173. #ha wiste wel# &c.: ‘il estoit chose de ce . kil nauoent creance,’
D, it was a fault that they had not faith; ‘il les chalenga de ceo qui
il naueient bone fiance en lui,’ A. The translator had in mind choisi.
174. #wat dret yw# is usually explained as, what terrifies you, a very
rare meaning for dreden, or possibly as an impersonal construction,
which is without parallel. The French has ‘que cremez uus,’ the Vulgate,
‘quid timidi estis.’ The usual construction in ME. is reflexive, comp.
208/397, ‘ne drede ȝe ow nawiht,’ SK 1393; ‘Ne dred te, Zacariȝe,
nohht,’ Orm i. 2/151; ‘him ne dret naȝt to do zenne,’ Ayenbite 34/14,
and if dret may be taken as a syncopated plural, that construction would
be exemplified here. Syncopated plurals are rare, and where they occur,
they are usually said to be scribal mistakes; such are ‘yeft,’ 215/35,
‘spekþ,’ Ayenbite 58/15, ‘brekþ,’ id. 16/21, ‘zeneȝþ’ id. 155/3. Perhaps
they are specifically Kentish. If this view be accepted, #wat# is an
acc. of reference like quid and practically equivalent to why.