“Sir, I saw nothing but the water[1] wap, and the waves wan.”
[Footnote 1: The word _wap_ is plain enough; the word _wan_ we cannot
satisfy ourselves about. Had it been used with regard to the water, it
might have been worth remarking that _wan_, meaning dark, gloomy,
turbid, is a common adjective to a river in the old Scotch ballad. And
it might be an adjective here; but that is not likely, seeing it is
conjoined with the verb _wap_. The Anglo-Saxon _wanian_, to decrease,
might be the root-word, perhaps, (in the sense of _to ebb_,) if this
water had been the sea and not a lake. But possibly the meaning is, “I
heard the water _whoop_ or _wail aloud_” (from _Wópan_); and “the waves
_whine_ or _bewail_” (from _Wánian_ to lament). But even then the two
verbs would seem to predicate of transposed subjects.]