A good many cognate Modern English words have been
introduced
here and
there in the Glossary with a view to illustration, and other addenda will
be found between brackets and parenthetical marks.
there in the Glossary with a view to illustration, and other addenda will
be found between brackets and parenthetical marks.
Beowulf
The
references were found to be incorrect in innumerable instances, and had to
be verified in every individual case so far as this was possible, a few
only, which resisted all efforts at verification, having to be indicated by
an interrogation point (? ). The references are exceedingly numerous, and
the labor of verifying them was naturally great. To many passages in the
Glossary, where Heyne's translation could not be trusted with entire
certainty, the editors have added other translations of phrases and
sentences or of special words; and in this they have been aided by a
careful study of the text and a comparison and utilization of the views of
Kemble and Professor J. M. Garnett (who takes Grein for his foundation).
Many new references have been added; and the various passages in which
Heyne fails to indicate whether a given verb is weak or strong, or fails to
point out the number, etc. , of the illustrative form, have been corrected
and made to harmonize with the general plan of the work. Numerous misprints
in the glossary have also been corrected, and a brief glossary to the
Finnsburh-fragment, prepared by Dr. Wm. Hand Browne, and supplemented and
adapted by the editor-in-chief, has been added.
The editors think that they may without immodesty put forth for themselves
something more than the claim of being re-translators of a translation: the
present edition is, so far as they were able to make it so, an adaptation,
correction, and extension of the work of the great German scholar to whose
loving appreciation of the Anglo-Saxon epic all students of Old English owe
a debt of gratitude. While following his usually sure and cautious
guidance, and in the main appropriating his results, they have thought it
best to deviate from him in the manner above indicated, whenever it seemed
that he was wrong. The careful reader will notice at once the marks of
interrogation which point out these deviations, or which introduce a point
of view illustrative of, or supplementary to, the one given by the German
editor. No doubt the editors are wrong themselves in many places,-"Bēowulf"
is a most difficult poem,-but their view may at least be defended by a
reference to the original text, which they have faithfully and constantly
consulted.
A good many cognate Modern English words have been introduced here and
there in the Glossary with a view to illustration, and other addenda will
be found between brackets and parenthetical marks.
It is hoped that the present edition of the most famous of Old English
poems will do something to promote a valuable and interesting study.
JAMES A. HARRISON, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.
ROBERT SHARP, University of Louisiana, New Orleans.
April, 1883.
The responsibility of the editors is as follows: H. is responsible for the
Text, and for the Glossary from hrīnan on; S. for the List of Names, and
for the Glossary as far as hrīnan.
ARGUMENT.
The only national [Anglo-Saxon] epic which has been preserved entire is
Bēowulf. Its argument is briefly as follows:-The poem opens with a few
verses in praise of the Danish Kings, especially Scild, the son of Sceaf.
His death is related, and his descendants briefly traced down to Hroðgar.
Hroðgar, elated with his prosperity and success in war, builds a
magnificent hall, which he calls Heorot. In this hall Hroðgar and his
retainers live in joy and festivity, until a malignant fiend, called
Grendel, jealous of their happiness, carries off by night thirty of
Hroðgar's men, and devours them in his moorland retreat. These ravages go
on for twelve years.
references were found to be incorrect in innumerable instances, and had to
be verified in every individual case so far as this was possible, a few
only, which resisted all efforts at verification, having to be indicated by
an interrogation point (? ). The references are exceedingly numerous, and
the labor of verifying them was naturally great. To many passages in the
Glossary, where Heyne's translation could not be trusted with entire
certainty, the editors have added other translations of phrases and
sentences or of special words; and in this they have been aided by a
careful study of the text and a comparison and utilization of the views of
Kemble and Professor J. M. Garnett (who takes Grein for his foundation).
Many new references have been added; and the various passages in which
Heyne fails to indicate whether a given verb is weak or strong, or fails to
point out the number, etc. , of the illustrative form, have been corrected
and made to harmonize with the general plan of the work. Numerous misprints
in the glossary have also been corrected, and a brief glossary to the
Finnsburh-fragment, prepared by Dr. Wm. Hand Browne, and supplemented and
adapted by the editor-in-chief, has been added.
The editors think that they may without immodesty put forth for themselves
something more than the claim of being re-translators of a translation: the
present edition is, so far as they were able to make it so, an adaptation,
correction, and extension of the work of the great German scholar to whose
loving appreciation of the Anglo-Saxon epic all students of Old English owe
a debt of gratitude. While following his usually sure and cautious
guidance, and in the main appropriating his results, they have thought it
best to deviate from him in the manner above indicated, whenever it seemed
that he was wrong. The careful reader will notice at once the marks of
interrogation which point out these deviations, or which introduce a point
of view illustrative of, or supplementary to, the one given by the German
editor. No doubt the editors are wrong themselves in many places,-"Bēowulf"
is a most difficult poem,-but their view may at least be defended by a
reference to the original text, which they have faithfully and constantly
consulted.
A good many cognate Modern English words have been introduced here and
there in the Glossary with a view to illustration, and other addenda will
be found between brackets and parenthetical marks.
It is hoped that the present edition of the most famous of Old English
poems will do something to promote a valuable and interesting study.
JAMES A. HARRISON, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.
ROBERT SHARP, University of Louisiana, New Orleans.
April, 1883.
The responsibility of the editors is as follows: H. is responsible for the
Text, and for the Glossary from hrīnan on; S. for the List of Names, and
for the Glossary as far as hrīnan.
ARGUMENT.
The only national [Anglo-Saxon] epic which has been preserved entire is
Bēowulf. Its argument is briefly as follows:-The poem opens with a few
verses in praise of the Danish Kings, especially Scild, the son of Sceaf.
His death is related, and his descendants briefly traced down to Hroðgar.
Hroðgar, elated with his prosperity and success in war, builds a
magnificent hall, which he calls Heorot. In this hall Hroðgar and his
retainers live in joy and festivity, until a malignant fiend, called
Grendel, jealous of their happiness, carries off by night thirty of
Hroðgar's men, and devours them in his moorland retreat. These ravages go
on for twelve years.
