From Aelfric's Lives of the Saints, now published for the Early English
Text Society by Prof. Skeat. The present life has been printed only by
Thorpe, in his _Analecta Anglosaxonica_ from a very late MS. It is here
given from the older MS., Cott. Jul. E. 7.
It will be observed that the present piece is in alliterative prose, that
is, with the letter-rime of poetry, but without its metrical form. The
alliteration is easily discernible:--c[=o]m _s_[=u]than ofer s[=ae] fram
_s_ancte Benedictes _s_t[=o]we; _d_ae[.g]e, t[=o] _D_[=u]nst[=a]ne, &c.
l. 1. sancte is an English modification of the Latin genitive _sancti_.
l. 5. sancte is here the E. dative inflection, _sanct_ having been made
into a substantive.
l. 39. bilew[=i]t = _*bile-hw[=i]t_ (with the regular change of _hw_ into
_w_ between vowels) literally 'white (=tender) of bill,' originally, no
doubt, applied to young birds, and then used metaphorically in the sense of
'gentle,' 'simple.'
l. 70. worhte fl[=e]ames. This construction of _wyrcan_ with a genitive is
frequent.
l. 76. w[=ae]re, subj. Gr. 48. (6).
l. 85. f[=u]se. The correct reading is probably _f[=u]sne_, but the plural
_f[=u]se_ may be taken to refer to Hinguar and his men collectively.
l. 149. [.g]ebedh[=u]s. The Welsh _bettws_, as in Bettws-y-coed = 'chapel
in the wood,' still preserves the O. E. form nearly unchanged.
l. 176. sw[=a] thaet does not denote result here, but is
explanatory--'namely by being bound....'
l. 178. h[=i]e, reflexive.
l. 179. thaes ... h[=u], correlative.
l. 185. The reference is apparently to Proverbs xxiv. 11, which (in the
Vulgate) runs thus: 'Erue eos qui ducuntur ad mortem.'
l. 200. hwaether, (that he might see) whether ...
l. 215. l[=i]chaman, instrumental dative (Gr. 41) of defining.
l. 222. [=E]li[.g] = _[=ae]l-[=i]eg_ 'eel-island.' {97}