** Preface to the Project Gutenberg Edition of Beowulf **
This text is a revised and corrected version of the fourth edition of
Harrison and Sharp in its entirety. It comes in two basic versions. The
base version (available in plain-text and HTML) presents the original text
as printed. It preserves the source-text's idiosyncratic use of accented
vowels with the exception of y-circumflex (ŷ), which is replaced by y-acute
(ý) to fit within the Latin-1 character set. Manifestly unintentional
errors in the text have been corrected. In general, this has only been done
when the text is internally inconsistent (e.g., a quotation in the glossary
does not match the main text). Forms that represent deliberate editorial
choice have not been altered, even where they appear wrong. (For example,
some of the markings of vowel length do not reflect current scholarly
consensus.) In a few instances, quotations in the glossary use the correct
vowel length where the main text does not. These have not been altered.
Where an uncorrected problem may confuse the reader, I have inserted a note
explaining the difficulty, signed KTH. A complete list of the changes made
is appended at the end of the file. In order to make the text more useful
to modern readers, I have also produced a revised edition (HTML only). The
file you are reading is this revised version. Notes from the source text
that indicate changes adopted in later editions have been incorporated
directly into the text and apparatus. Further, long vowels are indicated
with macrons, as is the common practice of most modern editions. Finally,
the quantity of some words has been altered to the values currently
accepted as correct. Quantities have not been changed when the difference
is a matter of editorial interpretation (e.g., gæst vs. gǣst in l. 102,
etc.) A list of these altered quantities appears at the end of the list of
corrections. Your browser must support the Unicode character set to use
this file. To tell if your browser supports the necessary characters, check
the table of vowel equivalents below. If you see any empty boxes or
question marks in the "revised" columns, you should use the basic version.
Explanation of the Vowel Accenting
In general, Harrison and Sharp use circumflex accents over vowels to mark
long vowels. For ash, however, the actual character 'æ' represents the long
vowel. Short ash is rendered with a-umlaut (ä). The long diphthongs (ēo,
ēa, etc.) are indicated with an acute accent over the second vowel (eó, eá,
etc.).
Vowel Equivalents in Different Versions:
Orig. Revised Orig. Revised
ä æ Ô Ō
Ä Æ û ū
æ ǣ Û Ū
Æ Ǣ ý ȳ
â ā Ý Ȳ
 Ā eá ēa
ê ē Eá Ēa
Ê Ē eó ēo
î ī Eó Ēo
Î Ī ié īe
ô ō ió īo
** End of PG Preface **