reads cerwen, a word
conceived
by B.
Beowulf
l. 769. The foreign words in _Bēowulf_ (as ceaster-here) are not numerous;
others are (aside from proper names like _Cain, Abel_, etc. ) dēofol
(diabolus), candel (l. 1573), ancor (l. 303), scrīfan (for- ge-), segn (l.
47), gīgant (l. 113), mīl- (l. 1363), strǣt (l. 320), ombeht (l. 287), gim
(l. 2073), etc.
l. 770. MS.
reads cerwen, a word conceived by B. and others to be part of a
fem. compd. : -scerwen like -wenden in ed-wenden, -rǣden, etc. (cf.
meodu-scerpen in _Andreas_, l. 1528); emended to -scerwen, _a great scare
under the figure of a mishap at a drinking-bout_; one might compare
bescerwan, _to deprive_, from bescyrian (Grein, i. 93), hence ealu-seerwen
would = _a sudden taking away, deprivation, of the beer_. --H. -So. , p. 93.
See B. , _Tidskr. _ viii. 292.
