Coiled
serpents spring more
powerfully
for the coiling.
Beowulf
_ xii. 104. So H.-So., Ha., p. 86.
ll. 2570, 2571. (1) May not gescīfe (MS. to gscipe) = German _schief_,
"crooked," "bent," "aslant," and hence be a parallel to gebogen, _bent,
coiled?_ cf. l. 2568, þā se wyrm gebēah snūde tōsomne, and l. 2828.
Coiled
serpents spring more
powerfully
for the coiling.
(2) Or perhaps destroy
comma after tō and read gescæpe, = _his fate_; cf. l. 26: him þā Scyld
gewāt tō gescæp-hwīle. G. appar. adopts this reading, p. 78.
l. 2589. grund-wong = _the field_, not _the earth_ (so B.); H.-So., _cave_,
as at l. 2771. So Ha.
