489. #ðe#, to which: see 46/292. #mandragores#, mandrake: L.
mandragoras; in Philippe de Thaün mandragora. It is discussed at length
in Bartholomeus Anglicus, lib. xvii, ‘dicitur autem habere virtutem
prebetivam mulieribus concipiendi.’ There is no mention of it in T., but
it is common matter in the Bestiaries.
490-494. ‘Hique semel pariunt quamvis tot tempora vivunt, | Hoc est ter
centum, nec faciunt geminum, | Ast unum generant et per duo tempora
gestans,’ T. (‘duo tempora’ = duos annos). See Ælf. Lives, ii. 104/569.
#wuneden#: read wunen: #more# is probably an addition by the scribe.
495. #blod ⁊ bon#, subject of is: for the phrase, meaning the whole
body, comp. 196/636; ‘nys non so feyr of blod ant bone,’ KH MS. L, 916
note.
496. ‘Cum parit in magna, ne cadat, exstat aqua,’ T. The Bestiaries
generally say that she takes to the water for fear of the dragon. #sal#,
has to, must.
498. #to mid side#: nothing corresponding in T., but ‘Tresque à sun
ventre en l’unde,’ P. de Thaün, 1442; ‘pergit ad lacum magnum et
ingreditur usque ad ubera,’ H. de S. Victor, ii. 427. #midside# is a
compound noun; contrast ‘with a sadel to the midside,’ Desputisoun, ed.
Linow, 59/517 (Laud MS.) with the corresponding, ‘Wiþ a sadel to middle
þe syde,’ 101/517 (Digby MS.).
499. #wanne--tide#; Mätzner translates, ‘when mischief betides her,’
treating harde as a noun, like 152/56 note. The construction would then
be the same as in ‘Aþulf tit no wounde,’ KH MS. L, 1352, and #harde#
might better be translated birth pangs. But the order of the words is
against that interpretation: #tide# is impersonal and #harde# is an
adverb: comp. ‘wel þe sal bityde,’ L MS. O, 2236.
500. #ðat# is often repeated when a clause interrupts the construction,
as in ‘sitteð all stille, ꝥ hwon he parted urom ou, ꝥ he ne cunne ower
god, ne ower vuel nouðer,’ AR 64/20.
502. ‘Non habet ut (_a.l._ unde) surgat, quia nunquam crura recurvat,’
T. The elk is also without joints in its legs; see Elton, Origins of
English History, p. 54.