Re: Translation question

On Wed, 7 Mar 2001, Dan Jones wrote:

> My boyfriend came across this tucked into the back of my Anglo-Saxon
> Dictionary, written in an unrecognisable handwriting (i.e. not mine):
>
> Þunor þec þéawlíce weardige
May Thunor guard thee faithfully

> (Mið his)* ogefullne earm ontcynn forhabbendan
With his full arm (or "power), ontcynn (maybe oncunnes, "accusation"?)
restrain

> Mægenróf magurédend morgen bring!
May the powerful counselor of men bring the morning.

May Thunor guard thee faithfully
With his full arm, prevent accusation.
May the powerful counselor of men bring the morning!

It's also written, incidently, in proper meter, more or less.  I'm
impressed.

> Erce áweardige éstelíce þec
> Til tíde þæt tóburste seo molde
> Fracoðnes flíegð framlád wirþ
Erce defend thee kindly
Until the earth bursts apart (taking toburste as toberste)
Vileness flees, makes its departure.

> I presume it was written by the book's previous owner. I can't make much of it
> (it's been a long while since I used my OE), but I recognise the divine names
> Thunor and Erce. I was wondering if anyone could help me out. Is it genuine
> OE, or was it just made up by the first owner of the book?
It's not medieval, I don't think.  The only reference we have to
Anglo-Saxon gods in medieval texts is in the rune poems, and a couple
mentions in gnomic verse.  It's perfedctly good Englisc, though.  There
are a couple dialectical clues here -- the use of "toburste" for
"toberste," for example -- that might lead me, if it were medieval, to
place a date and time.  But I really don't think it is; a modern piece
composed by a person with interest in Anglo-Saxon paganism, I suspect.

One thing that puzzles me, though, is this.  If it's J.R. Clark Hall's
dictionary that you found this in, it implies that another source was used
for composition, since Hall doesn't list as main enteries "forburstan." or
ontcynne.  What dictionary did you find this in?

> *The bit in brackets was crossed out. Admittedly it sounds more
> mellifluous without it.
Hmm.  He could have left it in.  Wouldn't change the meter from an OE
metric standpoint.  I don't think.  My OE metrics is fuzzy.

--Pat



---------------------------------------------------------------------
                Living your life is a task so difficult,
                it has never been attempted before.

Reply