A.S. Anglo-Saxon.
Da. Danish.
Du. Dutch.
Allit. Poems, Early English Alliterative Poems (Ed. Morris).
O.E. Old English.
Prov. E. Provincial English.
Fr. French.
Fris. Frisian.
Ger. German.
Goth. Gothic.
M.H.Ger. Middle High German.
O.H.Ger. Old High German.
Laȝ. Laȝamon's Brut (Ed. Sir F. Madden).
Met. Hom. Metrical Homilies (Ed. Small).
O.N. Old Norse.
Orm. Ormulum.
P. of C. Hampole's Pricke of Conscience (Ed. Morris).
Prompt. Parv. Promptorium Parvulorum (Ed. Way).
S.Sax. Semi-Saxon.
Sw. Swedish.
[1] My obligations to Mr Skeat (in whose accuracy and judgment I have the
fullest confidence) are numerous; and I am indebted to him, among
other obligations, for the description of the manuscript, and for
some interesting remarks upon the metre of the poem. My thanks are
also due to the Rev. J. R. Lumby, who most kindly and readily
re-collated the text with the manuscript.
[2] It is thus described—wrongly, of course, as to age—in the printed
catalogue of the Corpus manuscripts:—"ccccxliv. A parchment book in
8vo., written in the xv. century, containing the history of Genesis
and Exodus in Old English verse."
[3] From lines 19-26 we might infer that our author intended to include
in his song much more of the Bible narrative than we have in the
present work.
[4] Father, God of all things, Almighty Lord, highest of kings, Give thou
me a propitious season (enable thou me successfully), to show this
world's beginning, Thee, Lord God, to honour, whetherso I read or
sing.
[5] The following are the chief omissions:—1. Genesis, chapters ii.
10-14; ix. 20-27, x. 2-7, 10-32; xxiii. 3-20; xxx. 1-5, 14-16, 37-43;
xxxi. 1-17; xxxvi.; xxxviii.; xlviii.; xlix. 1-27. 2. Exodus,
chapters xii. 40-51; xiii. 1-16; xx. 20-26; xxi.; xxii.; xxiii.;
xxv.; xxvi.; xxvii.; xxviii.; xxix.; xxx.; xxxi.; xxxiii. 12-23;
xxxiv. 1-32; xxxv.; xxxvi.; xxxvii.; xxxviii.; xxxix.; xl.
[6] Numbers, chapters xi.; xii.; xiii.; xiv.; xvi.; xvii.; xix.; xx.;
xxi.; xxii.; xxiii.; xxiv.; xxv.; xxvi.; xxvii.; xxxi. Deut. xxxiv.
[7] Natural marks?
[8] MS. in-sile.
[9] The Bestiary presents not only the same _grammatical_ and _verbal_
forms which distinguish the Genesis and Exodus from other Early
English compositions, but also its _orthographical_ peculiarities,
_e.g._ _ſ_ for _sch_; _ð_ for _th_; _g_ for _y_ and _ȝ_ (_gh_), etc.
The editor assigns this poem to the _early_ part of the thirteenth
century.
[10] Warton assigned it to the reign of Henry II. or Richard I.; Sir F.
Madden to the time of Henry III. (1216-1272).
[11] Those employed (about _fifty_ altogether) are more or less
technical—_aucter_, _auter_, _astronomige_, _arsmetrike_, _bigamie_,
_bissop_, _crisme_, _charité_, _canticle_, _circumcis_, _corune_,
_crune_, _desert_, _graunte_, _gruchede_, _holocaust_, _hostel_,
_iurnee_, _iusted_ (allied), _lecherie_, _lepre_, _mount_, _mester_,
_meister_, _neve_ (nephew), _offiz_, _pais_, _plente_, _pore_,
_present_, _prest_, _pris_, _prisun_, _promissioun_, _prophet_,
_roche_, _sacrede_, _scité_ (city), _spirit_, _spices_, _suriurn_
(sojourn), _swinacie_ (quinsy), _serue_, _seruice_, _ydeles_,
_ydolatrie_.
[12] Since writing the above I have printed for the Early English Text
Society "Old English Homilies, 2nd Series," which are earlier than
the Ormulum, and contain many East Midland peculiarities. "The Wooing
of Our Lord" in Old English Homilies, 1st Series, contains some
peculiarities of the West Midland dialect.
[13] See Preface to O.E. Hom., 2nd Series.
[14] It must be recollected that the Ormulum is much earlier than the
Story of Genesis and Exodus.
[15] See Ormulum, Introduction, p. lxxviii., note 105; lxxxi., note 112.
[16] While agreeing with the editor of the Ormulum, that the simplicity of
grammatical forms may fairly be considered as indicating a less
artificial, and therefore advanced, stage of the language, I cannot
adopt his theory, that "the strict rules of grammar" were therefore
abandoned, and thereby was anticipated, to a certain extent, a later
phraseology and structure; or that Orm, or any other O.E. writer,
ever sacrificed "the more regular for a simpler, though more corrupt,
structure and style." It must always be borne in mind that our
earlier writers always speak of their language as English; but it was
the English of the district in which they lived. In some districts,
as in the Northumbrian, for instance, the language underwent certain
changes at a very early period, which more Southern dialects did not
adopt for more than a century afterwards: thus, in works of the 14th
century, we find the Midland more archaic than the Northumbrian, and
the Southern more archaic than either. Authors seeking to become
popular would write in the dialect best understood by their readers,
without considering whether it was simple or complex. Thus the
Ayenbite of Inwyt (A.D. 1340), written for the men of Kent, contains
far more of the older inflectional forms than the Ormulum of the
twelfth century.
[17] Southern writers before 1340 formed the g.s. of fem. nouns in _-e_
and not in _-es_.
[18] In the Southern dialect the article had separate forms for the
nominative fem. (_theo_, _tho_), and neuter (_thet_, _that_); the
fem. gen. sing. (_thar_, _ther_), and the masc. acc. (_than_,
_then_).
[19] See Ormulum, Introduction, p. lxxviii., note 105.
[20] _Sinden_, are, occurs in the Ormulum and the Bestiary, but is not
employed in the present poem.
[21] These forms occur in O.E. Hom., 2nd Series.
[22] In O.E. Hom., 2nd Series, we find _hes_ = them. See Moral Ode, l.
186, O.E. Hom., 2nd Series: "wel diere he _hes_ bohte."
[23] Robt. of Gloucester, Shoreham, Dan. Michel's Ayenbite of Inwyt.
[24] Deep he _them_ buried under an oak.
[25] For Solomon find _them_ shall.
[26] He took _them_.
[27] All his _footsteps_ after him he filleth, draweth dust with his tail
where he steppeth, or dust or dew (moisture), that they are not able
to find _them_.
[28] I have in one case taken the liberty of separating the pronoun from
the verb (for the convenience of the reader), giving the MS. reading
in the margin; but I am sorry now that I did not let them stand as in
the original copy.
[29] _Mes_ = _me_ + _es_ = one, them, occurs in O. E. Hom., 2nd Series.
[30] All _he them_ had (he had them all) with might begotten (obtained).
[31] Undealt (undivided) _he them_ laid, whereso _he them_ brought.
The dove hath habits good,
All _we them_ ought to have in mind
(_i.e._ we ought to have them all in mind).
Bilhah two children bore by him,
Rachel _called them_ Dan, Naphtali;
And Zilpah two sons to him bore,
Leah _called them_ Gad and Asher.
[34] The tabernacle he _put them_ in.
[35] He _set them_ in the firmament.
[36] _ðei_ occurs _once_ only in the present poem, _þeȝȝr_, _þeȝȝm_, not
at all; it occurs twice in O.E. Hom., 2nd Series.
[37] Philolog. Soc. Proceedings, vol. i. pp. 73, 261. _Almigtin_,
almighty, p. 2, l. 30, is the only _adjective_ I find with this
termination.
[38] The dative of the A.S. _bóc_ was _béc_.
[39] _gebroðeren_ (A.S. _broðru_) occurs in the Semi-Sax. Gospels.
[40] A.S. _cealfru_.
[41] _cildru_.
[42] _dura_.
[43] _ægru_.
[44] _handa_.
[45] _cý_.
[46] _lambru_.
[47] _greiðe_ (prepare), _kipte_ (seized), _lit_ (stain), _liðe_ (listen),
_mal_ (speech), _witterlike_ (truly), are found in Southern English,
and may be the remains of the Anglian element in the A.Saxon.
[48] Those marked * thus constantly occur in Northumbrian and Midland
works (with Northern peculiarities) of the 14th century.
[49] _fere_ occurs for _feren_, so _senwe_ = sinews (A.S. _sinu_, sing.,
_sina_, pl.).
[50] As a rule fem. nouns, and nouns of the _n_ declension, take the
inflexion _-es_; as, '_sinnes_ same' (sin's shame), '_sowles_ frame'
(soul's profit), '_helles_ male' (hell's mail), '_werldes_ drof'
(world's assembly). The Bestiary contains the following genitives in
_-e_:—'_nese_ smel' (O.E. Miscell., p. 1), '_welle_ grund' (_Ib._, p.
3), '_kirke_ dure' (_Ib._, p. 6), '_soule_ drink' (_Ib._, p. 7),
'_soule_ spuse' (_Ib._, p. 23), '_helle_ pine' (_Ib._, p. 24).
[51] The forms in _-er_, _-est_, are properly adverbial and not
adjectival.
[52] _tigðe_ = _tithe_, tenth, occurs in l. 895, and _tigðes_ in l. 1628.
[53] Orm uses the more Northern _ȝho_ (Northumbrian _sco_).
[54] _get_ = she it: "al _get_ bit otwinne," she biteth it all in two
(Bestiary, O.E. Miscell., p. 9).
[55] See p. xix.
[56] _ðei_ occurs but once only.
[57] O.E. Hom., 2nd Series.
[58] See pp. xix, xx.
[59] See Preface to O.E. Hom., 2nd Series.
[60] If _godes_ = god's, _seiden_ (pl.) may be an error for _seide_
(sing.), and _hem_ will then = _he_ + _hem_, he them.
[61] Chaucer constantly uses _men_ with a _verb_ in the _singular_ number,
third person. See Notes and Queries for Feb. 8th, 1873, where I have
shown that the West-Midland substituted _men_ for the Southern _me_.
[62] The genitive and possessive are denoted by one form; as, _ure_, of
us; _gure_, of you; _here_, of them.
[63] Because elided in these cases.
[64] The Bestiary is far more accurate in this respect.
[65] _gangande_ rhymes with _standen_ (O.E. Miscell., p. 21, ll. 654,
655).
[66] This form is used when the pronoun follows.
[67] _Followed_ by the pronoun.
[68] The second person of irregular verbs (pret.) does not occur in the
poem. In the Ormulum the inflection is _-e_, which is occasionally
dropped.
[69] These forms do not occur in the poem.
[70] _Sinden_ = are, occurs in the Bestiary and the Ormulum. _Sinde_ and
_senden_ in O.E. Hom., 2nd Series.