The Functions of Old English Geweordan 259 pa ne meahte heo betweoh him gepwcerigan ond geweordan, Bede 272.31 ( = qui cum invicem concordare non possent). This is, perhaps, a combination of a personal construction (gepw&rigan) and an impersonal one (geweordan) ; meahte might be considered either singular or plural, see Anglia xxv, 313. MS. B reads: gewurpan ond gepwcerigan. he ded swa swa hine silfne gewyrd, and he nanne rcedboran nafd, ^Elfric's Preface to Genesis 24.23. (Bright, in the glos- sary to his Ags. Reader: "according to his own decree.") Ealle das ding ded se Halga Cast, todcelende tzghwikum be "dam de him gewyrd, JEttr. Horn. I 322.29. So in the early ME. transcription in the Lambeth MS. (Morris, Old English Homi- lies I 97.22): bi pan pet him iivurd. se halga gast hy todcelp . . . Codes halgum mannum be flam pe him gewurd, Wulfst. 57.9. heo k&fde pone sceatt, swa swa him geweard, ^Elfr. Lib. lud. 16.21 ( = data illi pecunia, quam promiserant). heo da dydon, swa heo peer geweard, Wulfst. 226.27. . . . biscop dcet lond gebycge, suce hie donne geweorde, Sweet, The Oldest English Texts (Charters), 442.20. (Thorpe in his edition, Diplom. Angl. 463, doubtfully conjectures hit for hie.) ofsloh peer mycelne ende pees folces ond nam him on orfe ond on mannum ond on ahium swa him geweard, OE. Chron. A.D. 1052(E); not "as it befell him" (Plummer), but 'as it suited him.' Cf. the expression occurring in the same annal: namon him par scipu ond gislas swa fela swa hi woldon. poet eowrum peawum ond minum ne mihte cetgcedere gewurdan, Dial. Greg. (MS.H) 105.20 ( = quia vestris ac meis moribus minime conveniret). In MS.C the impersonal construction is given up: pcet eowrum peawum ond minum ne mihte an wise gewurdan (MS.O: gedwcerigan) . swa swa him ond p am cynge geweard, OE. Chron. A.D. 1103. 24 for dan de dam luste and geswencednysse naht eade on anum timan ne gewyrd, ^Elfr. Horn. II 92.20. wyn pu nu ongean pone wuldres Cyning, and gewurde pe and hym, Harrowing of Hell, in Bright's Ags. Reader 133.22 (Bright's 24 Perhaps Jud. 259: hu -done cumbolwigan / wid ffa hdgan magd hafde geworden should be included. The case is, at any rate, sufficiently similar.
( Cf. 'get on with.')
