do pr. s. subj. 568, 2 pr. s. imp. 387, doð 2 pr. pl. imp. 405, dede pt. s. 44 (9), deden pt. pl. 2, dede 82, don pp. 41, 128, 315, 477, 542, do 142; gon inf. 238, ouergon 340, ‘to gon’ d. inf., GE 3078, ‘gon’ 2 pr. pl., id. 3124, ‘go’ 2 pr. s. imp., id. 2815, ‘goð’ 2 pr. pl. imp., id. 3585, gede pt. s. 43, ‘geden’ pt. pl., GE 1034, gon pp. 291.

Vocabulary: Scandinavian are ai 287, aren 282, blomede 115, boðen 103, 179, (bi)calleð 368, fo 457, fro 31, geren 495, grot 74, groten 80, hagt 98, heil(nesse) 122, eðen 242, ille 12, kides 63, lages 500 laiges 526, laðes 188, lit 64, liðeð 131, lote 382 loten 312, nai 35, oc 229, or 1, orest 115, raken 186, ransaken 377, rapen 430 rapeð 403, scaðe 352, seck 363, semet 223, skinden 85, (ouer)takeð 367, tiding 412, til 60, ðeden 84, ðog 24, 217, ðral(dom) 376, wante 298, witter 6, witter(like) 374, wopnede 533; probably busk 159, vnhillen 8; possibly bond 130, cartes 416, twinne 421; in sonderemen 65, er is probably due to Scandinavian influence. French are butuler 109 buteler 169, cisterne 38, feið 241, feste 524, fin 424, flum 540, fruit 301, graunte 590, haigre 73, hardi 175, lettres 581, merci 237, messe(song) 520, offiz 125, olie 512, paid 269, pais 589, plates 52, poure 233, present 327, pris 301, prisun 94, prisunes 98, prisuner 96, scite 469, seruede 105, spices 48, spice(like) 497, spies 223, spien 226, strif 494; possibly the interjection A 237, rospen 186 (OF. rosper). Latin are crisme 512, elmesse 520.

Dialect: East Midland of the Southern border. Its general character is definitely East Midland, but ā as occasionally oa in rhymes like ðoa : salmona GE 4129, woa : oba GE 880, the occurrence of hine : dine GE 3468, hin, id. 3004, yoten 470 beside hotene 562, wuniende GE 2472 as assured by the metre, æ + g as ei beside ai testify to contact with the South. The large proportion of French words may point in the same direction. Evidence of transmission through a North Midland copy is furnished by ā as occasionally a, sć as s, the pronouns ghe, ge beside she, ðei beside he pl., the 2 pr. s. ind. of verbs in -es, the pres. part. in -ande, and occasional aren beside usual ben. It was probably at this stage that the metre suffered by loss of final -e; some feminine endings may have become masculine. The scribe of our manuscript was probably faithful to his exemplar, for he was imperfectly acquainted with the language.

Proper names of three syllables have, with few exceptions, two accents, those of two syllables are very often stressed on the second, according to the current clerical use, for Mammotrectus says ‘nulla dictio de natura acuit ultimam nisi . . . hebraica · ut David ⁊ Jacob.’ So ábrahám, adád, béniamín (10), but béniamin 422, chánaán, ‘cánahán,’ GE 726, dotáym, ebrón, éffraým, gálaád, génesís, gersén, iurdón, mánassén, pháraón 119 (7), pháraún 172 r. w. prisun, but pháraon 191, 465, pharáon 411, pútifár 87, 199, but pv́tifar 91, rámesé, sichém 25, but síchem 29, sýmeón, ýsaác. Otherwise egípte, once egípt 213, iácob, ácob 445, jacóbes, iésu, jóseph, jósep, ósep (18), iosép 92, 266, joséph 139 r. w. swep, in many other places the metre admits of either accentuation, josépes, júdas 387, elsewhere indeterminate, as Vdas 45, móyses, pháran, rúben 55, elsewhere rubén is possible; adjectives are cristéne 510, ebrísse. The spelling of the proper names mostly follows Comestor or the Vulgate, but ebron, egipte, jurdon, pharaon are French, and probably ramese; in view of the variants, no conclusion can be drawn from initial j in Jacob, Judas, and Joseph; for the last the author probably wrote iosep throughout.

Introduction: The author tells us that his song is drawn out of Latin and written in simple language for those who are not book-learned. He was probably a secular priest, for there is no reference to the monastic life in his work. His source was almost exclusively the Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor (here quoted from the edition printed by Crespin at Lyons in 1526), but he occasionally referred to the Vulgate. As his purpose was narrative, he leaves out most of Comestor’s learned disquisitions, but he retains those at ll. 81-4, 501-21 and somewhat enlarges the latter. The source of ll. 354-58 has not been discovered; it may have been an interpolated Comestor. The addition of ‘ouer pharan’ in l. 541 is probably due to the author.

2. unred, folly, an ill-advised thing; OE. unrǣd: comp. ‘He has me don oft vnresun,’ CM 3747; ‘vnwit,’ Laud Troy Book, 4285.

3. For &c. is the remnant of a calculation in Comestor of Jacob’s age at the time when Joseph was sold. See Gen. xxxvii. 2.

6. ‘prestantior corpore et sapientior ceteris,’ Comestor. wastme is Mätzner’s emendation; Morris suggested wasteme: the same scribal error, ‘of faiger waspene’ occurs at GE 1440. OE. wæstm, wæstem means growth, stature; the sense here is, countenance: comp. ‘hire wliti westum,’ SK 310, answering to ‘vultus ipsius claritas.’ of witter wune, discreet in behaviour: the explanations of Mätzner, ‘of intellectual capacity,’ and of Morris, ‘of good ability,’ seem to force the meaning of wune, which is, custom, use, so ‘for kinde wune,’ GE 1405, by family custom, usage. Comp. 208/384; ‘witter of figt,’ GE 864; ‘o resun . . . rijf,’ CM 14837; ‘o reson . . . ranc,’ id. 21024.

7. misfaren, go astray, misbehave.

8. gan—baren, uncovered and laid bare: the auxiliary use of gon is frequent in GE.

9, 10. He would have them discipline themselves, so that they might be of good moral character. Possibly the second he stands for Jacob; that is, Joseph wished Jacob to discipline them. Comp. for ten, 171/368; ‘þat he hine sculde wel i-teon; ⁊ tuhlen him teachen,’ L 2418.

11. him was added by Mätzner. For wið, against, comp. ‘⁊ all þatt follc toc niþ wiþþ himm,’ Orm 10267. nið is often associated with hate; comp. 198/33; ‘þurrh hete ⁊ niþ,’ Orm 1404, 8013; ‘stormes of nið · ⁊ of onde · ⁊ of hatienge,’ OEH ii. 177/4.

12. for—lið: Morris inserts herte after ille, producing a truism and spoiling the verse. Mätzner translates ‘quia situm est in malo,’ treating ille as a neuter noun, evil. Possibly ille means, evil men, but more probably the place is corrupt, and we should read, And hate sor þat ille in it lið, (envy) and bitter hatred which wickedly co-exists with envy, that is, envy which produces hatred of the person envied. For ille as adverb, comp. GE 1706, 4029.

13. ðo . . . Quanne, then especially . . . when: ‘Causa tamen odii maior fuit visio somniorum,’ Comestor. bold, shameless: Lucifer is ‘ðat neddre bold,’ GE 323.

15, 16. ‘Putabam . . . vestros manipulos adorare manipulum meum stantem,’ C. soren, shorn.

16. And all theirs lay before them. it may be meant for a reinforcing dative; see 13/34: but its occurrence elsewhere, as at 201/163, 202/182, where it is hard to explain or otiose and metrically in excess, makes it probable that it is due to the scribe, as it certainly is at GE 385, 387.

17. xi^e is by the rhyme endluue or elluue.

18. frigti luue, love and awe, ‘luue eie,’ 72/200: comp. ‘ðo wurð abraham frigti fagen,’ GE 1331.

19. sen: Mätzner takes this word to be the infinitive of the substantive verb, corresponding to OHG. sīn, MDu. sijn; how may this be? But if the word ever existed, it would surely be found elsewhere in ME. He quotes ‘Hu mai it hauen, hu mai it sen,’ GE 298, where if hauen is equivalent to se habere, sen may be to videri. In the third place instanced, ‘To sen gode witnesse ðor-on, | ðat wond was in ðat arche don,’ GE 3843, it appears to go closely with ðor-on, as in ‘so faiger he was on to sen,’ id. 2659 and to represent in both places tō sēonne.

22. luten usually takes to, as at 193/544, but comp. ‘Þa kingess fellenn dun, itt seȝȝþ, | To lutenn Crist ⁊ lakenn,’ Orm 7348.

24. ðoge; read ðog. As a probable source of the line, Fritsche quotes Josephus ii. 2, ‘eventurum olim quando tam a parentibus quam a fratribus adoratione dignus haberetur;’ but perhaps it may be regarded as a natural inference from ‘pater vero rem tacitus considerabat,’ Gen. xxxvii. 11.

26. Hirdnesse: OE. hierdnes; custody, guard; here used for flocks: comp. ‘for te loken hirdnesse fare,’ GE 2771, to look to the welfare of the cattle.

30. he—sogt, he sought and found them; invenit eos quaesitos; a form of expression much used by the author, suggested by such places in the Vulgate as, ‘requisita non invenieris ultra in sempiternum,’ Ezech. xxvi. 21. Comp. 203/215, where join, ‘to josep sogt for nede;’ ‘ðer het god abre ðat tagte lond,’ GE 827; ‘And son he fand þe soght cite,’ CM 3254; ‘Ai quen þat þe folk him soght sau,’ id. 7473.

31. fro feren, from afar: see 118/40.

32. Hatred conceived in their hearts arose in them. Such phrases are common in our author, as ‘olie in trewðe geuen,’ 212/512; ‘song . . . on soðe sagen,’ GE 14. On the other hand such expressions as ‘drugte numen,’ 201/161; ‘sorge numen,’ GE 368, where the participle is used like L. captus, suggest taking it here in dependence on hem. With on comp. 210/454.

35, 36. ‘Nel feron mie, | ce sereit desverie,’ Joseph 273.

37. drempte: impersonal with two accusatives, Quatso and him; so too at 200/103, 202/170, and probably at 201/149: more commonly the thing dreamt takes of, or is a clause, 200/113, 120, 201/132. ðor quiles, whilst: see 196/648.

38. cisternesse: the MS. has ðisternesse here (it occurs correctly at GE 58), and ‘ðis ðhisternesse’ at GE 66, where ‘ðis’ is in excess, and cisternesse at l. 56. The original had, no doubt, cisterne or cistern in both places, and in this line probably In cisterne ðise, imitating ‘proiicite eum in cisternam hanc,’ Gen. xxxvii. 22 (comp. ‘He ðrowede and ðolede untiming ðat,’ GE 1180): having blundered here, the scribe altered cistern l. 56 in conformity, spoiling the metre.

39. Get, still, in spite of his dreams. Above e of wurðe a small he is added in the MS.

40. The phrase owen a wold means, to have in one’s power, like its synonym hauen a wolde (see 52/387 note); it occurs in its literal sense at 200/108, distressing dreams were responsible for that, and in ‘Luue wel michil it agte a wold, | Swilc seruise and so longe told,’ GE 1671, very strong love was capable of such hard service and so protracted. Here it has the derived sense of import, mean, like power, force used for meaning expressed by letter or phrase: comp. ‘Quat oget nu ðat for-bode o wold,’ GE 324, what now was the import of that prohibition; ‘And vndernam him ðat it agte awold,’ id. 2727, and questioned him as to what it meant; ‘ðor is writen quat agte awold, | ðat ðis werld was water wold,’ id. 525, therein is written what it signified that this world was destroyed by water.

41. wid herte sor, presumably on Reuben’s part.

42-44. ‘et recessit Ruben meliora querens pascua,’ C. lewse, so again at GE 1576: OE. lǣs, g. lǣswe.

45. dor quiles, meanwhile; comp. 204/265, and see 196/648.

46. ‘that was carried out in secret haste,’ Morris, who proposes derue for derne. But the meaning is, advice that was filled full of secret gain. For of comp. 217/91, 94, for sped, ‘of euerilc sed, | Was erðe mad moder of sped,’ GE 121. In the OF. Joseph, it is said of Judas, ‘mult iert escientous | et auques coveitous,’ ll. 347, 348, and he makes a speech to his brothers, ‘Touz temps somes berchier, | onc n’ëumes denier. | Ore en porrons aveir | senz vendre nostre aveir,’ ll. 365-368.

48. spices ware: ‘aromata & resinam & stacten .i. myrram,’ C.

52. xxx plates: all the early MSS. of the Vulgate have ‘viginti argenteis,’ but ‘triginta’ C., ‘deniers treis feiz dis,’ Joseph 414; the change is due to the desire to perfect the parallel with Christ. plates, silver coins: comp. ‘I nul sulle my Loverd [for] nones cunnes eiste, | bote hit be for the thritti platen that he me bitaiste,’ Rel. Ant. i. 144/25. The metrical stress requires ðo for ðe.

53, 54. ‘Melius est ut venundetur Ismaelitis, et manus nostrae non polluantur,’ Gen. xxxvii. 27. dan, than that. in here wold, in their power, at their hands.

57. ðhogte swem, felt sorrow, as in ‘Of paradis hem ðinkeð swem,’ GE 391, if so, the verb is impersonal and him must be supplied from he: or perhaps, experienced a feeling of faintness: the OF. poem has ‘Quant l’enfant ne trouva, | par poi ne forsena. | Il ne set que il face, | pasmez chiet en la place,’ ll. 433-436.

58. set up, raised: ‘credens eum interemptum scissis vestibus eiulabat,’ C. Comp. ‘ðis folc ðo sette up grot and gred,’ GE 3717.

59. him cliued: the MS. reading is meaningless; that in the text is Mätzner’s, who explains, cleaves to him. But in view of, ‘And atter on is tunge cliuen,’ GE 372; ‘Al egipte in his wil cliueð,’ 210/438, it is doubtful whether even the pronoun can be used in this sense without a preposition. Now cleave is associated with cling in ‘My hert doth clynge and cleve as clay,’ Coventry Mysteries (54), where cling, wither up, is used metaphorically for, shrink in fear (see 3/32 note and comp. ‘I clynge as cleyȝ, icauȝt in care,’ Horstmann, S. A. Legenden, 178/388), and it is also used transitively. Is it not probable that cleave had also some such metaphorical meaning which would be suitable here?

62. If in is right, it goes with ðe, in which. But its absence would improve the verse, and ðe alone can mean with which: see 46/292. In any case prud is adj., splendid; comp. 209/422; ‘Wið gold and siluer and wið srud, | ðis sonde made ðe mayden prud,’ GE 1413.

63. wenten, turned it round and round, rather than, altered it; although the Latin, ‘tinxerunt,’ favours the latter.

64. an rewli lit, a pitiable dye.

65. Sondere men, messengers; sing. ‘sonder man,’ GE 2871; ‘sanderrmann,’ Orm 19383; ‘sondes man,’ L 13615.

73. in haigre srid, clad in a hair, a hair shirt; see 62/31.

74. grot and sorge: comp. 214/583, similarly ‘grot and gred,’ GE 3717; ‘In grot and in srifte,’ id. 3692.

76. hertedin: read herten; comp. 184/277.

79. ligten, descend: see 141/42. ‘Descendam lugens ad filium meum in infernum,’ C.

81-84. ‘Erat enim tunc in inferno quidam locus beatorum longe semotus a locis penalibus · qui ob quietem et separationem ab aliis sinus dicebatur. . . . Et dictus est etiam sinus abrae · quia etiam abraam ibi erat in sustentatione usque ad mortem christi,’ C., commonly called Limbus Patrum: ll. 83, 84 refer to the Harrowing of Hell, for an account of which in ME. literature see Hulme’s edition of the legend, E. E. Text Society.

85. skinden here fare, hasten their journey: the verb, which occurs only here in ME., represents OWScand. skynda.

88. bigetel, advantageous: the adjective of ‘biȝete’ 60/12; only here.

90. Insert him before sold, with Holthausen. The expression is formal, mostly used of betrayal; comp. ‘ic am i-boust ant i-sold to-day for oure mete,’ Rel. Ant. i. 144/26; ‘How þat ioseph was boght and sald,’ CM 142; ‘Dickon thy maister is bought and sold,’ Shakspere, Richard III, v. 3. 305. Strunk in Mod. Lang. Notes, xxvi. 51 suggests He (Putifar) haueð him bogt.

93. The line is printed as in the Specimens, but a better order would be, He bad him sperd ben faste dun. The last word does not go well with sperd, which takes in or wiþinne, 201/148, 204/248. C. has ‘Ille nimis credulus coniugi vinctum ioseph tradidit in carcerem regis,’ the OF. version, ‘mist le en la prison | au fort rei Pharaon;’ the Vulgate, ‘in carcerem ubi vincti regis custodiebantur,’ all mentioning the king. The original may have had Him bad ben sperd king Pharaun: for the rhyme see 202/171.

95. an: comp. 201/163.

96. prisuner, gaoler. prisunes, prisoners.

98. to liuen in hagt, to live in care, goes with l. 100: comp. 201/136. hagt: see 196/657 note, and comp. ‘Twin-wifing ant twin-manslagt | Of his soule beð mikel hagt,’ GE 485; ‘Amalechkes folc fledde for agte of dead,’ id. 3384.

99. onsagen, accusations, charges; OE. onsagu: apparently only here in ME.

103. drempte: see 198/37.

105. on sel, at a time, on one occasion: comp. ‘And moyses was numen an sel | In ðe deserd depe sumdel,’ GE 2769; ‘on midel sel, ðat ilc nigt,’ id. 3159. Kölbing translates timely, that is, early in the day, quoting, ‘Ad quos cum introisset Ioseph mane,’ Gen. xl. 6, and, ‘And made swiðe on sele ðat mete,’ GE 1537, where however swiðe gives the special sense, in quick time. But the expression appears to mean happily in, ‘And he folgede is red on sel,’ GE 1866; ‘on good sel,’ id. 1375, 1545.

108. This is the answer of the dreamers. See 198/40 note.

111. strong: see 21/94 note.

112. on god bilong, pertaining to God, in God’s power. ‘Numquid non domini est interpretatio .i. numquid adiutorio dei potest interpretari,’ C. bilong is an isolated form, apparently made of bi + long, OE. gelang which in ME. is commonly ilong; see 134/96 note. Mätzner would read ilong here.

114. waxen buges, full-grown boughs, or shoots. ‘Videbam coram me vitem & in ea tres fundos oculos (principal buds) scilicet unde funduntur palmites. Alii ponunt tria flagella, vel tres propagines quod idem est,’ C.

116. Morris by his punctuation makes beries acc. after bar and wurð ic war parenthetic; but the construction is the same as at 9/122, 192/518; ‘quanne he it wurð war,’ GE 1462, 3387; ‘And quane ðe king wurð war ðis dead,’ id. 2983; ‘ðan pharaon wurð war ðis bot,’ id. 2957: wurð war is treated as though it meant observed. But it takes of at 203/204.

121, 122. ‘Deus dedit in bonum hominibus vsum vini . . . soluit lites et tristitias · et bona est eius visio,’ C.

127. herdne: OE. ǣrende, mission, but here affected in meaning by ǣrendian, to intercede: make intercession for me.

128. ða: for ðat: the scribe not seldom drops final t.

129. kinde, native; so, ‘ðog it was nogt is kinde lond,’ GE 1279: ‘car a tort sui chaitis | en estrange païs,’ Joseph 837.

130. wrigteleslike, undeservedly: OE. gewyrht, thing done, merit, in Orm, wrihhte.

132. lepes: ‘canistra,’ C.

135. ðor on: comp. ‘On was tette he sone aueð lagt,’ GE 2621. The construction with on is rare, the verb in this sense regularly takes an accusative.

136. hagt: see 200/98.

140. swep occurs in the same connection at 202/166, and in ‘For þai can swyth of a sweuyn · all þe swepe tell,’ Wars of Alexander, 248, evidently with the meaning, scope, significance. Mätzner refers it to OE. swǣp, for which see Napier, OE. Glosses, 78/2894 note; its meaning, persuasion, or more probably, deceit, does not suit our word. More probably its OE. congener is seen in ymbswǣpe which glosses L. ambages, Sweet, Oldest E. Texts, 599; if so, it would mean compass, content, like the noun sweep of more recent origin.

144. ðat, from that: werien usually takes wið (50/335), fram, but the pronouns are frequently used alone in all sorts of loose syntactical relations: see 46/292 note. Omit sal; though it might be defended by GE 1818, agte is commonly plural. Not in the Vulgate or Comestor, but ‘It sal na raunsun ga for þe,’ CM 4494; ‘te trenchera la teste; | ne te lera raendre,’ Joseph 854.

145. ðat is subject of wurð.

148. Divide wið uten-erd; for wið, on, see 180/147. uten-erd, foreign land; OE. ūtan + eard: comp. ‘uten erdes sorge sen,’ GE 956; ‘into vten stede,’ id. 1741. At 210/460, it is used adverbially in conjunction with her, and at 210/464 it develops an adverbial form, ‘uten herdes.’ Comp. L. extorris.

149. pharaon: probably acc.; see 200/104.

150. flodes strem: ‘Putabat se stare super fluuium,’ C.

151. vii: seuene.

158, 159. ‘Septem spice plene pullulabant in culmo vno,’ C. busk, bush, for stalk is curious. ranc and wel tidi, luxuriant and very healthy-looking; the phrase qualifies ‘eares.’

161. drugte numen: ‘percusse vredine,’ C.; ‘uredo . . . dicitur corruptio ex urente vento proveniens quando stantes segetes aduste videntur in campo,’ Catholicon: ‘de gelée brulez,’ Joseph 904. With numen comp. 198/32: drugte, sorge are genitives. Similar constructions without prepositions are frequent in this author, ‘water wold,’ 526, overpowered by water; ‘sinne wod,’ 1073, demented by sin; ‘elde swac,’ 1528, weakened by age; ‘herte hard,’ 2936, hard of heart; ‘hungur fordred,’ 3313, in fear of hunger; ‘nede driuen,’ 3165; ‘deades driuen,’ 1125, under the sway of death. See 207/342.

163, 164. There is nothing in Comestor or the Vulgate corresponding to these difficult lines. Mätzner takes it as equivalent to they, and quotes for the intransitive use of smiten, ‘Heo smiten to-gædere,’ L 5183, to which may be added, ‘Bitid a stund þai samen smate | In a dale biside a wate,’ CM 2495. Schumann objects that smiten is transitive everywhere else in the poem; he proposes, To-samen is smiten, them dashed together, apparently depending on ranc. It would probably be better to omit it (see 197/16 note); adopting Fritsche’s ðristen he in the next line, the meaning would be, Next (ðo) the lean ears have overcome the full ears, dashed together in conflict, and in a moment they have thrust the full ears to the ground. The participial phrase is quite in the manner of the author.

164. ðo: miswritten for ðe.

166. wot, where wiste might be expected, is perhaps due to anticipation of nogt.

168. Who could solve the riddle involved in the dream: comp. 1/4.

170. of ðat: supply a relative as accusative to drempte: see 198/37, 200/103.

174. shauen: ‘ioseph totonderunt. Uincti enim et exules incrementa crinium patiuntur,’ C.

175. hardi ⁊ bold: Comp. ‘Þe king of Beme had cares colde, | Þat was ful hardy and bolde,’ Minot iv. 68.

176. wold, power, meaning. See 201/140.

180. ‘quod facturus est deus ostendit pharaoni,’ C.

182. numen, taken, in the sense of dealt with, experienced. Comp. 208/400; ‘Ðe seuend moned was in cumen, | And seuene and xx^ti dais numen,’ GE 593; ‘Seue nigt siðen forð ben numen,’ id. 1687.

184. The editors take Sori and nedful with men, but they might qualify is, them, and that would be more consonant with the original, ‘quos (annos) sequentur alii .vii. tante sterilitatis. vt obliuioni dent cuncta retro abundantia,’ C.

186. rospen and raken, waste and scrape away: in these meanings the words are apparently without parallels.

187. her biforen: miswritten for ear biforen: see 211/483 note: for her = ear, comp. ‘ðor he quilum her wisten wunen,’ GE 801.

189. vndernumen, taken unawares: comp. ‘Ðis godes folc was undernumen, | Quan he segen ðis hird al cumen,’ GE 3221, where it appears to mean, surprised: perhaps influenced in this rare meaning by undergan, as in, ‘Þou hast me gyled and vndurgone’ (= circumvenisti), Horstmann, S. A. Legenden, 33/479, 75/790.

194. bege: ‘collo torquem auream circumposuit,’ C. Comp. 133/34.

195. bisen: see 12/14 note.

197. welden &c., so, ‘neme hit in here honde,’ KH 60 note. vnder his hond, l. 210, in his control; comp. 204/252; ‘Unnderr þe laþe gastess hand,’ Orm 11146.

199. ðo . . . ðanne together are strange and the line is unmetrical. Read, was vnder him ðo putifar.

200. hem so to bar, caused such dissension between them; OE. toberan, to carry in different directions.

202. Oðer . . . ðan, different from what: see 100/122 note. ðan is Mätzner’s correction.

206. Comp. for the form of the sentence, ‘He was hem lef, he woren him hold,’ GE 793.

212. x: The scribe writes tgen (2), then (1), ten.

215. for nede sogt: depends on josep: comp. 198/30, and ‘for nede driuen,’ 203/219.

217. ðog, nevertheless; that is, though he was their brother, they unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy of 197/21, 22.

219. for: but ‘ðo wurð pharaon nede driuen,’ GE 3165.

222. Als he let: read, Let he als, he pretended as if: comp. ‘Sho lete als sho him noght had sene,’ Ywain, 1809.

226. For spien with acc. comp. ‘Bot er yee comen þe land to spi,’ CM 4824; ‘vous venez ceste terre | espier et conquerre,’ Joseph.

230. doðes: Mätzner’s suggestion, doð us, causes us, gives the best solution. Comp. 206/303.

233-236. ‘Impossibile est enim viro idiote tales filios esse · cum etiam regibus talis filiorum copia valde sit difficilis,’ C. forgeten: explained by Mätzner as forgotten, with meaning, of no account, obscure, which is without parallel. Probably for geten, for progeny, offspring: get is however not instanced in that sense before the fourteenth century.

235. For seldom hath it befallen even to a king: for this practically adverbial use of self, comp. ‘God haued swilc fair-hed him geuen, | ðat self ðe fon it leten liuen,’ GE 2609: ‘Self his kinde nile ðat wune forgeten,’ id. 1806.

240. for &c.: as the name Benjamin implies.

244. gure is due to Morris.

245, 246. ‘Timebat enim ne forte et in illum (Benjamin) aliquid deliquissent,’ C. he, Benjamin. hem, the brethren. forred, betrayed.

247. dun, to an underground prison.

253. sone on on, soon forthwith, very quickly: a favourite phrase of our author.

255. If sone be correct, it must stand for sone so, as soon as, as in, ‘sone so loth ut of sodome cam,’ GE 1109. But that is inconsistent with ll. 263, 264, where, as in the Vulgate and C., their lamentations are uttered in the presence of Joseph. Probably sone has been repeated from l. 253, displacing or, before: so ‘ðor,’ l. 257, means, in Joseph’s hearing.

258. Wrigtful, guilty; deserving punishment for our misdeed; ‘Merito hec patimur,’ C.; comp. wrigteleslike, undeservedly, 201/130. But Kölbing suggests that the original had Rigtful, justly, rightfully; comp. ‘Rihtful was iacob cald his name,’ CM 3742.

260. michil mor, much more than we now suffer.

263. None of them suspected that they were understood: ‘nescientes quod intelligeret eos ioseph, quia per interpretem loquebatur eis,’ C. on his mod: a common tag; comp. ‘ðo ðogte thare on his mod, | long bigging is here nogt god,’ GE 717; ‘He þoȝte vpon his mode | Hit nas for none gode,’ KH 281 note.

265. ðor quiles, meanwhile, as at 198/45, usually whilst, as at 196/648.

270. ðor biforen, ‘there as before,’ Morris; ‘over it,’ Kock. biforen here and at 205/299, 207/362 has plainly the meaning of, in addition, besides. The development of meaning is parallel to that of besidan, by the side of, in addition to: so biforen, in the presence of (the common meaning in our author, as at 207/337), in addition to. ðor biforen then means, in addition to that; ðor rounds off the expression, as in ðor quiles.

273. ouerðogt, ‘vexed,’ ‘grieved,’ NED.; ‘anxious,’ Bradley-Str.; ‘very anxious,’ Morris: it apparently occurs here only. The original had probably, o seri ðogt, of sorry mood; comp. 208/384 for the form of the expression and ‘dredful and bleð and sori mod,’ GE 3520; ‘And sumdel quemeð it his seri mood,’ id. 408.

277. Comestor does not mention that one of the sacks was opened on the way: our author follows him, not the Vulgate, Gen. xlii. 27.

279. sori, sorely; comp. ‘wiste hire drogen sori for ðrist,’ GE 977. Holthausen suggests sor.

280. o rigt: the meaning is doubtful, it may be justly, reasonably, OE. on riht, but for that the author has ‘wit rigt,’ GE 52. In the other place where it occurs, ‘Abraham was buxum o rigt,’ GE 1299, it means, straightway.

283. ending non, Of Joseph I know not how he ended: comp. ‘Of his endinge ne wot ic nogt,’ GE 487.

286. segeð, descends: OE. sǣgan, cause to sink.

288. ðor quiles, as long as: see 196/648.

289. us—hard, it will go hard with us.

290. no: probably ne should be read.

291. derke: so too at 208/399: it seems hardly a mere scribal error for derðe.

293. Mätzner thinks he is a mistake for we, but see the examples of sudden transition from indirect to direct speech in Kellner, Syntax, 60.

296. Kölbing suggested the addition of non: Schumann would substitute non for no, but the former gives a better verse. Mätzner reads, And ic ne can, following Morris, who translates, And I know no better plan. Understand quan after And.

298. That there be wanting to the Egyptians none thereof; comp. ‘ne nawiht ne wonteð ham | of al ꝥ ha wilneð,’ SK 1670.

299. ðor biforen, besides: see 205/270.

300. wið, with which.

304. agen, back; so 208/375.

305. Join forð rigt, straightway, or, by the nearest way.

306. Mätzner rightly omits cumen as a gloss. For ligt as a verb comp. ‘Nu am ic ligt to fren hem ðeðen,’ GE 2787; 141/42. ‘Igitur filii iacob descenderunt in egyptum,’ C.

308. Kinde ðhogt, natural affection; comp. ‘kinde blod,’ 206/330. was is evidently a substitute for some rhyming word; Emerson suggests lag, Kock, stag, Morris, ðag. It was probably some uncommon word which the scribe altered, possibly wag, stirred, moved, OE. wæg, which is sometimes used intransitively. In the passage corresponding to 207/340, C. has ‘Commota sunt viscera eius,’ which our writer seems to have used here.

311. biri, palace: at 12/7 it means, court.

312. Her non, none of them: so ur non, l. 316.

316. wiste . . . gilt, was conscious of wrong-doing: ‘non est in nostra conscientia quis posuerit eam in marsupiis nostris,’ Gen. xliii. 22.

318. min forward is explained in Specimens of the condition that Benjamin should be brought, as in 205/290; but that stipulation was Joseph’s, not the steward’s. It looks like a vague rendering of C., ‘Pax vobis . . . pecuniam quam dedistis mihi probatam (i.e. checked, found correct) ego habeo.’ The French version has, ‘Vostre aveir seit tout vostre, | car nous avons le nostre’; and the English text may mean, for the price which I was ordered to charge for the corn is actually in my possession.

320. on and on, one by one; comp. 208/377, 214/573.

322. to nome, as captive: comp. 196/665; probably the only instances of its use in ME.; noun of niman.

323. vndren time: ‘meridie,’ C. See 74/209.

324. For riche, see 6/30.

325. of frigti mod, through their feeling of fear; comp. ‘Wið reuli lote and frigti mod,’ GE 1162.

329. understod, received; comp. 210/447.

334. I know there none who does not tremble; a parenthesis which would be better placed before l. 333. ðat he is practically equivalent to who.

336. after bodeword ðin, in accordance with your commandment; comp. ‘for ðhu min bode-word haues broken,’ GE 361.

339. ouerwente: an isolated past of *ouerwenden, in the intransitive use recorded in NED., to go over, pass over; giving the meaning, his heart went out to him forthwith. But the absence of to before him renders this explanation doubtful. More probably him refers to Joseph and reinforces his, as in ‘þat his ribbes him to brake,’ KH 1077 (see also 80/47 note), with meaning, his heart overflowed forthwith. C. has, ‘commota sunt viscera eius.’