_He ros, and lutte, and scroð him_ [hem?] _wel._
He rose, and bowed, and urged (invited) them well.
1060
_He wisten him bergen fro ðe dead._
They wished to preserve him from death.
_bergen_ is literally to preserve, but it may be here used passively, as
the infinitive often is by O.E. writers, and we must then render the line
as follows:—"They wished him to be preserved from death."
1062
_And he him gulden it euerilc del._
And they him requited it every whit.
1063
_Oc al ðat burgt folc ðat helde was on._
But all that townsfolk that were old enough.
1073
_ðat folc vn-seli, sinne wod._
That wretched folk, mad with sin.
1076 _wreche and letting_ = vengeance and failure.
1079
_Wil siðen cam on euerilc on._
Blindness _or_ bewilderment afterwards came on every one.
1082 _fundend_ = _funden_ + _id_ = _funden_ + _it_ = found it. 1084 _don
red_ = do (obey) counsel, i.e. take advice.
P. 32. l. 1095 _in sel_ = in time, timely, opportunely.
1097
_ðat here non wente agen._
That none of them should turn back.
1101 _gunde under dun_, under yond hill. 1103 _sren_, if correct, might
signify _screen_, but it seems to be an error for _fren_, to set free, and
hence to save.
1105
_Ai was borgen bala-segor._
Aye was saved Bela Zoar (little Bela).
See Gen. xiv. 2; xix. 20, 22. 1107 _hine_ = him, the name of the town being
regarded as of the masculine gender. 1108 _erðe-dine_ = earthquake.
"Á hundyr á thowsand and seẅyntene yhere
Frá þe byrth of our Lord dere,
_Erddyn_ gret in Ytaly
And hugsum fell all suddanly,
And fourty dayis frá þine lestand."—(Wyntown, p. i. 289.)
The verb _dinne_ in O.E. has not only the sense of to _din_, but to shake,
quake. See Seinte Marherete, p. 20.
"Þe erth quok and _dind_ again."
—(Cursor Mundi; Cott. MS. Vesp. A. iii. fol. 11b.)
1109 _Sone so_, as soon as. 1110 _brend-fier-rein_, rain of burning fire.
1116
_Ne mai non dain wassen ðor-on_,
None may dare to wash therein.
_dain_, if not an error for _darin_ = _daren_, dare, venture, may = _ðain_,
a man, a servant, or = _duen_, avail. 1119 _wente hire a-gon_, turned her
aback. See l. 1097. 1120 _wente in to a ston_, turned into a stone.
1121
_So ist nu forwent mirie dale_,
So is there now changed merry (pleasant) dale.
_ist_ = _is_ + _it_, _is it_, there is. 1125 _deades driuen_, held
(influenced) of (by) death.
P. 33. l. 1127 They say the trees that are near it, come to maturity in
time, and bring forth fruit and thrive, but when their apples are ripe,
fire-ashes one may see therein. _fier-isles_, fire-ashes. For the meaning
of _isle_, see Gloss. to Allit. Poems, s.v. _Vsle_. 1131-2 That land is
called dale of salt, many a one taketh thereof little heed (account).
"Of thair schepe thai gif na _tale_,
Whether thai be seke or hale."—(MS. Harl. 4196, fol. 92.)
1137 _biggede_, dwelt. It signifies more properly to _build_. 1139-40 Here
is an allusion to the destruction of the world by fire mentioned in lines
640-644, p. 19. Those maidens erewhile heard some say that fire should all
this world consume. 1140 _forsweðen_, to burn up entirely, from the O.E.
_swethe_ or _swithe_, to burn, scorch. See Ancren Riwle, p. 306 (footnote).
Gloss. to Allit. Poems, s.v. _swythe_. 1142 _fieres wreche_, vengeance
(plague) of fire. 1143-4 The Cursor Mundi says that Lot's daughters seeing
only their father, thought that all men had perished.
"Bot Loth him held þat cave wit-in,
He and his doghtres tuin;
For þai nan bot þair fadre sau,
Þai wend alle men war don odau,
Thoru þat ilk waful wrak;
Þe elder to þe yonger spak:
'Sister to þe in dern I sai,
Þou seis þe folk er alle awai;
Bot Loth our fader es carman (male) nan,
Bot we twa left es na womman;
I think mankind sal perist be,
Bot it be stord wit me and þe.'"—(fol. 18.)
1147 _vnder-gon_, (1) to go under, (2) to cheat, deceive. In line 1160
_under-gon_ = to undertake, take up again.
Cp.
"ȝet our by-leave wole _onder-gon_,
That thyse thre (Persons of the Trinity) beth ryȝt al on."
—(Shoreham, p. 142.)
"Ope the heȝe eȝtynde day
He _onder-ȝede_ the Gywen lay."—(Ibid. p. 122.)
"And tus adam he [Christ] _under-gede_,
reisede him up, and al mankin,
ðat was fallen to helle dim."—(O.E. Miscell. p. 22.)
1151 _eiðer here_, each of them. Cf. O.E. _eiðer eȝe_, each eye, both eyes.
1159-60 Now behoveth us to turn back and take up _the_ song concerning
Abraham.
1162
_Wið reuli lote and frigti mod._
With mournful cheer and frightened mood (mind).
_reuli_ = sad, rueful, from the verb _rue_, to pity, compassionate, grieve
for. Cf. O.E. _rueness_, compassion; _Ruer_, a merciful person; _reuthe_,
pity.
"He saith 'we ben ybore euerichone
Making sorwe and _reuly_ mone.'"—(MS. Addit. 11305.)
_lote_, fare, cheer.
"Þis isah þe leodking
grimme heore _lates_."
The king saw this,
their grim gestures.
—(Laȝ. ii., 245.)
"Þat freond sæiðe to freonde,
mid fæire _loten_ hende,
'Leofue freond, wæs hail!'"
That friend saieth to his friend
With fair comely looks,
"Dear friend, wassail!"
—(_Ibid._ ii., 175.)
P. 34. l. 1163 _Roke_, East Anglian for _reke_, smoke. See Prompt. Parv. p.
436; Beve's, l. 2471.
1164
_And ðe brinfires stinken smoke_,
And the sulphur's stinking smoke.
_stinken_ = _stinkende_, stinking. 1166 _him reu_. The verb _rewe_ is used
impersonally in O.E. 1167 _suðen_ = southwards. (See Gen. xx. 1.) 1171-2
Erewhile as first Pharaoh her took, now taketh Abimelech her also. 1177
_wif-kinnes_, womankind. 1178 _wið-helð_ = _wið-held_. 1179-80 In dream to
him came tidings why he suffered and underwent that misfortune. 1180
_untiming_ is literally that which is unseasonable. We have the same notion
expressed in O.E. _unhap_ (mishap), misfortune; E. _happen_, happy, and E.
_hap_, _happen_, etc. Cp. _untime_, in Ancren Riwle, p. 344. 1184 _ðat il
sel_, that same time, immediately.
1186
_And his yuel sort was ouer-gon_,
And his evil lot was passed.
1188
_ða ðe swinacie gan him nunmor deren_,
When the quinsy did him no more vex (annoy).
Our author or his transcriber is certainly wrong about the "_swinacie_;"
for the punishment of "_lecher-craft_" was _meselry_ (leprosy), the quinsy
being the penalty for _gluttony_. The seven deadly sins were thus to be
punished in Purgatory:—
1. Pride, by a daily fever.
2. Covetousness, " the dropsy.
3. Sloth, " the gout.
4. Envy, " boils, ulcers, and blains.
5. Wrath, " the palsy.
6. Gluttony, " the quinsy.
7. Lechery, " meselry or leprosy.
1192 _ðat faire blod_, that fair woman. _blod_ in O.E. was used as a term
of the common gender, as also were such words as _girl_, _maid_, etc. See
Gloss. to Allit. Poems, s.v. _blod_.
1193
_Bad hire ðor hir wið heuod ben hid_
= _Bad hire ðor-wið hir heuod ben hid_?
Bad her there-with her head to be hid,
(That is, she was to buy a veil for her head).
1194 _timing_, good-fortune, happiness. See note to line 1180. 1195
_bi-sewen_, be seen. _so_ in this line seems an unnecessary addition of the
scribe's. 1197 _wurd_ = _wurð_, became; _on elde wac_, in age weak
(feeble). _Woc_ = weak; the older form is _wac_. See Laȝ. ii. 24, 195, 411.
"Forr icc amm i me sellfenn _wac_,
& full off unntrummnesse."—(Orm. ii. 285.)
"Vor nout makeð hire _woc_ but sunne one."
For nought maketh hir weak but sin only.
—(Ancren Riwle, p. 4.)
See O.E. Miscell. p. 135; ll. 581, 595.
1198 _trimede_ is, perhaps, for _timede_ = _teemed_ = brought forth; if not
it must be referred to O.E. _trumen_. See _trimen_ in l. 1024.
P. 35. l. 1200 _a-buten schoren_ = about shorn, is merely the explanation
of circumcized.
"O thritte yeir fra he was born,
was ysmael wen he was _schorn_."—(Cursor Mundi, fol. 16b.)
1201 _lay_ is another form of _law_. Cf. O.E. _daye_ and _dawe_. 1204 _al
swilk sel_, even at such time. 1206 _is told_, is reckoned. 1208 _fro
teding don_, removed from his mother's care (?). _teding_ = _tending_ (?),
nursing, care, not _teðing_ = _teething_. "_fro teding don_" in the Cursor
Mundi is expressed by the phrase _spaned fra the pap_ = weaned from the
breast.
1209
_Michel gestninge made abraham_,
great feasting _or_ entertainment made Abraham.
_gestninge_ (feasting) seems to be the same as the S.Saxon _gistninge_, a
banquet. The original meaning is hospitality; O.E. _gesten_, to entertain a
guest; S.Sax. _gistnen_, to lodge. See Ancren Riwle, p. 288_a_, 414. Laȝ.
ii. 172.
1212
_And ysmael was him vn-swac_,
And Ishmael was to him (Isaac) disagreeable.
_vn-swac_, displeasing, distasteful. There is no such word as _un-swæc_ to
be found in the A.Sax. glossaries, but we have _swæc_, savour, taste, from
which I have deduced the meaning here given to _un-swac_. See Ancren Riwle,
p. 48, where _spekung_ = _swekung_, and cp. _swæc_, stenc, and hrepung, in
Ælfric's Hom. i. 138.
1213 _un-framen_, to annoy, from O.E. _frame_, to benefit, to profit.
1216 _Hir was ysmaeles anger loð_, To her was Ishmael's anger displeasing.
1217 _Ghe bi-mente hire to abraham_, She bemoaned her to Abraham. _bimente_
= pret. of _bimene_, to complain, lament.
"_bimene_ we us, we hauen don wrong."—(O.E. Miscell. p. 25; see R. of
Gloucester, p. 490.)
1220 _dwale_, complaint, grief. See l. 1037.
"Be þu neuere to bold, to chiden agen oni scold,
ne mid mani tales to chiden agen alle _dwales_."
(O.E. Miscell., p. 127. See p. 126, l. 414.)
1221 _rapede_, hastened, hurried away. See Rich. Cœur de Lion, 2206.
"The wretche stiward ne might nowt slape;
Ac in the morewing he gan up _rape_."—(Seven Sages, l. 1620.)
"The king saide, 'I ne have no _rape_ (I am in no hurry)
For me lest yit ful wel slape.'"—(Ibid. l. 1631.)
1224
_In sumertid, In egest sel_,
In summer time, in the highest time (the hottest season) of the year.
Cp. 'in a _hyȝ_ seysoun.'—Allit. Poems, p. 2, l. 39. 1228 _hete gram_,
fierce heat. 1229 _wexon ðrist_. The sense requires us to read _wex on
ðrist_, with fatigue and heat thirst waxed on them.
1231
_Tid-like hem gan ðat water laken_,
Soon did that water fail them.