_Man og to luuen ðat rimes ren,
ðe Wisseð wel ðe logede men._
_og_, another form of _agh_, = _ow_ = ought. _ren_ = _run_ = _rune_, song,
story.
"Nalde ha nane _runes_
Ne nane luue _runes_
leornen ne lustnen."—(St. Kath. 108.)
_logede_ = lay. It is not necessarily unlearned, ignorant, etc., for O.E.
writers frequently use the term in contradistinction to clergy. See
Ayenbite, p. 197. "Vor all manere of volk studieþ in avarice, and (both)
great and smale, kinges, prelates, clerkes, an _lewede_ and
religious."—(Ayenbite, p. 34.)
"And bathe klerk and _laued_ man
Englis understand kan,
That was born in Ingeland."—(Met. Hom. p. 4.)
3 _loken_, to take care of oneself, to direct one's course of life, keep
from sin. See Ayenbite of Inwyt, pp. 1, 197, 199, 201.
"Ac alneway hit is nyed to leawede men
that hi ham _loki_ vram þise zenne (avarice)."—Ayenbite, p. 31.
10 _ðund_ is evidently an error for _gund_ = yond, yonder, over. Cp. gu for
ðu, ll. 365, 366.
"& _þeond_ þat lond he heom to-draf (B. & ouer al þat lond he drof
heom)."—(Laȝ. i. 68.)
12 _earuermor_ = _eauermor_ = evermore. 14 _soðe-sagen_ = _soðe-sage_ =
_sooth-saw_ = sooth-saying, true saying.
15-16
_Cristene men ogen ben so fagen,
so fueles arn quan he it sen dagen._
Christian men ought to be as fain (glad)
As fowls (birds) are when they see it dawn.
17 _telled_ = _telleð_ = telleth. 20 _devil-dwale_ = devil-deceiver,
devil-heretic = arch-deceiver, arch-heretic. See l. 67. Cf. _maȝȝstredwale_
= master heretic = arch-heretic, in the following passage:—
"Off all þis laþe læredd follc
Þat we nu mælenn ummbe
Wass _maȝȝstredwale_, an defless þeww,
Þat Arrius was nemmnedd."
Of all this loathsome learned folk
That we now talk about
Was an arch-heretic, a devil's serf
That Arius was named.
—(Orm. i. p. 258, l. 7454.)
23
_til god srid him in manliched_,
till god shrouded (clothed) himself in manhood.
_srid_ = _sridde_.
24 _bote and red_, salvation and counsel. 25 _And unspered al ðe fendes
sped_ = undid all the fiend's successful work (luck). 26 _halp_ = Old and
Middle Eng. _holp_ = helped, assisted.
P. 2. l. 27 _Biddi_, an error for _bidde_?
31-34
_ðu giue me seli timinge,
To thaunen ðis wer[l]des biginninge,
ðe, leuerd god, to wurðinge,
Queðer so hic rede or singe!_
Give Thou me a propitious opportunity
To show (declare) this world's beginning,
Thee, Lord God, for honour,
Whether-so-ever I read or sing!
_thaunen_ = _taunen_, show, exhibit.
"Ful wel he [Crist] _taunede_ his luue to man,
Wan he ðurg holi spel him wan."
—Bestiary (O.E. Miscell. p. 24, l. 767.)
The word is very uncommon in O.E. writers. Cp. O.Du. _tônen_, to show. See
ll. 1022, 2034. _wurðinge_ = for worship, honour. _wurðinge_ is a noun, not
a participle or gerund. See l. 133. 38 _Ear ðanne_ = ere that.
41
_ðo bad god wurðen stund and stede,_
When God bad exist time and space.
43 _ðrosing_ seems to be an error for _ðrosim_ or _ðrosem_ = fog, mist,
chaos. Cf. _waspene_ in l. 1440, p. 41, where the correct form is
_wasteme_. _aðrusemen_, to suffocate, occurs in Ancren Riwle, p. 40.
wíte þoliað
hátne heaðo-welm
helle to-middes
brand & bráde lígas
swilce eác þa biteran récas,
_þrosm_ and þystro,
torment they suffer
burning heat intense
amidst hell,
fire, and broad flames;
so also the bitter reeks
smoke and darkness.
(Caedmon, p. 21, 18.)
45 _ðu wislike mune_ = do thou wisely bear in mind. 47 _hin_ = _hine_ =
him. 48 _or_, another form of _ar_, = ere, before. 49-56 The meaning of
these lines may be expressed as follows:—"And of them two [God the Father
and God the Son] that dearly love, who wield all here and above, _proceeds_
that holy love, that wise will [the Holy Ghost], that wieldeth all things
with right and skill [reason]. Might bad with word light exist; also that
might [the Holy Ghost] wieldeth _holy consolation_, for there are three
persons and one counsel, one might, and one godhead." 54 _Hali froure_ =
holy comfort, an allusion to the office of Holy Ghost as the comforter.
"Hire uoster moder wes an þe _frourede_ hire."
= Her foster mother was one who comforted her.—(St. Marherete, p. 8.) 58 _o
sunde[r] sad_ = _on sunder shad_, i. e. a-sunder shed = divided apart,
separated. It still exists in _water-shed_, Ger. _wasser-scheide_. Cf. l.
116. See Hampole's Pricke of Conscience, p. 271, l. 32. Cp. "the
_schedynge_ of tonges." (Trevisa's Translation of Higden's Polychron., p.
251.) "The longages & tonges were _ischad_ & to-schift."—Ib. p. 251.
P. 3. l. 63 _ðis walkenes turn_ = this welkin's course. See l. 79. 64
_quuad_ = _biquuad_ = bequeathed, ordained. See l. 117.
69
_And euerilc wunder, and euerilc wo._
And every evil and every woe.
_Wunder_ = misfortune, evil. S.Saxon _wundre_, mischief, hurt.
"hare lust leadeð ham to wurchen to _wundre_."
= their lust leadeth them to work to mischief.—(St. Marh. p. 14.)
(See Sir Gawaine and the Green Knyght. Ed. Morris, l. 16.)
71-72 Our ancestors had some strange chronological theories. In the Cursor
Mundi we read that Adam was made at _undern-tide_, at _mid-day_ Eve was
drawn from his side, and at _noon_ they both ate the apple, and were thus
only three _tides_ in bliss.[396]
73
_ðis ik_ (ilk?) _wort in ebrisse wen._
This same word is in Hebrew opinion (tradition). The true form is _wene_,
"_a wene_" = in supposition. See Laȝ. l. 18752; Orm. l. 4326; Owl and
Nightingale, l. 237.
77 _a-gon_ = _agen_ = again. 78 _a-gon_ = gone. It is our word _ago_.
Grammarians, therefore, altogether err in making the _a_ in _ago_ = the
prefixal element _ge_ (y) as in yclept. _agon_ and _ago_ = the A.Saxon
_agán_ = _af-gán_, gone by, past. We have abundant examples in O.E. writers
of the verb _agon_ (ago) = to go. The past participle is _agon_ or _ago_,
in conformity to the rule that the past participles of verbs with this
prefix do _not_ take the initial _y_. 81 _o france moal_; in French speech;
_moal_ = _mel_ = speech. S.Saxon _mælenn_, to speak. See Orm. vol. i. l.
99, 253. _mol_ also signifies tribute. See O.E. Hom. 2 S. p. 179; O.E.
Miscell. p. 151, l. 161. 87 _tellen_ = reckon. 88 _or_ = _ar_ = first.