"Fourti dais he sal [tham] _yate_
Þat fallen ar ute o þair state
Þoru foluing o þat fals prophet,
Þat þai mai þam wit penance bete."
—(_Antichrist_, in Jahrbuch für Romanische und Englische Literatur,
1863, p. 204, l. 428.)
_gate_ or _yate_, pret. _yatte_, is the Northern form of the word, the
corresponding southern term is _ȝete_, pret. _ȝette_.
"& ȝho ne wass nohht tær onnȝæn,
Acc _ȝatte_ hemm hĕre wille
& _ȝatte_ þatt ȝho wollde ben
Rihht laȝhelike fesstnedd
Wiþþ macche, swa summ i þat ald
Wass laȝhe to ben fesstnedd."—(Orm. i. 80.)
"& þe king him _ȝette_
swa Hengist hit wolde."—(Laȝ. ii. 172.)
"& þe king him _ȝette_
al þat he ȝirnde."—(Laȝ. i. 189.)
See Seinte Marherete, p. 18. Allit. Poems, p. 17, l. 557. _a_ = _an_ = in.
637 _men cleped_ = one calleth it; _cleped_ = _clepet_ = _clepe_ + _et_;
_et_ = it. We have a similar construction in l. 1082:
"for al ðat nigt he sogten ðor
ðe dure, and _fundend_ neuere mor."
_fundend_ = _funden_ + _ed_ = _founden_ + _et_ = found it. The author of
the poem constantly joins the pronoun _et_ = _it_ to the preterite of weak
verbs. See line 479, where _letet_ = let it. 590 _stodet_ = _stod it_ = it
stood. 1654 _kiddit_ = _kidd it_ = showed it. As the plurals of the present
indicative do not end in _-eþ_ or _-et_ in the poem, but in _-en_ (_-n_),
_cleped_ may be an error for _clepeð_ or _clepeth_ = calls, and _men_ =
O.E. _me_ = one. See line 750.
643-644
And as high the flame shall go,
As the flood flowed on the downs (hill).
_lowe_, a northern term (of Norse origin) for flame, the southern form (of
A.Sax. origin) is _leie_. Religious Songs in Old Eng. Miscell., pp. 67,
182.
"Of his neose-þurles
cumeð þe rede _leie_."
See also Legend of St Brandan, 512.
"Þair throtes sal ay be filled omang
Of alle thyng þat es bitter and strang,
Of _lowe_ and reke with stormes melled,
Of pyk and brunstane togyder welled."
—(Hampole's P. of. C., l. 9431.)
653 _vten_ = _wið-vten_, without, besides. See l. 656. Cf. l. 596, with l.
598. 655 _bi tale_, in number.
P. 20. l. 676 _gan ille wune_, began wicked practices. 678 _muni[gin]g_ =
remembrance. 692 _fendes fleiðing_, fiends' strife. Probably _fleiðing_ =
_flitting_, contention, strife. The phrase _fendes fleathe_ = ? _fendes
fleiðing_, occurs in Shoreham's poems, p. 97.
"ȝyf thou rewardest thyne eldrynges nauȝt
A-lyve and eke a-dethe,
That were wel besy to brynge the forthe,
. . . . . . . .
ȝyf thou hy gnaȝst and flagȝst eke,
Ryȝt hys that _fendes fleathe_."
P. 21. l. 713 _hicte_ = _higte_, was called, named. 724 _wol wel_ = _wel
wel_ = very well, extremely well. Cf. the O.E. expressions _wel ald_, _wel
lang_, etc., very old, very long, etc.; _wol wel_ corresponds exactly to
the O.H.G. and M.H.G. _vil wol_; Mod. Ger. _sehr wohl_. See Erec. (ed.
Haupt. 1839), 2017.
725
_Thare let hur, and ðeðen he nam_,
Terah left Ur, and thence he went.
_let_ (pret. of _lete_) = left; _nam_, literally took, and hence took the
way, departed, went. See ll. 744, 745. 727 _burgt_, an error for _burg_.
P. 22. l. 743 _for_, went. See l. 763.
748
_Of weledes fulsum and of blis_ Rich of (in) wealth and of (in) bliss.
_weledes_ is an error for _welðes_; it may = _werldes_ = world's; _fulsum_
= rich, plenteous, bountiful, occurs in O.E. _fulsumhed_ (see l. 1548),
_fulsumly_.