This is a stupid language

(but I love it)

And the editors, translators and so forth are equally stupid. (ed- ok, not stupid, aggravating.) Plus, both my teachers are in England, so I cannot run crying to them.

( Meanderings on dreams and visions, and ranting about grammatical distress that no one appreciates properly )

Stuart Thompson Thought For The Day: If those who study the Anglo-Saxon period are Anglo-Saxonists, then are those who specifically practice the speaking of Anglo-Saxon language anglosaxophonists?

Riddles!

lepsdavid asked for the riddle of incongruous solutions. So here, based mostly on Melanie's translation,* and slightly on my own, is Riddle Four:

I, long-busy, bound with rings, shall eagerly heed my thane,** break my bed,**** make noisily known that my lord gave me a neck-ring. Often a man or woman went to greet me, the sleep-weary one; winter-cold I answer those hostile ones.***** Sometimes, a warm limb escapes from the collar; this, however, is pleasing to my thane, foolish man, and likewise to me, if I know anything, and i may triumphantly say with words my false tale.

And in case you've forgotten, here's Mel's list of the suggested answers:
the most accepted being bell, but bucket, millstone, necromancy, flail, lock, hand-mill, pen and phallus have also been proposed.
Plus her own hypothesis that the solution is a devil (apparently not the devil, but you never can tell).

And now... bonus points to anyone who solves this riddle.******

Riddle 46

(A) man sat at wine with his two wives and his two sons and his two daughters, kind sisters, and their two sons, freeborn (and) firstborn. (The) father of each of the children was therein with (them), uncle and nephew. Of all (there) were five of men and of women sitting (there)in.*******

____________________________________________________________________________________

*Melanie Heyworth, "The Devil's in the Detail", Neophilolologus, v.91:175-196; pp 177
** I'm hoping some of you will have read enough bad fantasy to recognise the word. It refers to one of a group of subordinates associated with a cheiftain, and I've usually found it in situations where it is expedient to translate it as "servant", although that term has vastly different connotations. It is also possible that it means "master". Sort of like the word "baron" or "lord"- it depends on the projected status of the narrator/narrative/reader. Anyway, apparently here it is usually translated master, and that's the way I went myself. Melanie has "servant" in her initial translation, but of course the whole point of a riddle is that words not only can mean more than one thing, they often do. Interestingly, and this is one of the key points of her article referenced above,*** Satan is, in other literature, routinely portrayed as both servant and master. Even to the point of the whacky pictures in the Junius MS where his devils are thrashing him.
*** Which explains the theme of our course last semester- devils and demons. and also explains why she had all the articles to hand which I needed for my essay on God-Satan politics.
**** or possibly service, loyalty or prayer. See the Satan thing.
***** this last sentence entirely lifted from Mel's translation. Mine made no sense whatsoever.
****** there is a solution, right down to chapter and verse references. extra points if you can find them.
******* translated with the assistance of BT dictionary, and Bradley's Anglo Saxon Poetry as crib.

Don't you go insulting my pet poem!

I love JStor, can i just say that? Why I didn't think of it yesterday in my grammatical distress, I am unsure.

Willem Helder, "The Engel Dryhtnes in The Dream of the Rood", Modern Philology, v. 73, no. 2 pp 148-50 provides this explanation for the inconsistences, not to mention the cryptic notes, in the Sweet text:

"Beholden Þær engel dryhtnes ealle" can only mean: "All there beheld the angel of the Lord"... many editors and commentators have been reluctant to accept this reading and have felt compelled to explain it away or to emend the text."
and he continues in a footnote: Bruce Dickins and Alan Ross... provide the reading "Behealdan Þær engeldryhta" and... John C Pope... proposes "Beheoldon Þær engeldryhta faela" (p. 223) to replace "the nonsense of the MS" (p. 111 n. 4)

So, my grammatical distress is solved, by confustication with Sweet is solved- what i had was the Pope amendment to the Dickins/Ross amendment, with the actual text in a footnote.

But now i'm annoyed with Mr John C. Pope. Nonsense, indeed!

Do people often go around changing the words of texts? This makes me sad.