"hwealfum lindum=vaulted (arched concave) shields."
We should remember that Somner has _ge-lær_, void, empty, _vacuus_; and
Lye, with a reference to the Herbarium, _lær-nesse_, vacuitas. In the
_Teuthonista_ we have _lær_, vacuus, _concavus_. In _Heiland_, 3, 4.
"_larea_ stodun thar stenuatu sehsi=_empty_ stood there stone-vats six."
I need not call to your mind the O.H.G. _lári_.
I think, therefore, we cannot doubt that what is intended to be
expressed by the A.-S. _lærig_ is _empty_, _hollow_, _concave_. But if
we wanted further confirmation, _leer_, _leery_, _leary_ are still in
use in Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and perhaps elsewhere, for _empty_,
_hollow_, as the provincial Glossaries will show. Skinner has the word
_leer_, vacuus, and says, "foeliciter alludit Gr. [Greek: lagaros],
laxus, vacuus." In _Layamon_ we have (244, 16.), "the put wæs _i-lær_."
I have found but one instance in Middle English, and that is in the
curious old _Phrase-Book_ compiled by William Horman, Head Master of
Eton School in the reign of Henry VIII:--
"'At a soden shyfte _leere_ barellis, tyed together, with
boardis above, make passage over a streme.' Tumultuario opere,
_inanes_ cuppæ colligatæ et tabulatis instratæ fluminis transitu
perhibent."--_Hormanni Vulgaria_, Lond. 1519, f. 272 b.
Instances of the word are not frequent, possibly because we had another
word for empty (_toom_) in common with the Danes; but perhaps there was
no necessity for dwelling upon it in the sense of _empty_; it was only
its application as an epithet to a _concave_ or _hollow shield_ that
your question could have had in view. {293}
Once more thanking you most heartily for the pleasure and profit I have
derived from the _Deutsche Grammatik_, and all your other important
labours, I am, sir, your grateful and obliged servant,