old, it had been used for ostendere: this is just the converse of what has happened in the case of the old sceáwian.
The word þeáu had hitherto been applied to the mind only; it is now used of the body; though this new sense did not become common in England until three hundred years later. We still talk of thews and sinews; Spencer used the word in its old sense.
Layamon forms an adjective from the Old English hende, in Latin prope. He says, in Vol. I. page 206:
‘An oðer stret he makede swiðe hendi.’
But he usually employs this adjective in the sense of courteous, and in this sense it was used for hundreds of years.
I give a list of many Norse words used by Layamon, which must have made their way to the Severn from the North and East; we shall find many more in Dorsetshire a few years later.
Club, from the Icelandic klubba
Draht (haustus), from the Icelandic drattr
Hap (fortune), from the Icelandic happ, good luck[1]
Hit, from the Icelandic hitta
Hustinge (house court), from the Norse hus and thing
Raken (rush), from the Swedish raka, to riot about[2]
Riven, from the Icelandic rîfa (rumpere)
Semen (beseem), from the Norse sama, to fit
To-dascte (dash out), from the Danish daske, to slap
Layamon has the word nook (angulus) which may
