** Preface to the Project Gutenberg Edition of Beowulf **
This text is a corrected version of the fourth edition of Harrison and
Sharp in its entirety. It comes in two basic versions. The base version,
available in 8-bit (Latin-1) text and HTML, presents the original text as
printed. This file contains the original version. It preserves the
source-text's idiosyncratic use of accented vowels with the exception of
y-circumflex, 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.) 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, available in
Unicode (UTF-8) and HTML. 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., gäst vs. gæst 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 the revised
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 (eo,
ea, etc.) are indicated with an acute accent over the _second_ vowel (eó,
eá, etc.).
** End of PG Preface **