l. 1319. E. and Sw. suggest nǣgde or nēgde, _accosted_, < nēgan = Mid. Ger. _nēhwian_, pr. p. _nēhwiandans, approach_. For hnǣgan, _press down, vanquish_, see ll. 1275, 1440, etc.
l. 1321. C. suggests nēad-lāðum for nēod-laðu, _after crushing hostility_; but cf. frēond-laðu, l. 1193.
l. 1334. K. and ten Br. conjecture gefægnod = _rejoicing in her fill_, a parallel to ǣse wlanc, l. 1333.
l. 1340. B. translates: "and she has executed a deed of blood-vengeance of far-reaching consequence."--_Beit._ xii. 93.
l. 1345. B. reads gēo for ēow (_Zachers Zeitschr._ iv. 205).
ll. 1346-1377. "This is a fine piece of folk-lore in the oldest extant form.... The authorities for the story are the rustics (ll. 1346, 1356)." --E.
l. 1347. Cf. sele-rǣdende at l. 51.
l. 1351. "The ge [of gewitan] may be merely a scribal error,--a repetition (dittography) of the preceding ge of gewislīcost."--Sw.
l. 1352. ides, like fīras, _men_, etc., is a poetic word supposed by Grimm to have been applied, like Gr. νύμφη, to superhuman or semi-divine women.
ll. 1360-1495 _seq._ E. compares this Dantesque tarn and scenery with the poetical accounts of _AEneid_, vii. 563; _Lucretius_, vi. 739, etc.
l. 1360. firgenstrēam occurs also in the _Phoenix_ (Bright, p. 168) l. 100; _Andreas_, ll. 779, 3144 (K.); _Gnomic Verses_, l. 47, etc.
l. 1363. The genitive is often thus used to denote measure = by or in miles; cf. l. 3043; and contrast with partitive gen. at l. 207.
l. 1364. The MS. reads hrinde = hrīnende (?), which Gr. adopts; K. and Th. read hrinde-bearwas; hringde, _encircling_ (Sarrazin, _Beit._ xi. 163); hrīmge = _frosty_ (Sw.); _with frost-whiting covered_ (Ha.). See Morris, _Blickling Hom._, Preface, vi., vii.
l. 1364. Cf. Ruin, hrīmige edoras behrofene, _rimy, roofless halls_.
l. 1366. nīðwundor may = nið- (as in nið-sele, _q. v._) wundor, _wonder of the deep_.
l. 1368. The personal pronoun is sometimes omitted in subordinate and even independent clauses; cf. wite here; and Hunt's _Exod._, l. 319.
l. 1370. hornum. Such "datives of manner or respect" are not infrequent with adj.
l. 1371. "seleð is not dependent on ǣr, for in that case it would be in the subjunctive, but ǣr is simply an adverb, correlative with the conjunction ǣr in the next line: 'he will (sooner) give up his life, before he will,' etc."--Sw.
l. 1372. Cf. ll. 318 and 543 for willan with similar omitted inf.
l. 1373. heafola is found only in poetry.--Sw. It occurs thirteen or fourteen times in this poem. Cf. the poetic gamol, swāt (l. 2694), etc., for eald, blōd.
l. 1391. uton: hortatory subj. of wītan, _go_, = _let us go;_ cf. French _allons_, Lat. _eamus_, Ital. _andiamo_, etc. + inf. Cf. ll. 2649, 3102.
l. 1400. H. is dat. of person indirectly affected, = advantage.
l. 1402. geatolīc probably = _in his equipments_, as B. suggests (_Beit._ xii. 83), comparing searolīc.
ll. 1402, 1413 reproduce the wk. form of the pret. of gān (Goth, _gaggida_). Cf. _Andreas_, l. 1096, etc.
l. 1405. S. (_Beit._ ix. 140) supplies [þǣr hēo] gegnum fōr; B. (_ibid._ xii. 14) suggests hwǣr hēo.
l. 1411. B., Gr., and E. take ān-paðas = paths wide enough for only one, like Norwegian _einstig_; cf. stīge nearwe, just above. _Trail_ is the meaning. Cf. enge ānpaðas, uncūð gelād, _Exod._ (Hunt), l. 58.
l. 1421. Cf. oncȳð, l. 831. The whole passage (ll. 1411-1442) is replete with suggestions of walrus-hunting, seal-fishing, harpooning of sea-animals (l. 1438), etc.
l. 1425. E. quotes from the 8th cent. Corpus Gloss., "_Falanx_ foeða."
l. 1428. For other mention of nicors, cf. ll. 422, 575, 846. E. remarks, "it survives in the phrase 'Old Nick' ... a word of high authority ... Icel. _nykr_, water-goblin, Dan. _nök, nisse_, Swed. _näcken_, G. _nix, nixe_, etc." See Skeat, _Nick._
l. 1440. Sw. reads gehnǣged, _prostrated_, and regards nīða as gen. pl. "used instrumentally," = _by force._
l. 1441. -bora = _bearer, stirrer;_ occurs in other compds., as mund-, rǣd-, wǣg-bora.
l. 1447. him = _for him_, a remoter dative of reference.--Sw.
l. 1455. Gr. reads brondne, = _flaming_.
l. 1457. lēon is the inf. of lāh; cf. onlāh (< onlēon) at l. 1468. līhan was formerly given as the inf.; cf. lǣne = lǣhne.
l. 1458. Cf. the similar dat. of possession as used in Latin.
l. 1458. H.-So. compares the Icelandic saga account of Grettir's battle with the giant in the cave. hæft-mēce may be = Icel. _heptisax_ (_Anglia_, iii. 83), "hip-knife."
l. 1459. "The sense seems to be 'pre-eminent among the old treasures.' ... But possibly foran is here a prep. with the gen.: 'one before the old treasures.'".--Sw. For other examples of foran, cf. ll. 985, 2365.
l. 1460. āter-tēarum = _poison-drops_ (C., _Beit._ viii. 571; S., _ibid._ xi. 359).
l. 1467. þæt, comp. relative, = _that which_; "we testify _that_ we do know."
l. 1480. forð-gewitenum is in appos. to me, = _mihi defuncto_.--M. Callaway, _Am. Journ. of Philol._, October, 1889.
l. 1482. nime. Conditional clauses of doubt or future contingency take gif or būton with subj.; cf. ll. 452, 594; of fact or certainty, the ind.; cf. ll. 442, 447, 527, 662, etc. For būton, cf. ll. 967, 1561.
l. 1487. "findan sometimes has a preterit funde in W. S. after the manner of the weak preterits."--Cook's Sievers' Cram., p, 210.
l. 1490. Kl. reads wæl-sweord, = _battle-sword_.
l. 1507. "This cave under the sea seems to be another of those natural phenomena of which the writer had personal knowledge (ll. 2135, 2277), and which was introduced by him into the mythical tale to give it a local color. There are many places of this kind. Their entrance is under the lowest level of the tide."--Br., p. 45.
l. 1514. B. (_Beit._ xii. 362) explains niðsele, hrōfsele as _roof-covered hall in the deep_; cf. Grettir Saga (_Anglia_, iii. 83).
l. 1538. Sw., R., and ten Br. suggest feaxe for eaxle, = _seized by the hair_.
l. 1543. and-lēan (R.); cf. l. 2095. The MS. has hand-lēan.
l. 1546. Sw. and S. read seax.--_Beit._ ix. 140.
l. 1557. H.-So. omits comma and places semicolon after ȳðelīce; Sw. and S. place comma after gescēd.
l. 1584. ōðer swylc = _another fifteen_ (Sw.); = _fully as many_ (Ha.).
ll. 1592-1613 _seq._ Cf. _Anglia_, iii; 84 (Grettir Saga).
l. 1595. blondenfeax = _grizzly-haired_ (Bright, Reader, p. 258); cf. _Brunanb._, l. 45 (Bright).
l. 1599. gewearð, impers. vb., = _agree, decide = many agreed upon this, that_, etc. (Ha., p. 55; cf. ll. 2025-2027, 1997; B., _Beit._ xii. 97).
l. 1605. C. supposes wiston = wīscton = _wished_.--_Beit._ viii. 571.
l. 1607. brōden mǣl is now regarded as a comp. noun, = _inlaid or damascened sword_.--W., Ho.
l. 1611. wæl-rāpas = _water-ropes = bands of frost_ (l. 1610) (?). Possibly the Prov. Eng. weele, _whirlpool_. Cf. wǣl, _gurges_, Wright, Voc., _Gnom. Verses_, l. 39.--E.
l. 1611. wǣgrāpas (Sw.) = _wave-bands_ (Ha.).
l. 1622. B. suggests eatna = eotena, eardas, _haunts of the giants_ (Northumbr. ea for eo).
l. 1635. cyning-holde (B., _Beit._ xii. 369); cf. l. 290.
l. 1650. H., Gr., and Ettmüller understand idese to refer to the queen.
l. 1651. Cf. _Anglia_, iii. 74, _Beit._ xi. 167, for coincidences with the Grettir Saga (13th cent.).
l. 1664. B. proposes eotenise ... èste for ēacen ... oftost, omitting brackets (_Zackers Zeitschr._ iv. 206). G. translates _mighty ... often_.
l. 1675. ondrǣdan. "In late texts the final n of the preposition on is frequently lost when it occurs in a compound word or stereotyped phrase, and the prefix then appears as a: abútan, amang, aweg, aright, adr'ǣdan."--Cook's Sievers' Gram., p. 98.
ll. 1680-1682. Giants and their work are also referred to at ll. 113, 455, 1563, 1691, etc.
l. 1680. Cf. ceastra ... orðanc enta geweorc, _Gnomic Verses_, l. 2; Sweet's Reader, p. 186.
ll. 1687-1697. "In this description of the writing on the sword, we see the process of transition from heathen magic to the notions of Christian times .... The history of the flood and of the giants ... were substitutes for names of heathen gods, and magic spells for victory."--E. Cf. Mohammedan usage.
ll. 1703, 1704. þæt þē eorl nǣre geboren betera (B., _Tidskr._ 8, 52).
l. 1715. āna hwearf = _he died solitary and alone_ (B., _Beit._ xii. 38); = _lonely_ (Ha.); = _alone_ (G.).
l. 1723. lēod-bealo longsum = _eternal hell-torment_ (B., _Beit._ xii. 38, who compares _Ps. Cott._ 57, līf longsum).
l. 1729. E. translates on lufan, _towards possession_; Ha., _to possessions_.
l. 1730. mōdgeþonc, like lig, sǣ, segn, niht, etc., is of double gender (m., n. in the case of mōdgeþ.).
l. 1741. The doctrine of nemesis following close on ὓβρις, or overweening pride, is here very clearly enunciated. The only protector against the things that "assault and hurt" the soul is the "Bishop and Shepherd of our souls" (l. 1743).
l. 1745 appears dimly to fore-shadow the office of the evil archer Loki, who in the Scandinavian mythology shoots Balder with a mistletoe twig. The language closely resembles that of Psalm 64.
l. 1748. Kl. regards wom = wō(u)m; cf. wōh-bogen, l. 2828. See Gloss., p. 295, under wam. Contrast the construction of bebeorgan a few lines below (l. 1759), where the dat. and acc. are associated.