21. #of--war#: this phrase, which is repeated after the epic manner with
the king’s name, as 96/51, 98/78 &c. appears for the first time at
13254, ‘of ufele he wes wel iwar,’ where the context requires the
meaning, he was well versed, practised in evil-doing. (OE. #wær#, having
knowledge of.) His character is bad, ‘Fax fu et faussement parla,’ W
6796; ‘þat iharde Uortigerne[;] þe swike wes ful derne,’ L 13603. Less
ambiguous is, ‘Æfter Cap Oein[;] for elchen vuele he wes fein,’ L 6993.
#Þat . . . he# in O = who.
23. Comp. ‘Ne seah ic el-þeodige | þus manige men mōdiglīcran,’ Beowulf,
336, 247-50. #bi nihtes#: comp. ‘feorh færde bi nihttes,’ L 4415.
24. #for--bliðe#: comp. 108/263; ‘Þe king wes gled for his kime,’ L
3962: with _of_, 128/9, 206/321; ‘forr mani mann | Wass off hiss come
bliþe,’ Orm, 24/795, as in OE., ‘ealle wæron swiðe bliðe his
ongeancymes,’ Ælf. Lives, ii. 208/292.
26. #þurh--wurðscipen#, by your true worthiness, as truly as you are
honourable. For the position of eouwer comp. 102/154, 104/171. With for
in O comp. 78/66, 119/78.
28. #whar#: OE. #hwæðer#. #alde# &c., at all seasons, under all
circumstances: comp. 25/226.
32. #hors#: so W; in Hist. Britonum, Horsus: comp. such double forms as
Sceaf, Sceafa; Geat, Geata.
34. #ænde#, quarter: comp. 100/109, 127/344, ‘heofon biþ open on sumum
ende,’ BH 93/1; ‘þe alre leste ende,’ SK 587 (= de remotis partibus);
Minot, ix. 3. #angles#, Ænglis O: the OE. names are Angel, Engel, Ongel;
the final _s_ here is probably due to Englisc. ‘De Saisone, dist-il,
venon,’ W 6889; but they were Jutes.
35. #tiðende#, lit. happenings, here, customs, ways: comp. 110/271; ‘In
Fra{n}ce weore læwen[;] sulkuðe a þan dawen. | ⁊ selcuðe tidende,’ L
5137, where læwen and tidende are synonymous. #gonde# in O is regarded
by Madden as a mistake for goude, a spelling found in C, but not, I
think, in O: he translates ‘many good things’; Mätz. ‘wondrously good
things’; but that gives a very unsuitable sense and spoils a rhyme. In
Specimens it is taken for goinde: O has goinde, 1582, but mostly goinge,
which is hard to parallel at this date in the sense of taking place,
progressing. Brotanek, in Zupitza-Schipper, 339 suggests that gonde is
OE. #geondan#, yonder; but L otherwise has only ȝeond, ȝond, _prep._ as
at 106/209. Possibly it is a mistake for wonde, accustomed, instead of
the usual iwoned 101/121; ‘To hire weren iwoned[;] wonder craftie men,’
O 1153: C has iwunde, wounded, 10420, and the prefix is occasionally
dropped, as somned, 104/167.
36. #vmbe# is ambiguous: bi eche &c., O, means every fifteenth year: ‘Li
prince qui les teres ont | Tos les jenes asamblé font | Qui de quinze
ans sunt et de plus,’ W 6909. #hi[s]# for is: him MS. cannot be
reflexive here: comp. ‘Þa ferde wes isumned,’ L 1482, and so always in
L. But Kock, Anglia, xxv. 318 takes #isomned# as isomneð, assembles,
with #him# as reinforcing dative, like 13/34.
37. #iledene# is regarded by Mätzner as for ledene, with otiose _i_
prefixed, as in ‘iliue’ 94/22; it would in that case be _pl. g._ of leod
as in ‘leodene king,’ L 5394. But ‘folk of the people,’ ‘nation-folk,’
Madden, is a strange expression (though leod-folc is common enough), and
it would be a meaningless repetition; besides _e_ for OE. #ēo# is rare
in L. Kellner, Archiv cxiv. 164, proposes ileuede representing OE.
#gelyfed#, advanced in age, and one MS. of W has ‘Tout li viellart et li
plus fort’ as a variant of ‘Tot li millor et li plus fort | Sont mis
fors del païs, par sort,’ 6193. But ileuede is not used elsewhere in L,
and would connote decrepitude. Geoffrey of Monmouth has ‘totius regni
iuvenes coram se venire praecipiunt (principes): deinde sorte proiecta
potiores atque fortiores eligunt,’ 82/20; something corresponding to
‘iuvenes’ is required here, such as iwepned; comp. L 9942-6.