440. This article is mostly original. #Sirene#, genitive of sirena; the
title in T. is ‘De Sirenis’; classical Latin has only siren, -is, _fem._
In T. they are female and birds in the nether half; his account is very
brief and general, and it is followed closely by that of the onocentaur,
which is ‘biformis’ like the siren; the ‘significacio’ is common to
both. An earlier description is found in Layamon, 1322-1347, which is
based on Wace, Brut, 733-771. The author of the Bestiary was acquainted
with one or both of these. Comp. also Bozon, Contes Moralisés, p. 47.
441. #selcuðes#, marvels: the word is mostly adjective. ‘Item mare est
animancium et monstrorum multiplicis forme productivum; mare enim longe
producit monstra et mira quam facit ipsa terra,’ Bartholomeus Anglicus,
lib. xiii.
442. #mereman#, mermaid: a better form is meremin, _pl._ merminnen, L
1322: merman is a much later masculine formed from mermaid. The first
half of the line is short: perhaps muchel should be added after is.
443. #oc--bunden#, but in her resemblance to a maiden she is altogether
limited to this extent of breast and body. This use of bind has perhaps
been helped by Layamon’s ‘wifmen hit þunchet fuliwis[;] bi-neoðe þon
gurdle hit þuncheð fisc.’
444. ‘Poisson sunt del nombril aval,’ Wace 737. For the second half line
read, ge is noman ilik.
445. #to fuliwis#: see 32/40 note. #waxen#: explained by Mätzner as
furnished, in meaning of OE. #beweaxan#, which however is used only of
extraneous growths, as ‘burgtunas brerum beweaxne,’ town-dwellings with
briars o’ergrown, Cod. Exon. 443/16. Comp. ‘a win-tre | ðat adde waxen
buges ðre,’ GE 59/2059.
446. #wankel#, unstable; OE. #wancol#: comp. ‘wanclen,’ weaklings, L
31834. The modern dialect word, wankle, is current in the North and
Midlands, and often used of uncertain, unsettled weather, and so
probably here of stormy, disturbed seas.
447. #ðer--sinkeð# is a half-line, #sipes--werkeð# a complete line: the
former may have run, ðer ðe water sinkeð . dun on west halue, where the
sea slopes away down to the west; for the second half-line comp. ‘an æst
halue an west halue,’ L 29287. ‘Et modo naufragium, modo dant mortale
periclum,’ T.
448. #mirie#: ‘Dolces vois ont, dolcement chantent,’ Wace, 738; ‘Þeos
habbeð swa murie song,’ L 1326. Holthausen omits #ge#. #mere#, a
shortened form of mereman. #manie#: ‘Sirenae sunt monstra maris
resonancia multis | Vocibus et modulis cantus formancia multis,’ T.