210 Moore
drysne is used in the sense of "worthy of reverence or respect," for example:
him waes frēan engla
word ondrysne & his waldend lēof (Genesis 2860 f.);
Wæs he for his árfæstum dædum eallum his geferum leof & weorð & ondrysne (Blickling Homilies, 213, 11 f.);
Tu þing mæg se weorðscipe & se anwald gedon, gif he becymð to þaem dysgan, he mæg hine gedon weorðne & andrysne oðrum dysegum. Ac þonecan þe he ðone anwald forlæt, oððe se anweald hine, þonne ne bið he nauðer þam dysegan ne weorð ne andrysne.13[1]
Now "reverence" fits the Beowulf passage at least as well as "etiquette." In the light of the evidence we have, therefore, it would seem best to give up the accepted interpretation of for andrysnum and return to that of Thorpe, who translates it "from reverence."[2]
V
[mǣru] gemēting, monegum fīra (200)
Instead of mǣre, which was introduced into the text by Grien in 1867, was adopted by Heyne in his second edition (1868), and has appeared in all subsequent editions that I have seen except Arnold's (1876),[3] we should read mǣru. The form of Grein's emendation was in accordance with the grammatical information of the time; even his Kurzgefasste angelsächsische Grammatik, published in 1880 after his death, says in regard to the j-stem adjectives: "Wo … der wurzelvocal keinen umlaut zulässt, unterscheidet sich die declination dieser adjectiva von der gewöhnlichen adjectivdeclination eben nur durch das e in den flexionslosen formen, d.h. im nom. sg. m. f. n. und im acc. sg. n."[4]
- ↑ Boethius, ed. Sedgefield, 61, 2 ff. (editor's italics and brackets disregarded, and abbreviations for þonne and þam expanded).
- ↑ This is also the translation given by Bosworth and Toller.
- ↑ Namely, Ettmüller 1875, Heyne 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10; Wülcker in Bibliothek; Harrison; Harrison and Sharp; Holder 1895, 1899; Wyatt 1, 2; Trautmann; Holthausen 1, 2, 3, 4; Sedgefield 1, 2; Pierquin; Chambers. Arnold reads [uncer].
- ↑ P. 82.
