Vocabulary and syntax of the Old English version in the Paris psalter : a critical commentary 9783111659091, 3111659097

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JANUA LINGUARUM STUDIA MEMORIAE NICOLAI VAN WIJK DEDICATA edenda curai C. H. VAN S C H O O N E V E L D Indiana University

Series Practica,

67

VOCABULARY AND SYNTAX OF THE OLD ENGLISH VERSION IN THE PARIS PSALTER A CRITICAL COMMENTARY

by

JOHN DOUGLAS TINKLER UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT CHATTANOOGA

1971

MOUTON T H E H A G U E • PARIS

© Copyright 1971 in The Netherlands. Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 68-29624

Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., Printers, The Hague.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Abbreviations I. Introduction II. The Vocabulary of The Paris Psalter

7 9 13

A. Loan Translations

15

B. Latin Words

21

C. Words Arising from Mistakes of Various Kinds

22

D. Words Illuminated by Medieval Psalter Commentary

33

E. Alliterative Anomalies

48

F. Other Paris Psalter Words Worthy of Special Attention . . . .

58

G. Word List

62

III. Syntactical Problems of The Paris Psalter

70

A. Set Phrases

71

B. Expansions Based on Psalter Commentary

80

C. Apo Koinu Constructions

85

IV. Conclusion

88

Bibliography

91

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BTD

An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, edited Joseph Bosworth and T. N. Toller (Oxford, 1882-1898). BTS An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Supplement, edited T. N. Toller (Oxford, 1908-1921). CGL Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum, seven volumes, edited G. Goetz (Leipzig, 18881923). Etymologies Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Etymologiarium sive Originum Libri XX, edited W. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911). GKS Sprachschatz der Angelsächsischen Dichter, edited C. Grein and J. Köhler (Heidelberg, 1912). HD A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Fourth Edition with Supplement, edited J. R. C. Hall and H. D. Meritt (Cambridge, 1960). HEW Altenglisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, edited Ferdinand Holthausen (Heidelberg, 1934). Krapp The Paris Psalter and the Meters of Boethius, edited George P. Krapp (New York, 1932). OEG Old English Glosses, Chiefly Unpublished, edited Arthur S. Napier (Oxford, 1900). Pat. Lat. Patrologia Latina, edited J. Migne (Paris, 1844-1903). Thorpe Libri Psalmorum Versio Antiqua Latina cum Paraphrasi Anglo-Saxonica .. ., edited Benjamin Thorpe (Oxford, 1935). WW Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies, by T. Wright, second edition, edited and collated by R. Wülcker (London, 1884). * A superscript asterisk before a word indicates a ghost word.

I.

INTRODUCTION

A. THE MANUSCRIPT, EDITIONS, A N D IMPORTANT SCHOLARSHIP

The Paris Psalter, located in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, catalogue number Fonds Latin 8824, is a small, handsome manuscript containing the most extensive of all collections of Old English metrical psalm translations as well as an Old English prose translation of the first fifty psalms. 1 The manuscript is written in double columns with a Latin version on the left side of each page and the Old English version on the right. The first fifty Old English psalms, written in a fairly straightforward prose, are reasonable renderings of the Latin psalms, 2 with a considerable amount of added material, much of which has its source in patristic commentary on the psalter. The final one hundred psalms are rendered in a rather loose alliterative verse. In the metrical psalms, too, there is marked deviation from any known Latin text. Here also the influence of commentary may be seen; moreover, the versifier sometimes warps the sense of the Latin to fit the alliteration. In 1835 Benjamin Thorpe published a complete edition of the Paris Psalter with both Latin and Old English texts. 3 The Old English is a fairly close transcription of the Old English of the manuscript, but the Latin is not so scrupulously treated. Thorpe appears to have made up his mind about the Old English text, then to have printed the Latin version of the psalms which was closest to the Old English whether or not the Latin printed was in the manuscript. Sisam contends that Thorpe, although he recognized that the Old English text was probably closer to the Roman psalter than to the Gallican, collated the Latin text against a printed copy of the Vulgate and came out with some confused readings. 4 In 1884 Gustav Tanger 1 There are some eleven Old English interlinear glosses to the psalms, but the Paris Psalter is the only collection which can be truly called a translation. This and other information concerning the MS and its contents is derived from the introductions to the facsimile reproduction of the MS. The Paris Psalter, general editor Bertram Colgrave (Copenhagen, 1958). 2 James Douglas Bruce has shown that the Old English of the prose psalms is not a translation of the Latin text which accompanies it in the Paris Psalter. The Anglo-Saxon Version of the Book of Psalms Commonly known as the Paris Psalter (Baltimore, 1894), pp. 123-126. 3 Benjamin Thorpe, Libri Psalmorum Versio Antigua Latina; cum Paraphrasi Anglo-Saxonica, partim soluta oratione, partim metrice composita . .. (Oxford, 1835). 4 Kenneth Sisam, "The Latin Text", preface to The Paris Psalter, ed. Colgrave, p. 15.

10

INTRODUCTION

supplied a collation of the manuscript with Thorpe's edition, noting where Thorpe differs from the manuscript.5 These differences are chiefly in the Latin text and, in many cases, minor. In a text of the Old English prose psalms, published by James W. Bright and Robert L. Ramsey in 1907,6 a "prefactory note" promises an introduction reviewing the scholarship on the Paris Psalter and advancing solutions of problems relating to the character and sources of the psalter; but this introduction never appeared. The text published by Bright and Ramsay is not greatly superior to that of Thorpe. In fact, certain critics state that it is little more than a reprint of Thorpe's text,7 perhaps a justifiable observation. That is, Bright and Ramsay follow Thorpe closely, not only in such things as numbering of verses, but also, quite frequently, in readings of the text. In 1918 the same scholars published a set of notes on the text of the prose psalms; in this article they admit some errors, defend themselves on some points, put forth a series of new readings, and promise a second edition.8 The second edition of The West Saxon Psalms did not materialize. The most extensive discussions of the prose psalms are those of Wichmann 9 and Bruce. Wichmann's article is principally concerned with assigning the authorship of the prose psalms to King Alfred. Bruce's monograph is devoted chiefly to ascertaining the sources of the introductions to the psalms; but, in a section on expansions in the Old English text,10 he cites numerous passages from the psalms which have parallels in such medieval commentary as that of Cassiodorus, Remigius, and Bede. The metrical psalms of the Paris Psalter also appear in the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, Volume V, edited by George P. Krapp.11 All readings differing from the manuscript are meticulously noted, and a rather cursory review of earlier scholarship is incorporated in the notes. Krapp does not, however, endeavor to throw much light on dark passages; he seldom explains an apparent deviation from the Latin or an addition; neither does he worry about the lines which seem to make very little sense. Thus, even though the Paris Psalter is, in effect, available in two complete editions, there is yet work to be done, particularly on difficult passages.

5

Gustav Tanger, "Collation des Pariser altenglischen Psalters mit Thorpe's Ausgabe", Anglia, VI (1884), pp. 125-141. 6 J. W. Bright and R. L. Ramsay, Liber Psalmorum, The West Saxon Psalms, Being the Prose Portion, or the "First Fifty" of the so-called Paris Psalter (Boston, 1907). 7 J. H. G. Grattan, "On the Text of the Prose Portion of the Paris Psalter", MLR, IV (19081909), pp. 185-189. 8 J. W. Bright and R. L. Ramsay, "Notes on the West Saxon Psalms", MLN, XXXIII (1918), pp. 471-474. 9 J. Wichmann, "König Aelfreds angelsächische Übertragung der Psalmen I-LI exclu.", Anglia, XI (1889), pp. 39-96. 10 Bruce, pp. 93-103. 11 George Phillip Krapp, "The Paris Psalter and the Meters of Boethius", Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, V (New York, 1932).

INTRODUCTION

11

B. THE PROBLEMS OF VOCABULARY

The vocabulary problems presented by the Paris Psalter are of several kinds. There are two hundred-seven words in the Paris Psalter which are known from no other source. Twenty-four of these words occur more than once in the psalter; one hundred-eighty-three occur only once in Old English, this appearance being in the Paris Psalter. Twenty-one words cited in one or more of the Old English dictionaries from the Paris Psalter are ghost words. In the metrical psalter, many of the hapax legomena are self-explanatory, obviously the result of the exigencies of alliteration and made up of readily understandable parts. Others are explained by the poet's passion for certain compounding words - man, mcegen, niode, among others - which he uses as more or less meaningless fillers to sustain the alliteration. Some of these alliterative words are tautological compounds in which each part of the compound seems to mean about the same thing. Examples of this tautology are swyltdead, bealuinwit, and feorhlif. Some words seem to be "loan translations" in which two or more Latin words are translated as single words, such as snadingsceapum which translates oves occisionis. A negative idea in Latin may be reflected by a compound in un- in Old English; for example, unare, unmcege. A noticeable source of unusual vocabulary items in the Paris Psalter lies in the use of medieval commentary upon the psalms in the Old English version. A considerable portion of the prose psalter and numerous passages in the metrical psalter have parallels in the traditional patristic psalter commentary. For instance, egewylmum in 106, 24, translates no Latin, but can be understood as more than a chance formation on the part of the versifier when commentary on the verse by Cassiodorus reveals tempestatum tribulationum. There is no evidence that any single commentary was used by either the paraphrast of the prose psalter or the versifier of the metrical psalter, but rather obviously both were familiar with the body of patristic explication of the psalter which was current at the time of the translation. The stock of patristic interpretation of the psalms available to the translators of the Paris Psalter was considerable. Augustine's Ennarationes and Jerome's Breviarium were the basic sources out of which other commentaries and explications were drawn. The Expositio of Cassiodorus (sixth century), the Exegesis ascribed to Bede (eighth century), the Ennarationes of Remigius (ninth century), the Explanatio of Haymo (ninth century), and the Expositio of Bruno of Wurzburg (eleventh century) show that basic interpretations changed little. Many of the same ideas run through all the commentaries.12 Therefore, when a particular commentary such as that of Cassiodorus is cited as a clue to the interpretation of a dark Old English passage, it is not asserted that the translator had the Expositio open before him but rather that psalter commentary which throws light upon the passage does exist. 12

See Bruce, p. 99.

12

INTRODUCTION C.

THE PROBLEMS OF SYNTAX

While the syntax of the Paris Psalter is not so replete with problems as is the vocabulary, there are a good number of syntactical tangles which require some unraveling. Many whole phrases and clauses translate no Latin, neither that of the manuscript nor that of any other version of the psalms. Some of these may well be the result of simple explanatory enlargement upon the text. In many instances, particularly in the prose psalter, this seems to be true. One finds, however, ample evidence in both the prose and metrical portions that medieval commentary upon the psalms lies behind many of the most difficult and seemingly far-fetched additions. Moreover, in the metrical psalter, many half lines have little or no syntactical value. The versifier has several "fillers", such as niode swylce and phrases with swide, which he can use to expand any defective half-line. Several difficult passages in the metrical psalter are better understood if the construction is taken apo koinu. Since an understanding of the syntax of a passage is so often dependent upon a careful discovery of the meaning of each word in the passage, more space in this study is devoted to vocabulary than to syntax.

D.

PURPOSE A N D METHOD

The purpose of this work is to solve or at least to throw some light upon the dark words and syntactical puzzles of the Paris Psalter. In Chapter II, the hard words are discussed under an arbitrary organizational scheme, and a word list appears at the end of the chapter. Chapter III, on syntax, follows the same pattern. Wherever possible, all pertinent information is given in the text, the footnotes being reserved for bibliographical information.

II.

THE VOCABULARY O F THE PARIS PSALTER

Inasmuch as Old English dictionaries list two hundred-seven words as hapax legomena from the Old English psalms in the Paris Psalter and twenty-four words which occur more than once in the Paris Psalter but nowhere else in Old English, an unwary word scanner might come to think of the Paris Psalter as a great wordhoard of Old English otherwise unrecorded. Such, unfortunately, is not precisely the case. These words, most of them, do appear in the Paris Psalter and nowhere else; but a great many of them are of such a nature that one has a difficult time believing that the words ever had any real currency in Old English. Fifty-five of the hapax legomena of the Paris Psalter are alliterative compounds, words which seem to have been made up by the versifier of the metrical psalms to fulfill the requirements of versification. Some of the words such as swidmihtig and wcetergrund may have been relatively common in the vocabulary of Old English writers, but a majority of the alliterative hapax legomena of the Paris Psalter seem to be words that only the versifier ever had occasion to use. Characteristic of these alliterative anomalies are compounds with such words as heah, man, and neod as the first element, words in which the first part appears to exist solely for the sake of alliteration. Another type of alliterative nonce word is the tautological compound, such as swyltdead or feorhlif, in which the translator renders a Latin idea twice. Often, as with facendced, the alliterative compound renders no Latin, but merely fits, sometimes rather vaguely, the general context of the verse. In general, the alliterative compounds are likely to be words made up by the versifier when he found himself in difficulties with his poetry. A second type of hapax legomena in the Paris Psalter is what may be called "loan translations". In forming these, the paraphrast of the prose psalms or the versifier of the metrical psalms simply renders a Latin phrase literally and puts the parts together in an Old English compound. Weepenstrielas renders arma et sagittce at 56, 5; smedingsceap translates oves occisionis at 43, 23; heofonhlaf is the versifier's answer to panis coeli at 105, 35. Allied to the loan translations are those words which are simply borrowed from the Latin. Sometimes the word is given an Old English inflection as in gecoronian from coronare at 5, 13; sometimes even the Latin inflection is maintained as in clerus at 67, 13. Twenty-one of the words entered in one or more of the Old English dictionaries

14

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

from the Paris Psalter seem to be the result of mistakes of one kind or another. Editors of the Paris Psalter have made errors in reporting the reading of the manuscript or in emending the text, as in the case of *onmeltan, 88, 39, and *ofleogan, 17, 43; editors of dictionaries have been careless about consulting the editions they cite, simply following other dictionaries into error, as in the case of *la8weorc, 105, 26. Aside from the probable ghost words entered from the Paris Psalter, a number of other words which were used strangely appear to be the result of mistakes in translation on the part of the paraphrast or the versifier. Such renderings as folc for poculum at 22, 7, and yda for fructus at 71, 16, seem to be obvious errors on the part of the translators. Perhaps the most interesting and often the darkest of the hard words of the Paris Psalter are those which show the influence of medieval psalter commentary on the Old English paraphrase. The use of inwitgyrene, 'deception snare', to render laqueos, 'snares', at 139, 5, might seem merely an alliterative addition on the part of the versifier until one discovers in the commentary of Remigius an explanation of laqueum: id est deceptionem. Commentary is often helpful in coming to some understanding of a difficult word in the Paris Psalter; occasionally it allows the reader insight into the translation and compounding habits of the translators. Certain other words of the Paris Psalter are interesting because of the relationship they have to similar words in other Old English works. Some of the hapax legomena from the Paris Psalter can be illuminated by comparison with words from elsewhere; others are words whose use in the Paris Psalter seems to throw light upon a dark word elsewhere in Old English. In the following discussion of the vocabulary problems of the Paris Psalter, the words are divided into six rather arbitrary groupings: (A) Loan Translations; (B) Latin Words; (C) Words Arising from Mistakes of Different Kinds; (D) Words Illuminated by Medieval Psalter Commentary; (E) Alliterative Anomalies; (F) Other Paris Psalter Words Worthy of Special Attention. There is, of course, some overlapping. Many of the words discussed in sections other than E are also alliterative, but in each case the word is discussed under the heading which seems to give the most information about it. In each category, the words are discussed in alphabetical order. For each word, the context in which the word appears in the Paris Psalter is cited, and the Latin of the Paris Psalter which stands opposite the Old English is given. Although the Latin of the Paris Psalter is in many cases probably not precisely the same Latin which the Old English of the Paris Psalter renders, 1 reference to this Latin will be of great help. Whenever the Old English does not match the Latin given but does match a discoverable variant reading of the Latin psalter, the variant Latin is included in the discussion. Since the verse division in the Paris Psalter quite often fails to match that of the Vulgate, the Vulgate verse number is given in parentheses 1

See Bruce, pp. 123-126.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

15

in each case in which there is a difference.2 For the text of the prose psalms, Latin and Old English, I have used my own transcription of the Paris Psalter, made from the facsimile of the manuscript. For the Old English text of the metrical psalms, I have used Krapp's edition of the Paris Psalter; for the Latin of the metrical psalms, I have prepared a correction of Thorpe's edition by consulting a facsimile of the manuscript. As much information is given about each word as 1 believe necessary for a complete understanding of what the word means, how it was made, and how it seems to function in the Paris Psalter. For this reason entries on some words are very short, particularly in section E, whereas entries on other words, particularly in sections C and D, are considerably longer. A complete list of Old English words discussed in the chapter, along with all other hapax legomena of the Paris Psalter, is given as section G.

n, A.

LOAN TRANSLATIONS

When confronted with two or more Latin words or with a Latin phrase, the translators of the Paris Psalter often use an Old English compound the parts of which are simply literal translations of the Latin words. Several of the compounds are rather obviously words made up for the nonce, usually to fit the exigencies of alliteration. Others seem to be words which might have been current in the Old English literary vocabulary, particularly in that vocabulary dealing with biblical and theological subjects. A noticeable feature of these "translation compounds" is the translators' handling of the Latin genitive. When dealing with an idea which the Latin renders with a noun plus a noun in the genitive case such as pane c&li, 104, 35, the translators often compound the two words, setting the Latin genitive in an attributive relationship to the other noun, this noun bearing the inflectional ending, heojonhlaje. Also noticeable is the use of un-, to render Latin in-. II, A, 1. asfenlac. 140, 3. (2). - Swylce is ahajenes handa minra / ponne ic be cefenlac estum secge renders elevation manuum mearum sacrificium vespertinum. The Old English cefenlac fits the Latin sacrificium vespertinum exactly and also fits the alliteration. II, A, 2. anmede. 54, 12. (14). - pu eart se man be me ware / on anmede and ceghwces cud / latteow lustum renders tu vero homo unanimis dux meus et notus meus. Anmede follows unanimis part-for-part, with an reflecting un- and mede, an umlauted form of mod, representing animis. The word is analogous to the elsewhere documented eadmede and ofermede. II, A, 3. eardland. 134, 12. — Sealde heora eardland eall Israhelum / and heora 2

The edition used is Bibliorum Sacrorum juxta vulgatam Clementinam, nova edito . . . , curavit Aloisius Gramatica (Vatican, 1929). For a discussion of variance in numbering between the Paris Psalter and the Vulgate, see Krapp, pp. xiv-xv.

16

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

yrfe eac his folce renders et dedit terrain eorum hereditatem hereditatem Israel populo suo. From this verse HD enters eardland, 'native land'. Here the versifier has taken hereditas in its sense of patria, a word which is frequently rendered in Old English by eard; and terram calls for land, hence the compound eardland. II, A, 4. earfoSdaeg. 76, 2 (3). - Ic on earjoddcege ecne drihten / sohte mid handum swype geneahhe renders in die tribulationis mece deum exquisivi manibus meis. From this verse the dictionaries enter earfoddag, 'day of tribulation'. The versifier merely transformed die tribulationis into an Old English compound corresponding in meaning. II, A, 5. efenscearp. 63, 3 (4). - pa heora tungan teod teonan gehwylce / sweorde efenscearpe renders quia exacuerunt ut gladium linguas suas. From this verse the dictionaries enter efenscearpe, 'equally sharp'. Efne can mean 'equally', and such a translation would make a good deal of sense in the line. One would like to know, however, just how the versifier came to compound efenscearp. At 143, 15, efne anlicast cepelum temple renders ut similtudo templi; perhaps in 63, 3, efen of efenscearpe also comes from ut, the idea of the second part scearpe being fittingly called for by the Latin exacuerunt. II, A, 6. eorSgemaere. 21, 25 (28). - ponne gemunan pat eall eordgerrueru and gecyrrad ealle to drihtne renders reminiscentur et convertentur ad dominum universi fines terra. From this verse the dictionaries enter eordgemcere, 'boundaries of the earth'. The paraphrast has simply made one Old English word from two Latin words, fines terra. In this compound may be noted the usual handling of the Latin genitive. Terra, 'of the earth', is rendered simply eord and is set first in the compound. II, A, 7. eowdesceap. 64, 14. - Hi beod gegyrede godre wulle / eowdesceapum cumad eadlic / wastm on wangas weordlic on hwatum renders induti sunt arietes ovium et convalles habundabunt frumento. From this verse HD enters eowdesceap, 'sheep of the flock'. Arietes ovium means 'rams of the sheep', which, of course, may be interpreted as eowdesceap, 'sheep of the flock'. Perhaps back of the part eowde lies some bit of medieval commentary; Remigius says: "arietes ovium", id est, duces gregum Christi,3 and the usual Old English rendering of grex is eowde. The greater difficulty with this passage is in interpreting exactly what the versifier means by hi beod gegyrede godre wulle eowdesceapum, which can be translated, 'They are covered with good wool, with the sheep of the flock'. The Latin induti sunt arietes ovium seems to mean, 'The rams of the sheep are covered'. There is no real problem in godre wulle - the versifier needed an alliteration in g-. BTS takes eowde sceapum as two words, and perhaps this is right. The translation might then be something like, 'They shall be covered with good wool, (there shall be) a flock for the sheep'. The versifier of the Paris Psalter uses the locution eowde sceapa two other times: at 73, 1, oves gregis is rendered by eowde sceapa; at 77, 69, de gregibus ovium is rendered by eowde ute be sceapum. 3

J. Migne (ed.), Patrologia

Latina

(Paris, 1840-1903), 131, 470, 17-18.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

17

II, A, 8. folcu. 67, 27 (31). - On wuda pu wildeor wordum preatast / and fearra gemot under folcum renders increpa feras silvarum concilium taurorum inter vaccas populorum. The word folcum fits the alliterative pattern and translates vaccas populorum exactly.4 It is entered in the dictionaries as folcu, 'people's cow'. II, A, 9. gefeohtdaeg. 139, 7. - And pu min heafod scealt / on gefeohtdoege feondum awergean renders obumbrasti caput meam in die belli. In this compound the translator's handling of the Latin genitive is demonstrated; the Old English equivalent of belli, namely gefeoht, is placed in the attributive position in the compound. II, A, 10. handgeweald. 105, 30 (41). - He hi on handgeweald hadenum sealde / and heora weoldan pa him wyrrest at / on feondscipe fceste gestodon renders et tradidit eos in manus gentium et dominati sunt eorum qui hoderunt eos. From this verse the dictionaries enter handgeweald, 'power'. The word is formed by combining in one Old English word the ideas in two Latin words, manus, 'hand', and dominati, 'controlled, ruled', giving rise to handgeweald, literally 'handcontrol'. II, A, I I . heahbeorg. 94, 4. - He pas heahbeorgas healded swylce renders et altitudines montium ipse conspicit. GKS enters heahbeorg, 'high mountain', from this verse. HD enters heahbeorg, 'mountain'. The versifier puts altitudines and montium together to form the compound, but he reverses his usual handling of the Latin genitive. If he had followed the pattern of folcu, gefeohtdceg and heofonhlaf, he might have come up with a compound like *beorgheanes. The reason for the alteration in the compounding pattern probably lies in the alliteration. II, A. 12. heahgod. 56, 2 (3). - Heonan ic cleopige to heahgode renders clamabo ad deum altissimum. Here the superlative altissimum is translated as a simple positive. II, A, 13. heofonhlaf. 104, 35 (40). - And hi heofonhlafe halige gefylde renders et pane cceli saturavit eos. Heofonhlafe is straight part-for-part translation of pane cceli, setting the genitive cceli in the attributive position in the compound. II, A, 14. hlafgebrecu. 147, 6 (17). - He his cristallum cynnum sended / swylc swa hlafgebrece of heofonwolcnum renders mittit crystallum suum sicut frusta panis. HD enters hlafgebrecu, 'bit of bread', citing the Paris Psalter as the source. GKS enters hlafgebrece or hlafgebrec from this verse. The versifier simply put the words frusta panis together, moving the Latin genitive into the attributive position. The versifier did not translate crystallum; he even left the Latin inflection, making the Old English word look rather oddly like a dative plural standing as a direct object. Cynnum, 'to men', is an obvious alliterative addition. Of heofonwolcnum, 'from the clouds of heaven', is another alliterative addition; but it makes rather more sense than many of the versifier's added half-lines and is in line with commentary such as that of Cassiodorus unde populus esuriens coelesti pane vescatur,5 4 5

Herbert D. Meritt, Fact and Lore About ¥ at. bat., 70, 1040,49.

Old English Words (Stanford, 1954), pp. 196-197.

18

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

II, A, 15. hleorsceamu. 68, 8. - And me hleorsceame heard becwoman renders operuit reverentia faciem meam. HD enters hleorsceamu, 'confusion of face', from this verse. A variant psalter reading for reverentia is confusio. GKS enters hleorsceamu, 'pudor genas rubejaciens' and cites the variant Latin reading. The versifier combines the ideas of reverentia, 'shame', and confusio, 'blushing' (an attested signification, though not the usual one) with faciem, 'face, countenance'. The sideby-side position of the words in the Latin text may have influenced him to make up the new compound. Part-by-part, the word means 'face-shame' and is analogous - in reverse order of parts - to modern English shamefaced, though this was originally shamefast. II, A, 16. manwyrhta. 118, 3; 93, 3. - Ne magon manwyrhta mcegene feran / on his rruerne weg mightigan drihtnes renders non enim qui operantur iniquitatem, in viis ejus ambulaverunt at 118, 3. HD enters manwyrhta, 'evil-doer, sinner', from the Paris Psalter. The versifier is here translating the Latin subordinate clause qui operantur iniquitatem with a compound noun. In this instance, the versifier does not seem compelled by alliteration; in fact, mcegene, the alliterative element in the second half-line, has no source in the Latin and seems to be an alliterative additive to fit the pattern of mmwyrhtan. At 93, 3, oppe manwyrhtan mordre gylpad renders usquequo peccatores gloriabuntur. Here, too, the alliterative addition is in the second half-line; there is no source in the Latin or in commentary for mordre, 'sin'. The ending -tor in peccator probably induced the part wyrhta, as for example, hrofwyrhta rendering sarcitector, frumwyrhta rendering auctor, and slecgwyrhta rendering malleator. II, A, 17. mindom. 54, 7 (8). - pe me bete eft / modes mindom and mcegenes hreoh renders qui me salvum faceret a pusillo animo et tempestate. GKS enters mindom, 'status exilitatus'; HD apparently misinterprets the GKS entry and gives mindom, 'state of exile'. Actually, this word is simply another translation compound, with min rendering pusillo and dom rendering animo,9 and means 'pusillanimity'. II, A, 18. modorcild. 68, 8 (9). - Wees unmcege gyst modorcildum renders et hospes filiis matris mece. Translated somewhat oddly in HD, 'a child of one's (own) mother', modorcild is a simple part-for-part reflection of filiis matris. II, A, 19. nahtfremmend. 58, 2 (3). - Genere me fram nipe nahtfremmendra / pe her unrihtes ealle wyrcead renders eripe me de operantibus iniquitatem. Naht, 'evil', plus fremmend from fremman, 'to do, to make', gives the translator nahtfremmend, 'evil-doer', corresponding to operantibus iniquitatem. The second line in Old English is a somewhat explanatory re-translation of operantibus iniquitatem. Perhaps the translator realized that he had just coined a word and intended (like Elyot in later times) to divulgate or set forth its meaning. II, A, 20. nihtegesa. 90, 5. - Ne Su pe nihtegsan nede ondrcedest renders non timebis a timore nocturno. Nihtegesa, 'terror by night', seems so straightforward s

See Fact and Lore, pp. 177-178.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

19

and is apparently so useful that one wonders if perhaps it were an Old English word in good standing even though it is recorded only here. It reminds one of uhtcearu, 'sorrow at dawn', from The Wife's Lament. The nede in this line is added purely for alliteration. See neodlof, II, E, 37. II, A, 21. saeweg. 8, 8 (9). - pe farad geond scewegas translates qui perambulant semitas maris. Given the many Old English words for the sea, one might expect that "seaway" would have been used more than once, but HD and BTD enter sieweg from this verse only. That mere chance has confined its documentation in Old English to the Paris Psalter seems likely in view of the close Icelandic cognate sjovegr and also in view of the fact that the word became a permanent part of the English language. II, A, 22. sealmfaet. 70, 20 (22). - Forpon ic pe andette ece drihten / and pe on sealmfcet singe be hearpan / Israela god ece and halig renders rather loosely nam et ego confitebor tibi in vasis psalmorum veritatem tuam deus psallam tibi in cithara deus sanctus Israel. In the other Old English psalters vasis psalmorum is rendered fatum sealma. Dictionaries enter sealmfeet defined as vasis psalmorum, hesitating to translate the word literally as 'psalmvat' and following it with an exclamation point, though sealmfat is really no more remarkable than a considerable number of other Paris Psalter words, folcu, 'people's cow', for example. II, A, 23. snaedingsceap. 43, 23 (22). - Hy teohhiad us him to sncedingsceapum renders estimati sumus ut oves occisionis. HD enters snaedingsceap, 'sheep for slaughter', from this verse. The paraphrast has correctly associated occisio with some form of ccedo, various forms of which are rendered in Old English by srwedan and its derivatives. II, A, 24. {junorradstefn. 76, 14 (19). - Wees punurradstefn Strang on hweole renders vox tonitrui tui in rota. Thorpe reads punur-rad stefn, but the compounding habits of the translator support Krapp's reading,7 even though the compound is hapax legomenon. Old English punorad is the usual rendering of Latin tonitrus, as is stefen of vox. II, A, 25. unaga. 112, 6 (7). - He of eordan mag pone unagan / weccan to willan renders suscitans a terra inopem. HD enters from this verse unage, 'one who owns nothing'; the word is formed from age, 'possessions, property', plus a negative prefix, a formation which fits the etymology of the Latin inops like a glove. The use of Old English un- to translate Latin in- is a noticeable feaure of the translator's style. II, A, 26. unbealu. 100, 2. - Ic mid unbealuwe ealre heortan / purh Sin hus middan halig eode renders perambulabam in innocentia cordis mei in medio domus tuce. Unbealu, 'innocence', reflects part-for-part innocentia. The word occurs only here, though a further compound, unbealuful, is documented elsewhere. II, A, 27. unleahtorwyrSe. 18, 7. - Godes ce is swide unleahtorwyrde renders lex domini inreprehensibilis. Here unreflects in-, leahtor reflects reprehens, and the 7

See Krapp's note on 76, 14, p. 214.

20

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

suffix -wyrSe seems to have been called forth by the adjective ending -ilis, as nytwyrde renders utilis and witewyrde renders poenalis. The gloss to inreprehensibilis in the Vespasian Psalter is untelwyrde, a quite analogous word as both leahtor and tcel mean 'reproach'. II, A. 28. unsaed. 100, 5. - Oferhydegum eagum unscedre heortan renders superbo oculo et insatiabili corde. Again the translator uses un- to render Latin in-, this time achieving alliteration with the part-for-part translation. II, A, 29. waepenstrael. 56, 5. — Synd me manna beam mihtigum todum / wcepenstrcelas pa me wundedon renders filii hominum denies eorum arma et sagittce. From this verse HD enters wiepenstrxl, 'arrow'. In light of the translator's affection for tranlation compounds perhaps the definition should read 'arms and arrows', since the compound clearly reflects both arma and sagittte. II, A, 30. waeterstefn. 92, 5 (4). - Fram wceterstefnum widra manigra randers a vocibus aquarum multarum. This compound seems to have brought the poet to syntactical difficulty. Having rendered vocibus aquarum part-by-part as w&terstefnum, he then renders the adjective multarum with the Old English genitive widra manigra, which does not make any syntactical sense. II, A, 31. waeterSryS. 106, 22 (23). - Wyrcead weorc mcenig on wceterdrypum renders facientes operationem in aquis multis. HD enters from this verse wceterdryd, 'rush of waters'. There seems to be nothing in either the Latin or in commentary on the psalms to cause the versifier to think of dry8, 'might, force, strength'. HD also gives as a meaning for 8ryd, 'multitude, troop, host'. Although the versifier translates multis as mcenig and uses meenig to modify weorc, it is possible that he translated it again as dry3, rendering the Latin in aquis multis with on wceterdrypum, 'in the multitude of waters'. II, A, 32. wealsad. 139, 5 (6). - Forhyddan oferhygde me inwitgyrene / wradan wealsadan wundnum rapum /woldan mine fotas gefastnian renders absconderunt superbi laqueos mihi et funes extenderunt in laqueum pedibus meis. From this verse HD and GKS enter wealsad, 'cord (for binding captives)', with a query, associating the word with wealh, 'slave'. BTD under wealh cites one instance of the word from a gloss in Aldhelm's De Virginitate as a rendering of Latin protervus\ as protervus is a glossary equivalent of superbus,9 the weal of wealsad may have been called forth by superbi of the Latin psalm. II, A, 33. wliteandet. 103, 2 (1). - pu pe weordlice wliteandette / gode gegyredest renders confessionem et decorum induisti. Although confessionem and decorum here have no inherent relationship one to the other, the versifier has used each for a part of the compound, rendering confessio in the usual way as andette and decorum in the usual way as wlite.9 Perhaps the compound really arises from a scribal haplology, the two nouns having been originally joined - as in the Latin by the conjunction and, thus wlite and andette. 8 9

Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum, Fact and Lore, p. 196.

ed. G. Goetz (Leipzig, 1888-1923), vol. 6, p. 151.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

21

II, A, 34. worulddead. 142, 4 (3). - Swa pu worulddead wrige mid foldan randers sicut mortuos seculi. The other Old English psalters gloss mortuos seculi as deade worolde. Here the versifier, following his usual method of handling the Latin genitive, renders seculi as the first part of the compound. II, A, 35. wudufeld. 131, 6. — Syddan gemitton / forwel manegu on wudufeldum / renders invenimus ea in campis silvce. The Latin campis silvce is converted into a compound wudufeldum, which is documented only here.

II, B.

LATIN WORDS

Occasionally, when faced with a word difficult to turn into Old English, the paraphrast of the prose psalms or the versifier of the metrecial psalms simply used the Latin word, sometimes giving the word Old English inflection, sometimes retaining even the Latin inflection. While many of these Latin words are person or place names which one would hardly expect to be in any way translated, a few of the Latin words are worthy of special comment. II, B, 1. basilisca. 90, 13. - pu ofer aspide miht eade gangan / and bealde nu basiliscan tredan renders super aspide et basiliscum ambulabis. Both aspide and basilisca are Latin words taken into Old English. HD enters basilisca also from the same verse of the Canterbury Psalter, but one may mention that this passage in the Canterbury Psalter is within one verse of a long passage in meter, demontrably closely related to the Paris Psalter. II, B, 2. cama. 31, 11 (9). — para cinban pu scealt mid bridle and mid caman to pe geteon renders in freno et camo maxillos eorum constringe. HD enters cama, 'muzzle, collar, bit', from this verse. One may accept this entry, but had the paraphrast read the Latin camo as coma, he would have had cause to use a word very much like caman, namely cambe, since such a word is a usual rendering of coma. II, B, 3. clerus. 67, 13 (14). — Gif ge slcepad samod on clero renders si dormiatis inter medios cleros. HD enters clerus, 'clergy', from this verse. The versifier simply took the Latin word into English, even changing the inflection to a Latin ablative. II, B, 4. erinaces. 103, 17 (18). - Erinaces fleod oft on stanas renders petra refugium herinaciis. A variant version of the Latin reads erinaciis for herinaciis. From this verse HD enters erinaces, 'hedgehogs'. There seems to have been some doubt as to what to do with this word in the Old English versions of the psalms the Spelman Psalter renders it haereanfagol and the Arundel Psalter renders it hattefagol, glosses which are still unsolved. II, B, 5. gecoronian. 5, 13. — pu us gecoronadest and geweordadest and us gescyldest mid pam scylde pinre welwilnesse renders ut scuto bone voluntatis tuce coronasti eos. HD enters gecoronian, 'to crown', from this verse. The word is simply Latin coronare given Old English inflection. II, B, 6. mysci. 104, 27 (31). - He sylfa cwced sona cwoman / mysci manige

22

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

mid wozran grwettas renders dixit et venit cynomyia. From this verse HD enters mysci, 'flies'. Isidore says of cynomyia, id est musca; and he associates musca with mus.10 In Old English, the plural of mus is mys, a point which may have some bearing on the odd form mysci. II, B, 7. pellican. 101, 5 (7). - Ic geword eom pellicane gelic / se on westene wunad renders similis factus sum pellicano in solitudine. The versifier simply takes the Latin word into Old English, not being (in this instance) so bold and imaginative as the glossator of the Canterbury Psalter who renders pellicano with felle hundes, mistakenly taking the part pelli to mean 'skin' and the part cano to mean 'dog'. II, B, 8. salletan. 104, 2. - Singad him swylce and salletad renders cantate ei et psallite. Since the versifier needed an alliteration, he gave Latin psallare an Old English inflection. n , C.

WORDS ARISING FROM MISTAKES OF VARIOUS KINDS

Twenty-one words entered in one or another of the dictionaries of Old English from the Paris Psalter probably do not deserve to be listed in the Old English lexicon. Seven of these words have been discussed by Herbert D. Meritt in Fact and Lore about Old English Words. His discussion of these has been summarized and, where possible, supplemented. The other suspected ghosts are discussed somewhat more fully. Aside from the ghost words, certain other words which seem to be the results of mistakes, particularly mistakes in the translation of Latin, are treated in this section. The versifier of the metrical psalter seems to have been rather careless in rendering the Latin. Helen Bartlett discusses a number of such errors.11 I have pointed out several others which seem to me instructive and, perhaps, amusing. A few other words from the Paris Psalter whose existence in the dictionaries with the particular definition given them seems dependent upon a mistake of some kind are also included in this section. Such words as frine (56, 11) and hyrian (126, 4) are better understood as verbal forms than as nouns, as they are entered in GKS. In this section, the words are discussed under three subheadings: (1) ghost words, (2) translation errors, (3) definition errors. II, C, 1. Ghost Words II, C, 1, a. *arscamu. 68, 19 (20-21). - In the manuscript of the Paris Psalter, the Latin tu enim scis in properium meum confusionem et verecundiam meam in conspectu tuo sunt omnes tribulantes me stands opposite Old English arsca me for 10 W. Lindsay (ed.), Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Etymologiarum sive Originum Libri XX (Oxford, 1911), 12, 8, 11-12. 11 Helen Bartlett, The Metrical Division of the Paris Psalter (Baltimore, 1896), pp. 28-36.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

23

pinre ansyne ealle syndon pe feondas me fiecne wurdon. There is no indication of a loss at the beginning of the Old English. Thorpe prints ar scame as the end of verse nineteen, citing in the notes the carelessness of the scribe. Then he begins verse twenty with For pinre anysne . . . . Krapp reads arsca me as arscame and keeps the remainder of the Old English in verse nineteen. From this verse GKS enters arsceamu, 'verecundia'. BTD enters arsceamu, 'verecundia'. The Supplement to the fourth edition of HD deletes arscamu, directing the reader to Krapp's note on the line. Krapp suggests that arscamu or arsceamu is not an Old English word, contending that the letters are most likely only part of a word. Krapp suggests hleorscame as the probable word, pointing to hleorsceame rendering reverentia faciem in 68, 8.12 II, C, 1, b. *foddergifu. 77, 20 (18). - Biedan hiora feorum foddur geafe renders ut peterent escas animabus suis. Thorpe prints foddur-geafe. HD enters foddergifu, 'food', from the Paris Psalter. No other dictionary enters the compound. GKS cites 77, 20, under foddor; BTD cites the verse under fodder. Foddergiju probably has no place in the Old English dictionary. The geafe may be taken as dative and the line translated: 'to ask for food as a gift to their souls'. More likely, geafe is subjunctive of the verb giefan, the line then being translated, 'ask that he give food for their souls', where the conjunction, that, and the subject of the verb, he, are omitted, a documented syntactical usage with biddan.13 II, C, 1, c. *forspyrcan. 101, 3 (4). - Fordon dagas mine gedroren syndan / smece gelice and forspyrcende synd / mine mearhcofan pees pe me pinced / swylce hi on cocerpannan cocas gehyrstan renders quia defecerunt sicut fumes dies mei et ossa mea sicut frixurio confrixa sunt. From this verse the dictionaries enter forspyrcan, 'to dry up', and relate the word to spearca, 'a spark', and spearcian, 'to spark'. The translation 'to dry up' depends upon a variant Latin reading, et ossa mea sicut cremium aruerunt. (See mearhcofa, II, D, 34). There is, however, an alternative interpretation of forspyrcende. If the p in forspyrcende is a scribal mistake for wyn, w, then the word to worry about becomes forswyrcende. Forsweorcan is an attested Old English verb meaning 'to grow dark'. When bones are roasted in a frying pan, they not only lose their marrow and dry out, they also grow dark. Reading forspyrcende as forswyrcende will not make the Old English translation of the Latin any clearer, but forswyrcende can be traced directly to an attested word while forspyrcende seems to depend upon a rather tenuous connection with words which seem to have little to do with dryness. II, C, 1, d. *freo3a. 70, 3. - Forpon pu me, god, ware geara trymmend / freoda fultumiend renders quoniam firmamentum meum et refugium meum es tu. HD and BTD enter freoda, 'protector'; GKS enters freoda, 'tuton'. BTS deletes freoda, contending that refugium is rendered by fultumiend freoda in which freoda in which freoda is genitive of freod. The lines would then be translated, 'Because you, God, 12 13

Krapp, pp. 212-213. See biddan, II, 3 a, in

BTS.

24

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

were to me a ready supporter, a helper of tranquility'. There seems to be no sure way to settle this variance; but, in general, in Old English poetry a genitive between two nominatives, with either or both of which it may be syntactically construed, is more likely than three nominatives in a row. A dictionary entry freoda from this particular passage must be considered suspect. II, C, 1, e. * gedrettan. 70, 12 (13). - Beod gedrette eac gescende / pa mine sawle cer swypust t&ldun renders confundantur et deficiant detrahentes animce mew. GKS and HD enter gedrettan, 'to consume', citing this verse. HEW enters gedrettan, 'verzehren' with a query and without etymology. BTD enters gedrettan, 'consume', but queries whether gedrette should not be taken as gedrehte, 'afflicted, oppressed', from gedreccan. Krapp also suggests this emendation,14 though he prints gedrette in the text. BTS queryingly adds for comparison ofer-drettan, 'to take with violence', a hapax legomenon from the Spelman Psalter. Gescende matches confundantur, and tceldun renders detrahentes, leaving gedrette to render deficiant if the versifier is translating word for word. Of course, given the habits of the versifier, such an assumption is perhaps rash. If one accepts the suggestion of BTD and Krapp and reads gedrette as gedrehte, 'oppressed, afflicted', then he can find in Remigius' commentary perhaps a particle of support. Remigius says: et deficiant, it est, invictoriosi existant,15 To live defeated would certainly be equivalent to being 'oppressed, afflicted'. A reading of gedrette as a mistake for gedrehte is preferable. II, C, 1, f. *getucian. 44, 11 (10). - Mid golde getucode renders in vestitu de aurato. BTD enters getucian, 'to dress, to adorn', with a query; BTS enters getucian, 'to work metal', with a query; HD enters getucian, 'bedeck', and suggests with a query that the form getucian is an error for getunecian. A form of getunecian, getunecod, 'dressed in a toga', is recorded from a gloss, getunecod: togatas. In view of the clear association of tunic with vestitu, 'garment', it is likely that getucode stands for getunecode and is another example of the reading of an abbreviated un as u, as in such a form as hyrsudon for hyrsumdon,18 II, C, 1, g. *hemman. 106, 41 (42). - The manuscript of the Paris Psalter renders Latin et omnis iniquitas oppilavit os suum with pcet unrihta gehwylc eft oncyrred / and his sylfes mud symble nemned. Krapp and other editors emend nemned to hemned;17 from this passage GKS enters hemnan, 'opilare', and HD enters hemman with a query, defining the word as 'to stop up, close'. The Paris Psalter contains several instances of confusion in rendering the Latin. In this case, the versifier of the Paris Psalter seems to have taken oppilavit to be from appellare, *to name'.18 14

Krapp, p. 213. Pat. Lat., 131, 507, 23-24. 16 See Fact and Lore, p. 28. 17 See note to this line in Krapp, p. 221. 18 See Fact and Lore, p. 48. The versifier seems to have juggled the Latin word oppilavit considerably, for if taken from appellere, 'to turn toward', it could account for the presence of 15

oncyrreß.

25

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

II, C, 1, h. *hlidan. 79, 11 (12). - Ealle pe telgan de him of hlidad renders extendisti palmites ejus. From this line HD enters hlidan, 'come forth, spring up'; and HEW enters hlidan, 'hervorspriessert, but can find no etymology for it. At 91, 11, blowed swa palma / and swa Libanes beorh lided and growed renders ut palma florebit et sicut cedrus Libani multiplicabitur. Lided and hlidad appear to be the same word. Probably both are forms of lidian, a known gloss to Latin mitescere, 'to grow ripe, mature'. The writing with d may be a scribal variant for 3.19 II, C, 1, i. *ingebed. 87, 2 (3). - Gange min ingebed on pin gleawe gesihd renders intret oratio mea in conspectu tuo. At 118, 170, intret postulatio mea in conspectu tuo is rendered ingange min ben, ece drihten on pinre gesihde. From 87, 2, GKS enters ingebed, 'inbriistiges Gebet'; HD enters ingebed, 'earnest prayer', with a query. In the Paris Psalter oratio is rendered eighteen times by gebed. There is nothing very special about oratio at 87, 2, which would call for anything other than the normal gebed. The versifier renders intrare by gange in at 117, 19, so it is very likely that the expression gange min ingebed is a confusion of stroke letters for gange in min gebed.29 E. V. K. Dobbie prefers to read ingange min gebed.21 II, C, 1, j. *laSweorc. 105, 26 (35). - And leornedan lad weorc gode renders et didicerunt opera eorum. HD, and also GKS, enter ladweorc, 'evil deed', from this verse. BTD enters ladweorc, citing this verse in Thorpe's edition; but neither Thorpe nor Krapp reads lad weorc as a compound. There is a definite space between the two words in the manuscript; and since taken separately lad weorc is grammatically acceptable, there is no reason for positing a compound. II, C, 1, k. *modorhrif. 70, 5 (6), 138, 11 (13). - At 70, 5, Thorpe reads ic of modur-hrife mundbyrd on pe priste fuefde pu eart peccend min rendering in te confirmatus sum ex utero de ventre matris mece tu es meus protector. At 138, 11, Thorpe reads swa ic furdum wees of modor-hrife minre acenned rendering suscepisti me de utero matris mea. HD enters modorhrif, 'womb', from the Paris Psalter. At 70, 5, modur hrife is clearly separated in the manuscript; at 138, 11, the manuscript reads of minre mo dur hrife22 This second documentation is of note. The word hrif as documented elsewhere is neuter; if hrif were compounded with modor, one would expect the compound modorhrif to be neuter also; but minre is feminine and modifies modor,23 not a neuter compound modorhrif. The grammatical evidence is that these are two separate words. II, C, 1,1. *ofleogan. 17, 43 (46). - Ac pa oeldeodgan beam me oft lugon renders fillii alieni mentiti sunt michi. In the manuscript, the t of oft is written above "

See Fact and Lore, p. 151. See Fact and Lore, p. 28. 21 E. V. K. Dobbie, "Review of Fact and Lore About Old English (1955), p. 576. 22 See Krapp's note, p. 224. 2 ' And modur it should be added is the usual genitive form. 20

Words", Language,

XXI

26

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

the line with a kind of caret pointing up between f and l.2i Thorpe reads oflugon in his text, but in the notes suggests oft lugon. Bright and Ramsey read oft lugon. Grattan, contending that the superscript t is the addition of a second scribe, reads oflugon.25 BTD and HD enter ofleogan, 'to lie, to be false', citing this verse. But the translator would have had no compunctions about putting in an unnecessary oft, and the reading oflugon seems to be a mistake. It is barely possible that in the ending -iti of mentiti the paraphrast saw something that reminded him of a word like itidem, 'oft, again and again'. II, C, 1, m. *ofstofen. 61, 3 (4). - Bonne ge mid mane men ongunnon /ealle ge da to deadan dcedun sona / swa ge awurpon wah of stofne renders quousque irruitis in homines interficitis universos tamquam parieti inclinato et macerice impulsce. Thorpe prints ofstofne. HD and HEW enter ofstofen, 'impelled', HEW citing a possible cognate in Swedish, stuva 'push, thrust'. GKS cites this verse under stofn, 'stirpes'. BTD cites the verse under stofen, 'foundation'. After various attempts at justification of either of stofne or ofstofne, it seems highly likely that the word is ofscofne, past participle of ofscufan. This involves the reading of t as c, but confusion between these two letters is one of the commonest in Old English manuscripts, including the Paris Psalter, where tosca occurs at 104, 26, and the same word is written tosta at 77, 45. The impelling reason for this suggestion is that scufan, of which an acceptable past participle is scofne and which is often preceded by of, is a known gloss to impello,26 and in the Paris Psalter passage under discussion it is the participle impulsce which likely has some bearing on ofs (c? t?) ofne. II, C, 1, n. *onmeltan. 88, 39 (46). — And mid sarlicre sceame onmettest renders perfudisti eum confusione. Thorpe, in his edition of the Paris Psalter, reads and mid sarlicre sceame onmeltest.2'1 HD, following Thorpe, enters onmeltan, 'to soften'. BTD enters onmetan, 'to paint'; GKS enters onmetan, 'perfundere'. OE metan is a known word meaning 'to paint'. Perfundere is also connected with painting as in omne genus perfusa coloribus and ostro perfuste vestes. The use of metan, 'to paint', is apt in the locution mid sarlice sceame onmettest, 'you painted with grevious shame', because shame and coloring go together.28 II, C, 1, o. *oSer. 118, 38. — Sete dinum esne oder swylce / pcet hi pine sprcece sped leornige / and pa on ege pinum ealle healde renders statue servo tuo eloquium tuum in timore tuo. HD enters oder, 'word, speech'; HEW defines oder as 'word' and relates it to Old Norse odr. pine sprcece renders eloquium tuum, and oder swylce seems to be one of the versifier's line-filling expressions like niode swylce, 53, 6; dcedum swylce, 108, 15; and georne swylce, 139, 5, none of which translate 24

An analogous instance of t inserted above the line occurs at 79, 8, where t is inserted above ef - the word being certainly eft. 25 Grattan, p. 187. 26 See gescufan in BTS. 27 See Bartlett, p. 29, for an interesting, if inaccurate, interpretation of onmeltest. 28 See Fact and Lore, pp. 54-55.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

27

any Latin. Oder swylce is an attested Old English idiom meaning 'another such' and, used as a line filler, has nothing to do with eloquium, hence, nothing to do with 'word'.29 II, C, 1, p. restan. 113, 4. - Heefdan peer beorgas blide sale / and rammum ¡>a restan gelice renders monies exultaverunt ut arietes. From this verse BTD and HD enter restan, 'to rejoice, exult'; HEW relates restan to either OHG hlutreisti or ON reysta. Both restan and heefdan blide sale depend upon exultaverunt and, therefore, should be variations of a single theme. Restan is an acceptable third plural preterite of restan, 'to rest'; heefdan blide sale means 'they had a joyous time'. In a context of general happiness, having a good time and resting do not seem mutually exclusive; in fact, the rich fool in Luke 12, 19, plans to say to his soul: "take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." 30 II, C, 1, q. *scrind. 103, 24 (26). - Ofer Sane mcegene oft / scipu scridende scrinde fleotad renders illic naves pertransibunt. From this verse HD enters scrind, 'swift course', with a query, and suggests that the word is a variant of scridan, 'to move, to glide'. Quite clearly the word has something to do with speed and movement. At 28, 11, in the Meters of Boethius, occurs pa habbad scyrtran scride and fcerelt, and from this line the dictionaries enter scride, 'course'. A word scrid is entered in the dictionaries from Andreas, 496, and defined as 'swift, fleet'; scrid godes glosses currus dei at 67, 18, in the Surtees Psalter. Scrind is probably a scribal error for scrid or scride, the scribe being influenced by the -nde ending on scridende, the word preceding scrinde in the line. Since scride, scrid, 'fleet', and scrind are all hapax legomena, any definite statement about scrind would perhaps be rash. Probably, however, scrind is the result of a scribal error and, as such, should be denied dictionary room. As to whether the emended word should be read scride or scride, one can say little. Krapp four times emends d to d and four times emends d to d in his edition of the Paris Psalter. II, C, 1, r. *scyltumend. 27, 8 (7). - The manuscript of the Paris Psalter at 27, 8, reads drihten is min scyltumend and mine gescyldend rendering the Latin dominus adjutor meus et protector meus. From this verse HD enters scyltumend, 'helper'; BTD enters scyltumend (Ifultumend), 'a helper'; Bright and Ramsey emend to fultumend in their edition. The Latin adjutor et protector would be normally rendered fultumend and gescyldend. Scyltumend looks like a scribal error for fultumend, the first syllable being written by anticipation of scyl- in gescyldend. II, C, 1, s. *swyld. 114, 3. — par me ymbsealde swylde deades renders circumdederunt dolores mortis. Grein suggests the reading Sar me ymbsealde swylce deades. HD does not enter swyld. BTD, however, enters swyld, 'a pang', with a query, suggesting swelan, 'to burn', as the word from which swyld is derived. BTD 29

See Fact and Lore, p. 196. See Fact and Lore, pp. 179-180, where it is further pointed out that blide has associations with 'rest'. 30

28

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

sets up a pattern of analogy: cwelan : cwyld = swelan : swyld. In view of the occurrence of swyltdead at psalm 55, 10, one might suspect that swylde deades is the same word, the writing swylde being perhaps influenced by the ending -Ide of the preceding word. II, C, 1, t. *treaflice. 102, 6. - Hafast pu milde mod mihta strange / drihten domas eallum pe deope her / and full treaflice teonan polian renders faciens misericordias dominus et judicium omnibus injuriam patientibus. HD enters treaflice, 'grievously', from this passage, and so does HEW but with only a guess at the etymology. There is a known Old English word tearflian, 'to roll, to wallow,' which has an extensive etymology and which in its known occurrence in Old English is in a context concerning painful rolling about. The context for treaflice clearly is one of unpleasantness and could fittingly include tearflice, 'painful'. II, C, 1, u. *uphebbe. 103, 17. - Uphebbean hus hiora agen / is latteow on lartde renders julicce domus dux est eorum. From this verse HD enters uphebbe, 'water-hen, coot', and GKS under uphebbe mentions several birds which lift up {uphebbe) their tails. A different interpretation is given by H. D. Meritt in Fact and Lore About Old English Words,31 and in the Supplement to HD, the word is deleted. The Vulgate reading at 103, 17, is not fulicce but herodii, written also erodii; uphebbean hus may then render erodii domus. The versifier may have confused erodii with forms of erudire, 'to instruct, edify, elevate'; Old English for 'elevate' is hebban used with up. An Old English expression for 'put up a house' is ham to hebbane (Gifts of Men, 76); ham and hus have much the same meaning, and the word under discussion occurs in the expression uphebbean hus. If the Latin erodii domus were taken as erodi i domus, the letters i domus could be construed to mean 'one house', Old English an hus; the manuscript reading actually is uphebbe an hus. If the versifier read erodii domus as erodi i domus and connected erodi with erudire, 'to elevate', he might decide that the Latin meant 'put up one house', which in Old English was uphebbe an hus. Using this argument Meritt contends that there was probably no such bird as uphebbe. E.V.K. Dobbie disagrees with Meritt's interpretation for several reasons;32 the strongest being these: (1) If uphebbean is a verb form, there is no subject for is. (2) There is no suggestion in the Latin that a house is being built. II, C, 2. Translation Errors II, C, 2, a. aeppelbearu. 78, 2 (1). - Settan Hierusalem samod anlicast / swa in ceppelbearu ane cytan renders posuerunt Hierusalem velut pomorum custodiarum. In pomorum, 'of fruit', the versifier may have seen pomarium, 'an orchard'. Aippel means 'any kind of fruit', and bearu is the usual word for 'grove'. The word oeppelbearu, 'orchard', though recorded only here, may have had some currency in Old 31 32

Fact and Lore, pp. 36-37. Dobbie, p. 76.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

29

English, though the only analogous Old English word is palmbearu which is also documented only once. II, C, 2, b. biernan. 77, 23 (21). - Was gegleded fyr on Iacobe / and his yrre barn on Israhelas renders et ignis accensus est in Jacob et ira ascendit in Israel. Influenced by the similarity of the words, the versifier has rendered ascendit, 'ascended, went up', as if it were accendit, 'set on fire', for which the Old English is barn. II, C, 2, c. drencan. 106, 17 (18). - pat hy wid deade duru drencyde waran renders et adpropiaverunt usque ad portas mortis. T o be given drink' seems a very strange rendering of adpropiaverunt (a variant reading is adpropinquaverunt), 'they have approached'. If, however, the translator saw in adpropiaverunt the word propinare, 'to give one to drink', then the Old English drencyde is a very good rendering of what the translator thought was the Latin to be translated. II, C, 2, d. ealdian. 108, 19. - Wese he hragle gelic pe her hrade ealdad renders fiat ei sicut vestimentum quo operietur. The Old English pe her hrade ealdad, 'which quickly ages', perhaps is a result of the versifier's seeing in operietur the verb peritur, 'it perishes, it wears out'. II, C, 2, e. folc. 22, 7 (5). - Drihten hu mare pin folc nu is ale dag hit symblad renders et poculum tuum inebrians quam praclarum est. In his copy of Thorpe's edition of the Paris Psalter, which I am using, Sir Frederick Madden wrote, "The Saxon translator evidently here followed another Latin text - which had populum, not poculum", in the margin opposite this verse. I am unable to find such a text. In any case some mistake has been made. Either a scribe had confused poculum and populum, or the paraphrast of the Paris Psalter was unusually careless. II, C, 2, f. frean. 104, 31 (36). - And frumcynnes heora frean swylce renders primitias omnis laboris eorum. GKS enters frean under frea, 'lord', but this seems to leave the meaning of the line very dark. Perhaps the versifier mistook laboris for liberos, 'the free', for which a suitable Old English word is frean. II, C, 2, g. gefreogan. 93, 1. - pu eart wracena god and pu miht wrecan swylce / ana gefreogan aghwylcne mann renders deus ultionum dominus deus ultionum libere egit. The entire second line of the Old English seems to spring from the versifier's rendering libere, 'freely', as if it were liberare, 'to free'. II, C, 2, h. gesweoru. 64, 13; 71, 3; 113, 4, 6; 148, 9. - At 64, 13, and mid wyngrafe weaxad geswiru renders et exultatione colles accingentur. At 71, 3, et geswyru eac sopum dadum renders et colles justitiam. At 113, 4, waron geswyru swyde on blisse / swa on sceapum bid sceone lambru renders expansively et colles velut agni ovium. At 113, 6, wurdon gesweoru on seledreame / swa on sceapum beod sceone lambru renders et colles velut agni ovium. At 148, 9, muntas and geswyru renders monies et omnes colles. These are the only instances in Old English of the occurrence of gesweoru meaning 'hill'. There is a frequent Old English word sweor meaning 'column, neck', and often rendering Latin collum. Since in all passages the word which calls forth gesweoru is colles, one is led to suspect that the

30

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

versifier somehow associated collis with collum, a procedure in which he would have been anticipated by others, including Isidore. II, C, 2, i. secan. 136, 9. - At 136, 9, the manuscript of the Paris Psalter reads eadig byd se pe nimed and eac seced / his agen beam on pone apelan stan rendering beatus qui tenebit et allidet parvulos suos ad petram. Thorpe's edition follows the manuscript; Krapp emends seced to seted. The versifier has muddled the passage,33 for his translation is 'Blessed is he who takes and seeks his own son on the noble stone'. But that he uses a form of secan to render a form of allidere is not without precedent in Old English. BTS cites under secan a passage from Alfred's translation of Bede's History: Hi wceron sona deade swa he eordan gesohtan rendering solo adlidebantur. Probably, however, the versifier took allidet as alludit, a word explained in glossaries as appetit, desiderat,34 both of which could be quite suitable rendered in Old English by seced. II, C, 2, j. settan. 9, 29 (30). - At 9, 29, the manuscript of the Paris Psalter reads and settad his digollice, swa swa leo det of his hole rendering insidiatur in occulto sicut leo in cubili suo. Bright and Ramsey emend settad to scetad following the suggestion of BTD. In 9, 30, insidiatur is rendered by scetad, so settad is probably a scribal error for scetad. The dictionaries enter scetian, 'to lie in wait for', from various other sources, including 36, 12, and 16, 11, in the prose portion of the Paris Psalter. II, C, 2, k. Sigelweara. 71, 9. - Hine Sigelwearas secead ealle renders coram illo procident JEthiopes. In the Paris Psalter the spelling of this word varies considerably, appearing sometimes as Siglhearwas and sometimes as Sigelearas. The earliest spelling was probably Sigelearpas, a compound meaning literally, 'sundarkened', and corresponding to the glossary interpretation of ¿Ethiopes.35 Since p and w are almost identical in manuscript, the word was taken as Sigelearwas and often popularly etymologized as Sigelwaras, literally, 'sun inhabitants'. II, C, 2, 1. wyngraf. 64, 13. - And mid wyngrafe weaxed geswiru renders et exultatione colles accingentur. HD defines wyngraf 'pleasant grove', but cites 94, 13, an obvious typographical error. Wyn is a fairly reasonable translation of exultatio and alliterates with weaxed, which alliteration may have been the basic motive behind the compound; but another problem in wyngraf is with the second syllable, graf. The versifier may possibly have seen in exultatione (variant, exsultatione) the word saltus, 'woodland', (for which an acceptable Old English word is graf) instead of saltus, 'leap, a jump'. Moreover, the versifier could have found in Isidore the two meanings of saltus connected etymologically. Isidore says: Saltus est densitas arborum alta, vocat hoc nomine eo quod exiliat in altum et in sublime consurgat.3e II, C, 2, m. ySa. 71, 16 (15). - Ofer Liban licgead his yda renders super ex33

This has been pointed out by Bartlett, p. 35. See Herbert D. Meritt, The Old English Prudentius 1959), p. 71. 35 See Fact and Lore, p. 26. 39 Etymologies, 17, 6, 8. 34

Glosses at Boulogne-sur-Mer

(Stanford,

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

31

tolletur super Libanum jructus ejus. The versifier mistook fructus, 'fruit', for fluctus, 'flood, wave'.37 He then had to adjust the verb to the subject. Extollere, 'to exalt', is nearly opposite in meaning to licgan, 'fall, lie prostrate', but licgan can also mean 'to flow', and this probably is the meaning the versifier had in mind. In the Vatican MS Palatine 68, folio 15, the word erugini from the psalter passage erugini jructus (78, 15) is glossed brondegur, a still unexplained word. The part brond meaning 'rust on grain' is understandable. Possibly egur is the known Old English word egur, 'flood', and glosses the following fructus mistaken as fluctus, as in the present passage. II, C, 3. Definition Errors II, C, 3, a. ara. 70, 16 (17). - pu me ara god terest Icerdest / of geogudhade renders deus docuisti me a juventute mea. BTD enters ara, 'formerly', taking the word as an equivalent of geara; Holthausen's additions and corrections at the end of GKS state that ara is genitive plural of ar, 'grace'. The Lord is referred to as heofonengla god, 'god of heavenly angels', at Juliana 642, and heavenly angels are referred to in Old English poetry as aras, 'messengers', (Christ 492, 759; Genesis 2424, Andreas 831). Ara god is probably analogous to heofonengla god and means "god of angels'.38 The theory that ara is genitive plural of ar, 'grace', is weakened by the fact that, although the genitive plural of ar, 'grace', occurs fairly frequently in old English poetry, the form is always arna. II, C, 3, b. bearm. 118, 139. - Me heard ehtnes huses pines / on bearme me gebrohte oft renders tabescere me fecit zelus domus tux. From this verse GKS enters bearm, 'emotion, excitement', with a note that the versifier confuses tabescere, 'to dwindle away', with tumescere, 'to swell up'. At 118, 158, tabescebam is erroneously rendered ic pand; at 111, 9, tabescet is erroneously rendered pinded. Since bearm is a variant of beorma, 'yeast, leaven', there seems to be little reason for the entry in the dictionary, bearm, 'emotion, excitement', from the present passage on bearme, where it is most likely that tabescere was again mistaken for tumescere and hence rendered by a word having to do with 'swelling up', such as beorma, 'yeast'. II, C, 3, c. frine. 56, 11 (10). - Ic pe on folcum frine drihten / ecne andete renders confitebor tibi in populis domine. GKS enters frine as an accusative of jreo, free'. The word is first person singular of the verb frinan, 'to inquire', parallel with andette, 'I confess'. Compare frine me at psalm 138, 20. II, C, 3, d. hyhtan. 70, 13 (14). - Ofer eall pin lof lengest hihte renders adiciam super omnem laudem tuam. GKS enters hihte under hyhtan, 'to hope', but the Latin which this verb renders is adjiciam, 'add to', and other psalters have here ihte. Hihte should be taken as ihte, from ican, 'to add to'. 37 38

This has been suggested by Thorpe, p. 443, and by Krapp, p. 213. See Fact and Lore, pp. 146-147.

32

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

II, C, 3, e. hyrian. 126, 4 (3). - pœt is yrfe eac ecean drihtnes / and herde beam pa her mannum beoS / of innaÔe œrest cende renders hœc est hcereditas domini filii mercis fructus ventris. GKS enters herde under heord, 'family'; but the word is very likely past participle of hyrian, 'to hire', since hyra, 'hireling', is a known gloss to mercenarius39 and the Latin contains the phrase filii mercis. II, C, 3, f. mamrian. 63, 5 (7). - Swa hi smeagaÔ oft swidost unriht / and on pam ilcan eft forweorôaô / peer hi mamriaô man and unriht renders scrutati sunt iniquitatem defecerunt scrutantes scrutinium. HEW explains mamrian as 'to think out, to plan', and relates it to Dutch mijmeren, 'to reflect'. The Latin defecerunt is rendered closely by forweorôaô and then is expanded by the whole line peer hi mamriaÔ man and unriht which may be translated 'where evil and wickedness put them away'. The Old English word mamor is a frequent gloss of Latin sopor, and the verb sopio has such Latin equivalents as extinguit, terminât.40 A verb mamrian is likely to be formed from mamor, 'sleep', and could mean 'to end, to extinguish', which meaning would be parallel to forweorôaô. The verb mamrian is known only from this passage, and all the Old English dictionaries define it as 'to think out, design, plan'; but one would probably associate it with mamor, 'sleep', if there were - as there actually appears to be - some justification for doing so. II, C, 3, g. oferhylmend. 118, 119. - le oferhylmend ealle getealde / pa on eorpan her yfele wceron renders prœvaricantes reputavi omnes peccatores terrœ. At CGL, 1, 126, prœvaricator is glossed qui non obaudit monitum. The Paris Psalter uses oferhleoôur, 'failure to hear', a word compounded of ofer and hleodur, 'sound'; another Old English word meaning 'sound' is hlymman, and in the Paris Psalter usage a word oferhlymmend could mean 'failure to hear', a meaning agreeing with the glossary interpretation of prœvaricator. Perhaps oferhylmend should be read oferhlymend. But in Andreas occurs forhylman, 'to refuse obedience', which comes close in meaning to the glossary interpretation of prœvaricator. In any case, the word oferhylmend seems to be associated with 'failure to listen', a meaning different from that given in HD, 'dissembler'. II, C, 3, h. stencan. 43, 3. - The manuscript of the Paris Psalter renders adflixisti populos et expulisti eos with pu stenctest pa elôeodgan folc and hy awurpe. Thorpe, following the manuscript, reads stenctest; HD enters stencan, 'to afflict', with a query; BTD queryingly suggests swenctesf, Bright and Ramsey read swenctest. The confusion here probably springs from the presence of disperdidit in the first clause of the verse; disperdidit is rendered by forms of stencan, 'to disperse', in the Cambridge, Vespasian, and Lambeth Psalters.41 II, C, 3, i. Sunian. 54, 9. - Punie him gewinnes wearn ofer wealles hrof renders circumdabit eum super muros ejus iniquitas. GKS enters punie under punian, 'to stand out, to swell'. It renders Latin circumdabit, and between the Latin and the 39

41

See hyra in BTD. CGL, 1, 280. See Fact and Lore, p. 93.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

33

Old English there is no determinable connection. The word should probably be read wunie from wunian, 'to abide', and be taken as parallel with wese in the next line. Glossaries show circumdata as equivalent to consita.42 Such as gloss, taken as from consistere could well be rendered by a form of wunian, for wunian is a documented rendering of consistere.43 The forms of p and w in manuscripts are at times almost identical. II, D.

WORDS ILLUMINATED BY MEDIEVAL PSALTER COMMENTARY

Thirty-one hapax legomena from the Paris Psalter may be explained at least in part by reference to patristic commentary upon the psalms. In several passages in which an Old English word is used in an unusual way or a Latin word is translated in an unexpected manner, commentary which explains the apparent aberration of the translator can be discovered. Some of the more striking examples of unusual handling of common Old English words are here given, and all the hapax legomena influenced by commentary are discussed. II, D, 1. aebebod. 104, 40 (45); 118, 102, 126, 136. - At 104, 40, par hi heoldan halige domas / and his sodfcest word swylce georne / and his cebebod awa to feore renders ut custodiant justificationes ejus et legem ejus exquirant. At 118, 102, jorSon pu me aebebod eerest settest renders quia tu legem posuisti mihi. At 118, 126, ne Icet du dole cefre / pin cebebod ahwcer toweorpan renders dissipaverunt iniqui legem tuam. At 118, 136, Krapp reads pe cer nellad / pinre ce bebod elne healdan rendering quia non custodierunt legem tuam. GKS also indicates that there are two words here. Thorpe reads cebebod. In the manuscript there is a definite spacing between ce and bebod. At 104, 40, however, ce and bebod are on different lines, and Krapp reads cebebod. There seems to be no reason that the words at 118, 136, should not be read as a compound. Although cebebod carries the alliterative weight in each verse in which it appears, the other alliterating half-line is, in each case, added by the versifier, translating no Latin. /Ebebod is probably not a word created purely because of a alliterative necessity. In the metrical psalter lex is generally rendered by ce and mandatum by bebod. So far as I can tell ce never renders mandatum, and bebod renders lex only at 118, 72. In this verse lex occurs in the phrase lex oris and is clearly something given to man. Possibly the sense of law being given to man is what the versifier was trying for in cebebod. Commentary on the psalms may have provided the versifier with some of the 'bidding, command' idea which the bebod gives to ce. In commenting on 104, 40, Cassiodorus uses the words prcecepta legis;44 he describes the law in 118, 102, as: ilia quam per Moysena [Dominus] dedit,45 In 118, 136, Cassiodorus connects lex with mandatum, on which 42 43 44 45

WW, 208, 12. See BTD under wunian. Pat. Lot., 70, 753, 16. Ibid., 870, 42-43.

34

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

in commenting he says: Nam si mandata Domini custodiremus.46 When the versifier makes the connection between the law of God and the bidding of God, he has a word which covers both, cebebod. II, D, 2. bewrixlian. 43, 14 (13). - pu us bebohtest and bewrixledest renders vendidisti populum tuum sine pretio. The usual meaning of bewrixlian is 'to change', but BTD and HD enter 'to sell, to exchange', as meaning for bewrixlian in this verse. In Remigius' commentary on this verse, the paraphrast could have found a reason for using a word meaning 'to change'. Remigius says of vendisti populum tuum sine pretio: multos martyres ad mortem dedisti, et paucos convertisti.47 Convertisti might well call forth bewrixledest, 'change'. II, D, 3. brechraegl. 108, 28 (29). - And him si abrogden swa of brechrcegl / hiora sylfra sceamu swypust ealra renders et operiantur sicut diploide confusione sua. From this verse the dictionaries enter brechrcegl, 'breeches'. The Latin word which calls forth brechrcegl is diplois, 'a double robe to be wrapped about the body, a mantle, a cloak'. Jerome says: Diplois genus est pallii. ... Diplois id eo quia duplex est pallium.™ The part brec in brechrcegl is plural in form and seems to have been induced by the idea of plurality in diplois or duplex. Hrcegl is a known rendering of pallium. II, D, 4. bregdan. 138, 9 (11). - And me on nihte neode onlihte / pcet ic minum bleom bregde neahhige renders et nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis. In deliciis meis is represented in the Old English by the clause poet ic minum bleom bregde neahhige, 'that I frequently vary my delights'. The idea of variation also appears in such commentary as that of Richard Rolle of Hampole: that is my delitys turnand wa in till wele. Back of both bregde, 'vary', and turnand, 'turning', probably lies such commentary as that of Bruno: Deliciie, paradisum significat, ad quem aninwe sanctorum prcestante domino reverses sunt,49 In reversce sunt, there appears the idea of 'reversal, change', which adheres to bregde and turnand. II, D, 5. ealdspraec. 43, 16 (15). - pu hcefst us gedon to ealdsprcece pcet odre peoda nyton hy elles sprecon buton ure bysmer renders posuisti nos in similitudinem gentibus. The translator expands the Latin considerably. Remigius comments: in similitudinem, id est proverbium.50 If the translator knew such commentary and thought of a proverb as something handed down from generation to generation he might have come up with ealdsprcec, analogous to Old English aldgeddung,51 'old saying'. II, D, 6. eallmiht. 135, 12. - On mihtigre mcere handa / and on eallmihte earmes swylce renders in manu forti et brachio excelso. HD, BTS, and GKS enter eallmiht, 'omnipotence', from this verse. The commentary of Cassiodorus on this 46 47 48 49 50 51

Ibid., 884, 53-54. Pat. Lat., 131, 372, Pat. Lat., 26, 1231, Pat. Lat., 142, 498, Pat. Lat., 131, 373, See Fact and Lore,

42-43. 46-47. 39-40. 21. p. 146.

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35

verse is quite pertinent. "Manus fortis", ad invincibilem pertinet actionem; "brachium excelsum", ad omnipotentiam Domini singularem.^ Eallmiht seems to be a part-for-part translation of omnipotentia. II, D, 7. eaSbede. 89, 15 (16). - Et deprecabilis esto super servos tuos is rendered by wes pinum scealcum wel eadbede. From this verse, the dictionaries enter eadbede, 'easily prayed to, attainable with prayer'. In the same verse in the Benedictine office, the word stands as eadbene. Krapp suggests that the word is a scribal error for eadmede,53 The Latin word deprecabilis is, according to the Thesaurus Linguce Latince, hapax legomenon, so the versifier could have some call for confusion. It is usual in Old English for forms of prec- to be rendered by forms of bede, and a source for ea8 may be found in commentary on the verse. Cassiodorus says that the speaker is asking God ut justitiam suam aliqua lenitate retemperet,54 The idea of "mildness" in lenitas could call forth ea3. II, D, 8. egewylm. 106, 24 (25). - Gif he sylfa cwyd sona atstandad / ystige gastas ofer egewylmum / beod heora ypa up astigene renders dixit et stetit spiritus procellce et exaltati sunt fluctus ejus. Ofer egewylmum matches nothing in the Latin. In commenting on the verse, Cassiodorus mentions tempestates tribulationum.55 This would give the versifier a reason for egewylmum, as tempestates would call forth wylmum and tribulationum could call forth ege. II, D, 9. eorSbuend. 118, 130. - And pu bealde sylest / andgit eallum eordbuendum renders et intellectum dat parvulis. Eordbuend, 'earth-dweller, man', seems an unusual translation of parvulus, 'child, innocent or ignorant person'. In Remigius' commentary on this verse, one finds: parvulis, id est humilibus.56 In humilis the versifier may have seen humus, and humus is a documented lemma for erde?1 Isidore states: humilis, quasi humo adclinis.58 If the versifier got 'earth' from humilis, then 'earth-dweller' is an understandable if illogical rendering of parvulus, reflecting such commentary as humilis. II, D, 10. eorSstede. 73, 6 (7). - pa hi pcet pin fiegere hus fyre forbarndan / and on eordstede eac gewemdan / pat pinum naman gewearp niode cenned renders incenderunt igni sanctuarium tuum in terra polluerunt tabernaculum nominis tui. The dictionaries enter eordstede, 'earth, earth place', from this verse. Eordstede, 'earth place', is a possible rendering of terra, but one would like to find some kind of reason for the versifier's use of such a compound. The general trend of commentary on this verse is summarized by Bruno: Istud enim templum, quod visitabat virtus coelestis: manus polluit vastatoris, et usque ad terram culmina deduxit: quce 52

Pat. Lat., 70, 971, 38-40. Krapp, p. 218. " Pat. Lat., 70, 648, 48-49. 55 Pat. Lat., 70, 773, 7. 5« Pat. Lat., 131, 757, 47. 57 WW, 737, 1. 63

58

Etymologies, 10, 115.

36

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

ad laudem Domini probantur esse constructa,59 Clearly, the commentators take terra here as 'dirt, the ground', rather than 'earth, opposite to the heavens'. Remigius says: in tabernaculo quod nomine tuo fuit consecratum, fecerunt equorum stabulum.60 As stede is a known rendering of status and stabilitas it is possible that a word like stabulum is of influence in eordstede. II, D , 11. eorötudor. 117, 22 (24). - pis ys se dag pe hine drihten us / wisfiest geworhte wera cneorissum / eallum eordtudrum eadgum to blisse / renders hcec est dies quam fecit dominus exultemus et Icetemur in ea. From this verse HD enters eordtudor, 'human race'. The Old English expands the first clause of the Latin considerably and reduces the second clause to a half-line. The day referred to is, according to commentary, the day of Christ's nativity. In discussing Christ as the cornerstone (see verse 21), Bede says: et promissum Spiritum apostolis mitteret, quorum prcedicatione totus mundus post eum abiret.u In commenting on verse 22, Bede says: Quapropter vos, o consortes de populo meo, in hac die exsultemus.m From totus mundus and consortes de populo, the versifier could have been led to wera cneorissum and eallum eordtudrum. The compounding procedure is clear: eord, 'earth', plus tudor, 'offspring', gives the versifier an uncalled-for, but not unreasonable, word. II, D , 12. eruca. 77, 46. - Sealde erucan yfelan wyrme / let hiora wyrta wcestme forslitan / and hiora gram gewinn fuefdan garshoppan renders et dedit erugini fructus eorum et labores eorum locustce. The rendering of the Latin word for 'rust', ¿erugo with a Latin word for 'caterpillar, cankerworm', eruca, is common in the Old English psalters.63 This is understandable in the context of verse, since the second clause in the Latin contains locustce. Moreover, worms seem a more likely threat to fruit and vegetables than does rust. But this rendering of cerugo by a word meaning 'worm' may not be an error in translation at all. Remigius says: ¿erugo est occulta aura sive vermiculus nocens in fructibus.64 Vermiculus nocens is almost identical with yfelan wyrme, the words with which the versifier explains erucan. II, D , 13. feondiet. 105, 24 (30-31). - Hi pees feondcetes Finees awerede / pa he on pam folce feondgyld gebrcec / he pees heel gehleat and helpe fand / of cynna gehwam and on cneorisse renders stetit Finees et exoravit et cessavit quassatio et reputatum est illi ad justitiam a generatione in generationem usque in seculum. The immediate reference of feondcetes, which HD defines as 'eating things sacrificed to idols', is in verse 22 of this psalm in which there is reference to food sacrificed to Baal. Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron and the grandnephew of Moses, is mentioned in Numbers 25 as staying a plague among the Israelites by actively prohibiting, not eating of food sacrificed to idols, but fraternization with heathen «» 01

Pat. Lot., 142, 279, 36-40. Pat. Lat., 131, 528, 10-12. Pat. Lat., 93, 1031, 25-27.

«-' Ibid., 49-50. 63 See Fact and Lore, pp. 33-34. 64

Pat. Lat., 131, 556, 26-27.

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37

women. The versifier confuses the two sins and connects Finees with the wrong one.65 II, D, 14. firenwyrhta. 87, 4 (5); 93, 3. - At 87, 4, wenad /ICES sume pcet ic on wradne seap / mid fyrenwyrhtum feallan sceolde renders cestimatus sum cum descentibus in lacum. The versifier would, of course, know what sort of people descentibus in lacum describes, but he could have found the idea of wickedness expressly mentioned in Jerome's commentary: sicut reliquos peccatores me in mortem redigere arbitrati sunt.™ Fyrenwyrhta, 'crime-wright', is a fairly good translation of peccator,67 At 93, 33, hu lange jyrenwyrhtan foldan wealdad renders usquequo peccatores expansively; fyrenwyrhta here surely translates peccator. II, D, 15. fracuSe. 62, 9 (11). — Syndon fracude nu foxes dcelas renders et partes vulpium erunt. Nothing in the Latin seems to call for fracude; but Richard Rolle of Hampole explains partes vulpium, 'of fendes that deceives', and in the light of such commentary tradition, the foxes dcelas are well called fracude, 'evil, bad'. II, D, 16. frumsprecend. 86, 5 (6). - At 86, 5, both Thorpe and Krapp print drihten pat on gewritum dema scegde / pam pe frumsprecend folces wceron / eallum swylce pe hire on wceron. The Latin opposite this verse in the Paris Psalter is dominus narrabit in scripturis populorum suorum et principium eorum qui fuerunt in ea. The Old English seems to confuse rather easy Latin, but the confusion is understandable since a literal translation of the Latin, 'the Lord will tell in scriptures of her people and their leaders who were in her', does not make much sense by itself and must be taken with verse four where Mother Zion is mentioned. The versifier, perhaps pressed by alliterative necessity, adds dema, 'ruler', in apposition with drihten. Principium, genitive plural, is rendered frumsprecend, apparently nominative. None of the dictionaries print frumsprecend as a compound though both Thorpe and Krapp treat it so without comment. The commentary of Cassiodorus provides some light on frumsprecend: Ilia prcenuntiat qua sit ipse tempore incarnationis de scripturarum veterum commemoratione dicturus. Commonet enim frequenter in Evangelo quae de ipso prcedixerunt Moyses and quce prophetce, ut et minus credentes instrueret, et se earum auctorem esse monstraret. Ipse enim sunt "principes" Moyses et prophetce qui fuerunt in Synagoga, quorum erat testimonium narraturus,68 Thus, principium is explained as Moses and the prophets; and Moses and the prophets predicted, that is, they spoke beforehand; frumsprecend, literally, is 'first speaking'. II, D, 17. gemanan. 56, 4 (5). - And mine sawle sona alysde / of leon hwelpum rede gemanan renders eripuit animam mean de medio catulorum leonum. Nothing in Latin versions calls for rede gemanan, but Richard Rolle of Hampole explains the Latin catulorum leonum as the comun life of worldis lufers that ere the whelpis of 65

«• 67

»8

This has been pointed out by Bartlett, p. 37. Pat. Lat., 26, 1150, 46-47. See manwyrhta, II, A, 16, for further discussion of Pat. Lat., 70, 620, 42-50.

peccator.

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THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

¿levels.™ This throws light on rede gemanan which means 'bad companies'. II, D, 18. geSancas. 128, 3 (4). - Drihten is sodjcest and geded sniome / pcet he firenfullra jcecne geSancas / wis toweorped renders dominus justus concidit cervices peccatorum. Fcecne gepancas, 'evil thoughts', here renders cervices, 'necks'. Remigius interprets cervices, id est, superbiam.70 Of course, superbia is not quite the same thing as 'evil thoughts', but it indicates the expository trend in the interpretation of cervices. II, D, 19. gejrun. 45, 3. - Ure fynd coman swa egelice to us pat us puhte for pam gepune pcet sio eorpe eall cwacode seems to reflect vaguely sonaverunt et turbate sunt aqua ejus. BTD enters gepun, 'a loud noise', citing this verse; BTS adds three citations from the Wright-Wulker Vocabularies in which gepun is a gloss to clangor. The problem then is not with the meaning of the word but with the paraphrast's reason for rendering the realtively simple Latin so strangely. He has obviously given the straightforward Latin a metaphorical treatment. Fynd has a possible source in Jerome's motus ckemones,n used in connection with turbate sunt. That the paraphrast used a word for a loud noise rather than just a noise may be due to Cassiodorus: Sonasse dicit apostolos prcedictiones suas quasi alicujus fragoris robustissimam vocem, qua non tantum auribus, quantum mentibus insoraret.72 Robustissimam vocem, 'a very strong voice', is a possible source of gepun. In mentibus insonaret the paraphrast could have found us puhte. The verse is very likely dependent upon such commentary. II, D, 20. gnornscendende. 89, 10 (9-10). - War an anlicast ure winter / geongewifran ponne hio geornast bid / pcet heo cefre fleogan on nette / beod ure geardagas gnornscendende / peah pe heora hundred seo samod cetgcedere renders anni nostri sicut aranea meditabuntur dies annorum nostrorum in ipsis septuaginta annis. The clause ponne . . . nette is not called for by the Latin and probably rests on such commentary as that of Cassiodorus: transeuntibus muscis ad escam procurandam quadam retia dolose contexit.™ The last line of the Old English verse remarks that our years are a hundred while all the Latin versions count them as seventy. Other Old English versions of the psalter render septuaginta correctly as hundseofontigum, 'seventy'. From the part hund of such a rendering, the versifier could haven gotten the idea of hundred. He would then be left with seofontigum which, if taken as a participle of seofian, 'to lament', could have called forth gnorn, 'lamentation", in the nonce word gnornscendende. The part scendende, 'hastening', arises from frequent commentary to the effect that these seventy years are fleeting.74 II, D, 21. gram. 104, 30 (34). - Sona cwoman / gangan garshoppan and grame 09

H. Bramley (ed.), The Psalter Translated p. 202. 70 Pat. Lat., 131, 782, 60. 71 Pat. Lat., 26, 1018, 46. 72 Pat. Lat., 70, 329, 33-37. 7 » Pat. Lat., 70, 647, 18-20. "4 For example, Pat. Lat., 131, 622, 31 ff.

by Richard

Rolle

of Hampole

(Oxford, 1884),

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

39

ceajeras renders et venit locusta et bruchus. Probably the chief reason for the versifier's use of gram, 'evil, fierce', here is alliterative. Nevertheless, Cassiodorus says: Locusta vero mater bruchi est, quern mala fecunditate progenerat,75 where the word mala could suggest something like grame. The use of grame to modify ceaferas calls to mind and perhaps has a bearing on grimena dus rendering bruchus cuius at this same passage in the Canterbury Psalter. The Supplement to HD calls attention to this and suggests, on the basis of grame in the Paris Psalter, that grimena dus be read grime madu Sees. Richard Rolle of Hampole says of bruchus: Thai ere litill bestis, bot thai ere ful noyous.™ II, D, 22. gramhyegende. 68, 24 (25). - Ageot ojer hi pin pcet grame yrre / and cebylignes eac yrres pines / hi forgripe gramhicgende renders effunde super eos iram tuam et indignatio irce tuce adprehendat eos. From this verse HD enters gramhyegende, 'hostile'. Gramhicgende is possibly en alliterative addition to fill up the line. Grame in the first line is almost certainly so. The versifier could have found some specific reason for thinking of the recipients of God's anger as being violent folks if he considered the commentary on the verse. Bruno, summarizing Cassiodorus, says: Apprendit eos furor, quasi damnatos et perterritos, ut non liceat effugere quod datur pro sceleribus sustinere II, D, 23. gramhydig. 78, 13 (12). - Gyld nu gramhydigum swa hi geearnedan renders redde vicinis nostris. The Old English gramhydigum means 'malignant'; the Latin vicinis means 'neighbors'; but Richard Rolle of Hampole explains that these are bad neighbors, neghbors that defames us, and Remigius notes about vicinis: quod exprobaverunt tibi.78 II, D, 24. gramword. 74, 5 (6). - Ne ahebbad ge to hea eowre hygepancas / ne ge wid gode cefre gramword sprecan renders nollite extollere in altum cornu vestrum et nollite loqui adversus deum iniquitatem. From this verse HD enters gramword, 'evil speech'. Gram, 'angry, cruel, fierce', and derivatives of gram are very useful to the versifier of the Paris Psalter when he needs a pejorative context. He uses gram sixteen times; grame, the adverb, six times; gramhycende, gramhygdig, gramlie, gramlice, and gramword. The use of gram in this compound is possibly only to give the pejorative effect of iniquitatem and to alliterate with gode. If, however, the versifier had encountered such commentary as that of Remigius he could have found a reference to Psalm 140: Non declines cor meum in verba malitice.™ Words of malice would certainly seem to be gram words. Hygepancas, 'thoughts', in line one seems an unusual rendering of Latin cornu, 'horn'. The versifier is obviously acquainted with some metaphorical rendering of cornu. Cassiodorus comments: "Nolite exaltare in altum cornum vestrum", suadet ut a blasphema cogitatione cessetur, quoniam "ille in altum erigit cornu" qui contra 75 70

"

'»

79

Pat. Lat., 70, 750, 34-36. Bramley, p. 371. Pat. Lat., 142, 261, 52-54. Pat. Lat., 131, 567, 2. Pat. Lat., 131, 534, 56.

40

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

Deum concepta iniquitate remurmurat.80 Conceptum and cogitatio are quite possibly the inspiration for hygepancas. II, D, 25. hal. 60, 1 (3). - Ahefe me holdlice on halne stati renders in petra exaltasti me. Remigius explains petra as exemplo humiltatis Christi filii.81 Such a stone is understandably called "holy". II, D, 26. hinderjjeostru. 85, 12 (13). - And pu mine sawle swylce alysdest / of helwarena hinder])eostrum renders et eripuisti animan meam ex inferno inferiore. HD enters hinderpeostru, 'nether darkness', from this verse; BTD enters hinderpeostru, 'darkness in a low or remote place'. Inferiore seems to be the source of ixelwarena. Jerome says: inferiorem vero, qui est verus infernus, in quo peccatores damnantur.82 Infernus means both 'lower' and 'hell', and from either of the Latin words, both of which have to do with the lower part of something, the versifier could have gotten hinder. The problem, then, is with peostru, 'darkness'. Infernus inferiori is connected with darkness in commentary on the psalter. Bede, in discussing convertantur peccatores in inferno says: peccator nolens cognoscere Dominum, comprehensus nunc per tenebras interiores,83 Remigius, discussing eruisti animam meam ex inferno inferiori in 85, 12, mentions darkness: id est a loco tormentorum, licet non a loco tenebrarum. Legitur enim quod omnes sancti ante resurrectionem Domini mortui descenderunt ad inferos: ubi erant in tenebris, sed non in poenis.Si From a knowledge of psalter commentary, the versifier could surely have hell dark if he wanted to. All this may seem to belabor the obvious, but it must be remembered that this Old English expression for our now common 'nether darkness' occurs only here. II, D, 27. hlanc. 118, 83. - Ic eom nu geworden werum anlicast / swa pu on hrime setest hlance cylle renders quia factus sum sicut uter in pruina. The word hlanc, 'lean', has no source in the Latin. It carries the alliteration in the line and may be thought of as merely another of the versifier's alliterative additions. Cassiodorus, however, in discussing uter, uses the word maceratum 85 which the translator could have associated with macer, 'lean'. II, D, 28. hygeclaene. 104, 3. - Heorte hygeclcene hlutre blissad / pam pe sodlice secad dryhten renders Icetetur cor qucerentium dominum. HD enters hygeclcene, 'pure in heart', from this verse. Remigius comments on this passage: Vos quterite Dominum in simplicitate cordis.*6 The usual rendering of simplicitas in Old English is anfealdness, but it is also glossed bilewitness, 'purity',87 and clcene and bilewit are synonyms. As a suitable rendering of cordis is hyge, some such «» Pat. Lat., 8' Pat. Lot., 82 Pat. Lat., «» Pat. Lat., m Pat. Lat.,

70, 537, 53-56. 131, 447, 23-24. 26, 1144, 15-16. 93, 537, 54-55. 131, 597, 44-48. Lat., 70, 863, 39. Lat., 131, 683, 8-9.

»5 Pat. Pat. "7 See anfealdness in BTS.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

41

interpretation of this verse as referring to simplicitas cordis may lie behind the compound hygeckene. II, D, 29. inwitgyrene. 139, 5 (6). - Forhyddan oferhygde me inwitgyrene renders absconderunt superbi laqueos mihi. From this verse HD enters inwitgyrene, 'treacherous snare'. Inwitgyrene, literally 'deception snare', renders laqueos; the idea of 'deception' may be found in such commentary as that of Remigius, 'in laquem', id est deceptionem.m II, D, 30. leodstefnum. 82, 7 (9). - Ealle on wegum ceghwcer syndon / on leodstefnum Lodes bearnum renders facti sunt in susceptionem filiis Loth. HD enters leodstefn, 'assembly', from this verse. 'Assembly', although a reasonable rendering of leodstefn,89 does not translate very accurately either susceptio or adjutorium, an available variant Latin reading. Of course, the versifier of the Paris Psalter did not always feel compelled to render the Latin psalms accurately. Another explanation of the compound is possible. Cassiodorus, in his commentary on the verse, says: . . . ut merito tot malorum vocabula in ilia intelligeres plebe congesta. Pat. hat., 70, 598, 27-28. Pat. Lat., 142, 383, 30-31. 88

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THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

gebryttest renders denies peccatorum conteruisti; at 36, 16, forpam se earm and pcet rmegen pcera synfulra byd forbrocen renders quoniam brachia peccatorum conterentes; at 57, 5, tolysed leona rruegen lungre drihten renders molas leonum confringet dominus. In commenting on 3, 6, Remigius states: vel denies id est auctores perditiones eorum . . . ,92 If the translator connected auctor with auctoritas, he would have had a source for 'power, might'. Jerome says of brachia at 36, 16: Brachia id est fortitudo . . . .93 Of molas in 57, 5, Bede says: molas leonum, id est, manifestos contradictiones principium and moke enim majores denies,94 The combination of princeps and major associated with molas might have been sufficient to give him mcegen. There is another possible explanation for the use of nuegen in 57, 5. The translator may have misread the Latin molas as moles, which in its metaphorical sense means 'power, greatness, might'. Taken with the other two uses of mcegen, particularly that of 36, 16, the reliance upon commentary seems more likely. II, D, 33. maga. 107, 8 (10). - Syndan me Moabitingas magas swylce renders Moab olla spei mece. 'Kinsman' seems a strange rendering of olla, a word for 'jar'. Of course, the versifier needed an alliteration; but Cassiodorus supplies a further hint: Moab . . . significat ex patre,95 The translator could have seen in this comment about a father a hint of consanguinity. He would 'have needed, however, to overlook the main drift of the commentary on Moab, concerning whom Jerome says, Moab ergo diabolus interpretatur,96 II, D, 34. mearhcofa. 101, 3 (4). - And forspyrcende synd / mine mearhcofan pees me pinced / swylce hi on cocerpannan cocas gehyrstan renders et ossa mea sicut in frixurio confrixa sunt. From this verse HD enters mearhcofa, 'bone'. The parts of the compound are clearly mearh, 'marrow', and cofa, 'chamber'. 'Marrowchamber' renders ossa rather well (cf. bancofa). One wonders, however, just why the versifier chose to render ossa in this way. He usually uses ban. Mearhcofa is not an alliterative anomaly as are many of the hapax legomena in the metrical portion of the Paris Psalter; the line is defective in alliteration. The versifier is not following the main drift of psalter commentary in which the bones represent strength.97 If, however, the versifier were steeped in the commentary on this particular verse, he may have had some reason for thinking of the bones of the body as containers. A variant Latin reading of the portion of the verse under discussion is et ossa mea sicut cremium aruerunt. Various commentators on the psalms, after saying that the bones represent strength, usually strength of spirit, go on to sicut cremium aruerunt. Bede: Cremium dicitur illud unde sagimen eliquatur?8 Remigius: 82

Pat. Lat., 131, 161, 28-29. Pat. Lat., 26, 990, 38-39. 84 Pat. Lat., 93, 785, 2-5. »» Pat. Lat., 70, 729, 55. •• Pat. Lat., 26, 1222, 20-21. 87 Pat. Lat., 26, 1194, 59-60; 93, 993, 7-8. 9i > Pat. Lat., 9 3 , 9 9 3 , 1 0 - 1 1 . •»

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

43

cremium quod siccum remanet in santagine, expresso sagimine.M Sagimen in medieval Latin means 'fat' - Sagimen est pinguedo quce expellitur ex came in frixorio per ignem.uo From this idea of bones being like unto something from which a liquid substance could be driven by heat, the versifier could come up with 'marrow box' as a rendering of ossa. II, D, 35. min. 120, 6. - Ne pe sunne on dcege sol ne gebcerne / ne pe mona on niht min ne geweorde renders per diem sol non uret te neque luna per noctem. BTD enters min, 'small', from this verse and suggests the translation, 'May the sun not burn thee by day, nor the moon withhold her light from thee by night'. Thorpe prints minne instead of min ne, and GKS records minne as the manuscript reading at 120, 6. From medieval commentary the versifier of the Paris Psalter could have discovered that neque luna per noctem refers to all sorts of bad things Which might happen to man.101 Remigius, after identifying sol as Christ, continues: "neque luna", id est, ipse idem Christus, qui luna dicitur respectu suce humanitatis, quce fuit mortalis et passibilis, uret te "per noctem", id est, in fide humanitatis, ne aliquid sinistram de utraque natura sentias.1"2 Sinister could have suggested min, a word known from other documentations to mean 'evil'. II, D, 36. morha;3. 82, 10 (15). - Odde swa lig freted lungre morhced renders velut si fiamma incendat monies. HD enters from this verse morhced, 'mountain heath'. The versifier of the Paris Psalter usually renders Latin mons with beorg or munt; see 103, 7, 9, 10, 12, 17. The versifier must have felt that a mountain which could be consumed by fire was a different sort of place from other mountains. In Remigius' commentary on the psalms, the versifier could have found a suggestion of the dry, uncultivated land Which may have led him to use the otherwise unrecorded morhced. Remigius says: Facile igni comburere silvam propter sterilitatem, et sicut facile est flammee comburere montem, id est herbam siccam in montibus positam. 103 II, D, 37. mundbeorg. 124, 2 .-Hi synd mundbeorgas micie ymbutan renders monies in circuitu ejus. HD enters from this verse mundbeorg, 'protecting hill'. Commentary such as that of Remigius could have served as a source for the mundpart of the compound: quia monies id est apostoli sunt in circuitu munientes earn turn prcedicatione turn exemplo turn etiam interventione,104 Munientes, 'defending', is sufficient reason for mund-. II, D, 38. muSfreo. 11, 4 (5). — Hy cwedad hwi ne synt we mudfreo hu ne moton we sprecan pcet we wyllad hwcet ondrcede we hwyle hlaford mceg us forbeodan urne willan renders qui dixerunt linguam nostram magnificabimus labia 08

Pat. hat., 131, 659, 22-23. Glossarium Media et Infima Latinitatis, ed. C. Du Cange (Paris, 1840-1850). 101 This has been pointed out by H. D. Meritt, "The Old English Glosses deOce and minntert", JEGP, XLIII (1944), pp. 445-446. 102 Pat. hat., 131, 770, 45-49. 103 Pat. Lat., 131, 582, 3-6. Pat. Lat., 131, 776, 19-21. 100

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THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

nostra a nobis sunt quis noster dominus est. HD enters mudfreo, 'free to speak'. The translation of this verse is rather free. The commentary of Cassiodorus provides considerable light on mudfreo: Hos paulisper interrogo quare non sunt garruli. . .? 105 Garrulus could well give rise to mudfreo. II, D, 39. owaestm. 28, 5 (6). - Vox domini confringentis cedros et dominus confringet cedros Libani et comminuet dominus tamquam vitulum Libani et dilectus sicut filias unicornorum is rendered by frees Godes word bryep cedortreowu and symle se God bryed pa hean cedertreowu on Libano pam myclan munte pa treowu tacniad ofermodra manna anweald drihten forbryed and forbryt pa myclan cedertreowu emne swa pa lytllan on wcestmas pa owcestmas beod swa mycle and swa fceger swa swa pies deores beam pe unicornus hatte. The paraphrast has obviously expanded the Latin by using psalter commentary. James Douglas Bruce has pointed out that pa treowu tacniad ofermodra manna anweald has a parallel in the commentary attributed to Bede.106 The paraphrast could also have gotten the same idea from almost any of the other commentaries. The chief problem in this verse, however, is the word owcestmas, which HD defines as 'shoot, branch, twig'. There are in the Latin two occurrences of the word cedros from which the paraphrast could get the idea of 'twig'; but a Latin word unaccounted for is vitulus, generally defined as 'calf'. Bright and Ramsey, in their notes for a second edition of the first fifty psalms, emend to on wiestmas, suggesting that "the translator mistook tamquam vitulum for tamquam vitulamina, or perhaps found the latter reading in his Latin text." 107 This is, of course, possible since the Old English of the Paris Psalter is almost certainly not translated from the Latin text which appears with it 108 and since the paraphrast does make certain errors. There is a possibility, however, that the paraphrast read vitulum and wrote owcestm consciously and intentionally. Psalter commentary explains the connection between Christ, the calf, and the trees in this way: Iste vitulus significat Christum. Sicut enim confringit vitulus virgulta tenera cornibus, ita Christus confringet ludceos.109 Virgulta tenera, 'tender branches', is a fair source for owcestmas, a word known to mean something like 'branch, twig', from its occurrences in glosses to such words as stirpes and surculus. There are other connections between calves and shoots. Isidore says: Vitulus et vitula a viriditate vocati sunf,li0 and viriditas means not only 'freshness, vigor', but also 'greenness, verdure'. Vitulus is a glossary equivalent for Greek moschos, 'a calf',111 a word which also means 'a shoot, a twig'. II, D, 40. raedeman. 32, 15 (16). - pi byd swide dysig se pe getruwad on his 105

Pat. Lat., 70, 98, 2-3. Bruce, p. 95. 107 J. W. Bright and R. L. Ramsey, "Notes on the West Saxon Psalms", p. 443. 108 Bruce, pp. 123-124. >»» Pat. Lat., 142, 129, 13-15. 110 Etymologies, 12, 1, 32. 111 CGL, 7, 425. 106

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

45

horses swijtnesse forpoem hit is swide leas to hopa forpazm nawper ne dam horse ne pcem rcedemen ne wyrd geborgen of his agnum craftum renders falsus equus ad salutem in habundatia autem virtutis suce non erit salvus. The paraphrast has expanded the Latin in an attempt to make the meaning more clear and has, I think, succeeded. If the paraphrast needed any help with his expansion, he could have found it in Cassiodorus: Et quare sit "falsus equus" exponit; ille enim dum campos appetii, dum pedes prcepropera festinatione permiscet, salutem sessoris sui non valet custodire.112 Here sessoris is a word that could call for something like rcedeman, 'horseman, rider'. II, D, 41. restbedd. 131, 3. - 088e on min restbedd ricene gestige renders si ascenderò in lectum stratus mei. Remigius' commentary on lectum makes quite clear what kind of couch is intended: lectum hie dicit ipsam lecticam, stratus vero, quod desuper ponitur, sicut culcitra, pulvinar, et osterà,113 where various accoutrements for resting are mentioned. Of course, a bed is for resting, but Richard Rolle in his commentary emphasizes the fact: "I give rest to my flesh". II, D, 42. reSeman. 108, 11. - Ealle his cehta unholde fynd / rice redemann rycene gedcele renders scrutetur fenerator omnem substantiam ejus. HD enters redeman, 'usurer', from this verse and queryingly connects rede with Gothic radjo, 'accounting'. There seems to be no reason to propose any other meaning for rede than the normal Old English 'cruel, harsh, fierce'; for Remigius states: fenerator id est diabolus.11* The versifier's additional comment in the first line reinforces the diabolic connotations of rede. II, D, 43. samheort. 149, 1. - Singad samheorte sangas drihtne / and him neowne sang nu da singad renders cantate domino canticum novum. Samheort, which HD defines 'unanimous', is obviously an alliterative creation; but one wonders if perhaps it might not have some basis in commentary. Haymo in discussing this verse uses the words in collectione.115 The idea of 'gathering together' inherent in collectio would at least suggest the part sam- which means 'together, joined'. II, D, 44. snytruhus. 77, 60. - And he swa gelome widsoc snytruhus renders et repulit tabernaculum silon. Cassiodorus states concerning Silo: Silo civatas erat ubi arca Domini fuisse constituta: unde per sacerdotes supplicantes, Hebrcei divina responso capiebant.m A place where priests receive divine responses seems to be reasonably rendered snytruhus, 'a house of wisdom'.117 II, D, 45. sped. 103, 16 (16-17). - Cwice cederbeamas pa du cudlice / sylfa gesettest on pam swylce nu / mid heora spedum spearwan nystlad renders cedri Libani quas piantasti illic passeres nidificabunt. From this passage BTD and HD 112 113 114 113

»« 117

Pat. Lat., Pat. Lat., Pat. Lat., Pat. Lat., Pat. Lat., This has

70, 231, 1-4. 131, 787, 36-38. 131, 706, 43. 116, 691, 34. 70, 569, 55-58. been suggested in Fact and Lore, p. 209.

46

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

enter as a meaning for the common word sped, 'goods, substance', an additional meaning, 'offspring, progeny', with a query. The general tenor of the commentary on this passage is that the sparrows are the servants of God and the cedars of Lebanon are the wealthy who support them. Cassiodorus: Passer . .. monachorum signijicans parvitatem, quo in cedris Libani, id est in patrimonio potentium Christianorum velut in quibusdam ramis monasteria sibi quasi nidos aliquos cedificare monstrantur, eorumque robore sustentati, velut passeres laudes Domini assidua voce prtecinunt.119 The Old English word sped may have here its usual meaning, 'substance'. II, D, 46. swancor. 118, 81. - Min sawle geweard swancur on mode renders defecit in salutari tuo anima mea. From this verse HD enters 'languishing, weak', as a special meaning for swancor, 'slender, trim, supple', but commentary gives no pejorative connotation to this word. Remigius, for example: defecit in se eundo in salutare tuum, id est in tuam salvationem se continens.... Defectus iste non 11B est culpa; et poena, sed laudabilis et optabilis. II, D, 47. teon. 79, 5 (6). - Tyhst us and fedest teara hlafe renders cibabis nos pane lacrymarum. GKS enters tyhst under teon, 'to educate'. Here the two verbs tyhst and fedest reflect cibabis, the second literally and first in light of such commentary as that of Richard Rolle of Hampole who elaborates: we ere .. . lerid. II, D, 48. teosuspraec. 139, 11 (12). - Se getynga wer on teosuspriece / ne bid se ofer eorpan gereaht ahwar renders vir linguosus non dirigetur super terram. From this verse HD enters teosusprcec, 'harmful speech'. The second half-line, on teosusproec, is additional material perhaps added merely to make up an alliterative line. In the commentary of Remigius, however, one finds a possible source of teosuspriec: vir linguosus, id est qui in loquacitate sua permanet et superbia, errorem suum defendere nitens.120 The combination of error (errorem) and pride (superbia) could certainly have been enough to give the versifier teosu, 'harm, injury, wrong'. II, D, 49. treddan. 118, 161. - Weard me heorte forht peer ic pin halig word / on pinum egesan arest oedelu tredde renders et a verbis tuis formidavit cor meum. The dictionaries enter from this line treddan, 'investigate, scrutinize'. This idea of investigation seems to be taken from atreddan, a word which appears twice in the Paris Psalter rendering investigare. The last line of the Old English is an expansion of the Latin; cedelu, 'noble', is added purely for the sake of alliteration. An attested meaning of tredan is 'to pass over, traverse'. Cassiodorus, in commenting on verbis tuis in 118, 161, quotes Matthew 24, 35: Coelum et terra transibunt verba autem mea non prceteribunt.m The versifier could well have gotten tredden from transi118 Pat. Lat., 70, 734, 36-42. Other commentary to the same effect has been pointed out in Fact and Lore. It should be mentioned, however, that, likely as this interpretation may be, the versifier at 83, 2, uses spedlice, uncalled for by any Latin, to alliterate with spearuwa. 119 Pat. Lat., 131, 749, 2-5. 120 Pat. Lat., 1 3 1 , 8 1 2 , 3 3 - 3 4 . 121 Pat. Lat., 70, 893, 43-44.

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47

bunt, 'they will go'. There is nothing in the Latin to suggest 'scrutinize', the meaning entered by the dictionaries. Tredde is likely a variant of trede. II, D, 50. Seodstefn. 83, 9 (11). - Betere is micle to gebidanne / anne dag mid pe ponne oSera / on peodstefnum pusend mala renders quia melior est dies una in atriis tuis super milia. HD enters deodstefn, 'tribe, nation,' which makes no sense in context. In commentary on the verse, Cassiodorus says: Super millia mundum istum signijicat. . . .122 The thousand days are counted according to the time of this world, time measured according to man instead of according to God. Stefn can mean 'time', and peod means 'men, people'. Hence, the versifier may have coined an abstract compound to point out the difference in nature between one day with God and any number of days with men. II, D, 51. unpearfes. 13, 6 (3). - Heora jet beod swide hrade blod to ageotanne unpearfes for yflum willan renders et velociter pedes eorum ad effundendum sanguinem. HD enters unpearfes, 'without a cause', from this verse. Unpearfes for yflum willum is an addition of the translator, one of the comments which abound in the prose section of the Paris Psalter. Perhaps the translator found in Cassiodorus inspiration for his addition: Ut celeritate rei crescat immanitas actionis. Ita sanguis iste Agni immaculati, dum a Judceis effusus est, nimis eos criminosos effecit.123 In immanitas read as inanitas, 'uselessness', and in criminosos, 'evil', lie possible sources for unpearfes, 'useless', and yflum willum, 'evil will'. II, D, 52. witehraegl. 29, 11; 34, 13; 68, 11 (12). - From 68, 11 (12), gif ic mine gewceda on witehrcegl / cyme cyrde randering et posui vestimentum cilicium, HD enters witehrcegl, 'penitential garb, sack cloth'. At 29, 11, the manuscript reads pu totcere mine wlitehrcegl rendering conscidisti saccum meum. Thorpe and Bright and Ramsey read hwite hrcegl-, Grattan emends to witehrcegl12* At 34, 13, the manuscript renders induebam me cilicio with dyde me hwitehrcegl an. Thorpe reads hwite hrcegl an; Bright and Ramsey read hwite hrcegl on, and Grattan reads witehrcegl on.125 Jerome, in commenting on 29, 11, says: quia saccus et cilicium ad peccatores pertinet;126 on cilcium in 34, 13, Jerome reads: Sed per cilicium peccatores, quia vestitus poenitentice est.127 Saccum, cilicium, and vestitus poenitentice are all connected in commentary, and all have associations with punishment, for which the Old English word is wite. II, D, 53. wynburg. 127, 2. - And pe wel weorded on wynburgum is the apparent reflection of et bene tibi erit. Cassiodorus says of this verse: Ubi bene est, omnia bona confluunt, et ad gaudium suavitatis adducunt. Significat enim ilia prcemia, quae nec oculus vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit qua 122 123 124

125 128

»"

Pat. Lat., 70, 604, 45-46. Pat. Lat., 70, 105, 58-106, 2. Grattan, p. 187.

Ibid. Pat. Lat., 26,

960, 4-6. Pat. Lat., 26, 981, 53-54.

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THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

prceparavit Deus diligentibus se.12s The reference is, of course, to heaven which is certainly a city of joy, the literal meaning of wynburg. Moreover, in gaudium suavitatis, the versifier has a very good source for wyn, 'joy, delight'. II, D, 54. wynsum. 59, 3 (5). - And hi hrape cefter / mid wynsume wine drenctest renders potasti nos vino compunctionis. The versifier did not understand vino compunctionis. Wynsum may be considered as merely a suitable altilerative epithet for wine, but Bede in commenting upon the verse uses the expression delectabilem potum,120 and such a locution could call forth wynsum. II, E.

ALLITERATIVE A N O M A L I E S

Some fifty-five of the words listed in the Old English dictionaries as occurring only in the Paris Psalter seem to be the product of alliterative necessity. The versifier of the metrical psalms often had to face the problem of finding a word to fit the alliterative line. In such trying situations he had recourse to certain stock compounding words: neod, 'zeal', from which come such unusual words as neodspearwua, neodlof, and neodweordung; man, 'evil', which is the initial syllable in manfolm, manidel, and other words occurring in a "bad" context; heah, which the versifier uses six times as an initial element when no Latin demands 'high'. Although many of these alliterative nonce words are compounded from known Old English words and are readily understandable, the very fact of their being hapax legomena makes them worthy of some notice. Moreover, the alliterative creations of the versifier of the Paris Psalter need to be given close attention; for some of them, gescotjeoht and mcerweorc for example, seem to have reasons other than simple alliterative necessity for their existence, while others, such as manfolm, heahgaldor, and neodspearuwa, seem to have been given a lexicographical prominence that belies their transitory nature. Below, each of the seemingly alliterative creations of the versifier of the Paris Psalter is discussed, and the likely reason for its formation is considered. II, E, 1. bealuinwit. 54, 23 (24). - Se blodhreowa wer bealuinwites / jcecne gefylled ne fceger lif / on middum feore gemeted ahwcer renders viri sanguinum et dolosi non dimidiabunt dies suos. This is a tautological compound made up to fit the alliteration. Both bealu and inwit mean 'evil', and the word reflects dolosi and alliterates with blodhreowa which reflects sanguinum. II, E, 2. eallhalig. 131, 8. - \)u earce art eallhaligra renders tu et area sanctificationis tuce. The dictionaries enter eallhalig, 'all holy', from this verse. While clearly the word is preserved for us here in Old English by the versifier's need for an alliteration with earce, rendering area, eallhallig must have had some currency, for it is quite common in Middle English.130 II, E, 3. eardgyfu. 71, 10. - pa him eardgyfu cedele bringad / of Arabia eac 128

Pat. Lat., 70, 933, 6-10. Pat. Lat., 93, 795, 43. 130 See alholi in Middle English Dictionary, 1952-). 129

ed. Hans Kurath and Sherman Kuhn (Ann Arbor,

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49

of Saba renders reges Arabum et Saba dona adducent. Gyfu is the usual rendering of Latin dona; but, as cedele is one of the versifier's favorite alliterative words, gyfu could be made to alliterate by forming the compound eardgyfu, quite justifiably here too since eard, 'land', can be suggested by Arabum et Saba. II, E, 4. earfoScynn. 77, 10 (8). - pat wees earfodcynn yrre and rede renders genus pravum et peramarum. HD enters earfodcynn, 'depraved race', from this verse. The versifier seems to have translated the Latin adjectives pravum and peramarum twice, combining the two in earfod, 'troublesome', and then rendering them with yrre and rede. Perhaps the reason for the redundancy lies in the need for alliteration. II, E, 5. efenmid. 73, 11 (12). - On pisse eorpan efenmidre renders in medio terrae. Although efen often renders Latin ut,ni in this compound, recorded only from this verse, the versifier apparently uses it only to alliterate with eorpan which renders terrae. II, E, 6. facendaed. 118, 53. - For fyrenfulra facendadum / pa hi ce pine anforleton renders pro peccatoribus dereliquentibus legem tuam. Facendadum has no exact equivalent in the Latin, but it fills the need of alliteration with fyrenfulra and is not without some justification in the Latin context. II, E, 7. facengeswipere. 82, 3 (4). - GKS enters facengeswipere, 'cunning advice, deceit', from this verse; neither BTD nor HD recognize the word as a compound, though both Krapp and Thorpe print it as a compound. Hi on pinum folce him facengeswipere / syredan and feredan renders in plebem tuam astute cogitaverunt consilium. The part geswipere suitably renders astute, and by the use of facen the versifier secures an alliteration with folce which renders plebem. II, E, 8. faederenbroSor. 68, 8 (9). - And ic frampe weard fcederenbrodrum / wees unmcege gyst modorcildum renders exter factus sum fratribus meis et hospes filiis matris meae. Filiis matris is rendered quite well by modorcildum.132 Fcederenbrodor seems to be dependent upon the versifier's desire for parallelism as well as the necessity for an alliterative word to go with frampe which renders exter. There is little point in HD's parenthetical 'from the same father', since there is no indication that the word means anything except 'brother'. II, E, 9. feorhjDearfe. 69, 1 (2). - The Latin of this verse is expanded upon by the Old English. Wes drihten god deore fultum / beheald drihten me and me hrade syppan / gefultuma cet feorhpearfe is the versifier's rendering of domine deus in adjutiorum meum intende domine ad adjuvandum me festina where there is no Latin corresponding to feorhpearfe. HD enters feorhpearfe, 'urgent need'. The word seems to have been made up by the versifier to alliterate with gefultuma which matches Latin adjuvandum. Feorhpearfe also occurs in the Benedictine Rule where the passage is a copy of this verse of the Paris Psalter.133 131 132 133

See efenscearp, II, A, 5. See modorcild, II, A, 18. Krapp, p. 213.

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THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

II, E , 10. ferhtlic. 95, 101. - He jerhtlic riht foleum demed renders judicabit populos in cequitate. The dictionaries enter ferhtlic, 'rational, wise', from this verse. Here populos calls forth folcum which in turn calls for a word alliterating in /-, though nothing in the Latin calls for ferhtlic. II, E, 11. firenwyrcende. 70, 3 (4); 72, 2 (3). - At 70, 3, alys me feondum nu / and me of folmum afere firenwyrcendra / pe pine ce efnan nellad renders eripe me de manu peccatoris et de manu contra legem agentis. Firenwrycende, 'sinning, working evil', translates peccator. The versifier had to face peccator and its cogeners often and used a variety of words fitting the alliterative pattern to render 'sinner', for example firenwyrhta, manwyrhta, mangewyrhta, and nahtfremmend. At 72, 2, forpon ic fcestlice fyrenwyrcende / oft elnade renders quia zelavi in peccatoribus. II, E, 12. fleohcynn. 104, 27 (31). - In describing the plagues of Egypt, the versifier uses fleohcynn as a generic term covering both flies and gnats. He sylfa eweed sona coman / mysci manige mid wceran gnattas / fleohcynnes feala flugan on gemceru renders dixit et venit coenomyia et sciniphes in omnibus finibus eorum. the only part of the last line called for by the Latin is on gemceru. Though perhaps influenced by the need of alliteration, a word like fleohcynn is quite in keeping with the Old English tendency to add cynn to words for birds, fish, and animals, as in fugelcynn, fisccynn, deorcynn. II, E, 13. folcegsa. 88, 34 (41). - Ealle pu his weallas wide todceldest / towurpe fasten his for folcegsan renders destruxisti omnes macerias ejus posuisti munitiones ejus in formidinem. From this verse HD enters folcegsa, 'general terror'. Other psalters render formidinem in this passage by the simple word fyrht; the versifier uses folc, leod, and deod as alliterative elements in other compounds. The folc of folcegsan is probably just such an alliterative device, and the translation of the word should be simply 'fright'. II, E, 14. folcned. 77, 16 (14). - Him wisode woken unlytel / daga ceghwylce swa hit drihten het / and him ealle niht o8er beacen / fyres leoma folcnede heold renders et eduxit eos in nube diei et tota nocte in illuminatione ignis. Folcnede heold, 'guarded the people's need', renders no Latin, but is not an unreasonable addition. Ignis calls forth fyres, and this demands an alliteration in /-; folc in folcned is one of the versifier's alliterative devices. II, E, 15. fyhtehorn. 74, 9 (11). - Ealra fyrenfulra fyhtehornas / ic bealdlice gebrece sniome renders et omnia cornua peccatorum confringam. The other Old English psalters render cornua as hornas. Peccatorum calls forth fyrenfulra which, in turn, calls for an /-alliteration. Actually fyhtehornas, 'battle horns', fits the context quite well. II, E, 16. gsrsbedd. 102, 15 (16). ponne he gast ofgifed syppan hine gxrsbedd sceal / wunian widefyrh renders quia spiritus pertransibit ab eo et non erit. HD enters gcersbedd, '(grass-bed), grave'. Since the preceding verse contains hege rendering foenum and since foenum is frequently rendered in Old English by either hege or gcers, the idea of gcers may have come to mind here when the versifier

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

51

needed an alliteration in g- to go with gast rendering spiritus and used the word gtersbedd as a variant of the known deadbedd. II, E, 17. gescotfeoht. 54, 20 (22); 75, 3 (4). - At 54, 20, eft gewurdon / on gescotfeohta scearpe garas renders et ipsi sunt jacula. At 75, 3, peer he hornbogan hearde gebended / and sweord and sceld (et gescotfeohta renders ibi confregit cornua arcuum scutum gladium et bellum. Feoht alone is adequate to translate bellum, but gescot, 'shooting', provides alliteration. Moreover, the versifier might well have found in the bending of the bow in the first line of the verse a reason for using 'shooting'. In 54, 20, the entire line on gescotfeohta scearpe garas is called forth by jacula. Garas, 'spears', would have adequately rendered jacula; gescotfeohta fits the martial context and provides alliteration with garas. II, E, 18. hseSenstyrc. 105, 17 (20). - Onwendan heora wuldor on pcene wyrsan had / hcedenstyrces hig etendes renders et mutaverunt gloriam suam in similitudinem manducantis fenum. Another Latin version of the passage replaces manducantis with vituli comedentis. The versifier, rendering fenum with hig and needing an alliterative word in h-, found in the situation being described (the building of the golden calf) a reason for using hceden, 'heathen, pagan', with styrc, a common Old English rendering of vitulus, to produce the alliterative hapax legomenon, hiedenstyrc. On pcene wyrsan had, 'in worse form', seems to be a moralizing comment on the part of the versifier, since it renders no Latin and no source for it can be found in commentary. II, E, 19. heahbliss. 118, 111. - pcet bid heahblisse heortan minre renders quia exultatio cordis mei sunt. Heah is one of the favorite compounding words used by the versifier of the Paris Psalter; seven heah- compounds listed in BTD are known only from the metrical portion of the Paris Psalter. Heahbliss seems to hit off exultatio with some finesse, though probably heortan, rendering cordis, called for heah as an alliterating first syllable. II, E, 20. heahgaldor. 57, 4 (6). - pcet heo nele hyran heahgaldor sum renders quae non exaudiet vocem incantantium. While heahbliss is a reasonable sort of compound, heahgaldor has no apparent reason for its existence save alliteration, since a usual rendering of incantatio is simply galdor. HD defines heahgaldor as 'charm', but perhaps the word means 'chief magician', being analogous to other words in heah, 'chief', like heahsangere, heahdegen, and heahgerefa. II, E, 21. heahgnornung. 101, 18 (21). - He pa gehyrde heahgnornung / para Se gebundene bitere wceron renders ut audiret gemitum vinculatorum. Audiret calls forth gehyrde; and the necessary alliteration with h- is satisfied by the heah of heahgnornung, the usual rendering of gemitus being a simple word like gnornung. II, E, 22. heahmiht. 150, 2. - Heriad hine swylce on his heahmihtum renders laudate eum in potentatibus ejus. Laudate calls forth heriad-, and potentatibus, which in the other psalters is rendered by the simplex mihtum, is here rendered by the alliterative compound heahmihtum. II, E, 23. heahsael. 101, 11 (14); 118, 108. - At 101, 11, nu is hire help

52

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

heahseel cumen renders quia venit tempus miserendi ejus; and at 118, 108, mines mudes me modes willa / on heahscelum hrade gebringe renders voluntaria oris meis beneplacia fac. HD enters heahseel, 'great happiness', from the Paris Psalter. In 101, 11, however, heahseel seems to be called forth by tempus, 'time', which is also a meaning of seel. The Old English in 101, 11, might be translated, 'Now is the high time come for her help'. The translation of 118, 108, is very loose, but heahseel seems to render beneplacia, in which case the definition given by HD is accurate. In both verses the part heah seems to be added for the sake of alliteration. II, E, 24. heahstrengSu. 107, 7 (9). - Is effrem his agen brodur / efne heah strengdu heafdes mines renders et effrem fortitudo capitis mei. HD, BTS, and GKS enter heahstrengdu, 'strength', citing this line. Neither Thorpe nor Krapp print the word as a compound. Discussion on the matter seems pointless inasmuch as heah has no semantic value in either case; it is merely an alliterative counter. II, E, 25. heahSearf. 117, 16, 20 (21). - At 117, 16, and me se swydre swylce drihtnes / ahof hreedlice cet heahpearfe renders dextera domini exaltavit me; and at 117, 20, fordon pu me gehyrdest cet heahpearfe renders quoniam exaudisti me. In neither instance does the phrase cet heahpearfe render any Latin, but seems to be just another of the versifier's alliterative inventions. From these passages the dictionaries enter heahdearf, 'great need'. II, E, 26. hearmedwit. 68, 20 (21). - Min heorte gebad hearmedwit feala renders improperium expectavit cor meum. Hearmedwit might be considered as one of the 'tautological compounds', since in certain senses hearm and edwit could be considered synonyms. In this instance, it is possible that edwit renders improperium (as it not infrequently does) 134 and that hearm is used adjectivally to intensify the pejorative context and to provide alliteration with heorte which renders cor. Only a few verses before (68, 8) where no alliteration in h- is called for, improperium is rendered merely by edwit. II, E, 27. hildedeoful. 95, 5. - Syndon ealle hxpenu godu hildedeoful renders quoniam omnes dii gentium dcemonia. Hildedeoful is only one of forty-three compounds in Old English with hilde as the first element. Just as both pil and hildepil mean 'javelin', perhaps hildedeoful means little more than deoful. It should be mentioned here that hcepenu (which needs a following alliterative word in h- like hildedeoful) seems to arise from the versifier's confusing gentium with gentilium. II, E, 28. hwastecynn. 147, 3 (14). - And pe gesadade mid py selestan / hwcetecynnes holde lynde renders et adipe frumenti satians te. The usual Old English rendering of frumentum is hwcete, and the compound hweetecynn may still mean little more than the simplex hwcete, just as both sealf and sealfcynn mean 'unguent'. For whatever reason the versifier used hwcetecynn, he still found himself in difficulty and added the adjective holde, 'pleasant', which is not called for by the Latin and makes very little sense. 134

See edwit in BTS.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

53

II, E, 29. masrweorc. 110, 4 (6). - pe he wel swylce / myhtum miclum and mcerweorcum / ftegrum gefylde and to his folce cwced renders virtutem operum suorum annuntiabit populo suo. The versifier seems to have translated virtutem twice, first as mihtum (a usual rendering) then as mcer- in mcerweorc. Though made for the nonce here to fit the alliterative pattern, the use of mcer, 'famous', is not out of place in connection with virtutem as glossaries associate virtus with magnitudo honoris.136 II, E, 30. manfolm. 143, 8 (7). - Alys me and genere wid lagustreamum / manegum wceterum and wid manfolmum / fremedra bearna and frecenra renders libera me de aquis multis et de manu filiorum alienorum. Man, 'evil', is another of the versifier's favorite alliterative additives.139 The usual rendering of manus is merely folm. II, E, 31. mangewyrhta. 77, 38. — He pa manige fram him mangewyrhta / yrre awende renders et multiplicavit ut averterei iram suam ab eis. From this passage HD enters mangewyrhta, 'sinner'. Although the process by which the word is compounded is clear, there appears to be no explanation for its existence other than the necessity of alliterating with manige which had been induced by multiplicavit. II, E. 32. manidel. 143, 9 (8), 13 (11). - In each of these verses para mudas sprecad manidel word renders quorum os locutum est vanitatum. The usual rendering of vanitas is idei, but mudas, called forth by os, requires an m- alliteration which is satisfied by manidel. II, E, 33. mansceatt. 71, 14; 54, 10 (12). - At 71, 14, ex usuris et iniquitate liberabit animas eorum is rendered by he of mansceatte and of mane eac / sniome hiora sawla softe alysde. HD enters mansceatt, 'usury', from this verse. There is a bit more sense to the use of man, 'evil', in this word than in manidel, for example, because sceatt is connected with 'money, payment, price', and the versifier knew that usury and usurers were bad - see redeman rendering fenerator, 108, 11. His use of a compound containing one of his favorite terms of pejoration combined with a word dealing with money to translate usura, an evil use of money, may here have some motivation other than the requirements of alliteration, that is, something to go with mane rendering iniquitate. At 54, 10, et non defecit de plateis ejus usura et dolus is rendered in the manuscript and in Thorpe's edition by ncefre on his weorpige wea aspringe / mearce ma scyte man inwides. Ma scyte makes no sense in this context. Krapp, following Kock,137 reads mansceat, a reading supported by 71, 14. II, E, 34. manword. 58, 12 (13). - Ys hyra mudes scyld manworda feala / da hi mid welerum wrade asprcecen renders delicto oris eorum sermo labiorum ipsorum. Since the context shows that the sermo (speech, words) is evil, the addi135 136 137

See

w . Lindsay et al. (eds.), Glossario Latina (Paris, 1926-31), 1, 590, 340, and 1, 271, 149.

See Fact and Lore, p. 195. Kock, p. 269.

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THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

tion of man, 'evil', in manworda, defined 'wicked words' by HD, is not only alliterative, but to the point. II, E, 35. modblissiende. 67, 17 (18). - Meenigfeald pusend modblissiendra renders multiplex milia ketantium. HD enters modblissiende, 'exulting', from this verse. Blissiende is a participle from blissian, 'to rejoice', and would be adequate as a translation of Icetans, which it elsewhere renders.138 The word meenigfeald, called forth by multiplex, requires an alliteration in m- which the versifier satisfied by adding mod to blissiende. II, E, 36. mure. 145, 6 (7). - Syled mete swylce pe her murcne cer / hungur headugrimne heardne gepoledan renders dat escam esurientibus. From this passage HD enters mure, 'dismal, wretched'. Two lines earlier occurs pe her deorce cer which has no perceptible sense other than to provide the alliteration deorce for a preceding gedefe. Such a procedure seems to have been followed in pe her murcne cer, an almost identical locution except that murcne is substituted for deorce to alliterate with the preceding mete. By analogy with deorce, one may take murcne to be the known word myrc, 'dark'. II, E, 37. neodlof. 148, 12. - Herian naman drihtnes mid neodlofe renders laudent nomen domini. Neod is one of the most useful words in the hoard of the Paris Psalter versifier. Sometimes, as here, it is perhaps possible to take neod as meaning 'zealous', as does HD which defines neodlof, 'zealous praise'. Most of the time, however, neod, both alone and in compounds, can be considered as merely an alliterative filler.139 II, E, 38. neodspearuwa. 123, 6 (7). - Wcerun ure sawla samod anlice / nipa generede swa swa neodspearuwa renders anima nostra sicut passer erepta est. In this instance, neod is clearly an alliterative addition, since there is no reason to believe that this particular sparrow is any more 'zealous' or 'active' or 'restless' than any other passer.1*0 II, E, 39. neodweorSung. 142, 11. - Neod again appears alliterating with naman in for naman pines neodweordunge / drihten usser do me halne rendering propter nomen tuum domine vivicabis me. NeodweorSung, which HD defines, 'zealous honoring', translates nothing in the Latin and seems to be merely an alliterative addition. II, E, 40. niScwealm. 77, 50. - And heora neat nidcwealm forswealh renders et jumenta eorum in morte conclusit. Nidcwealm is not so suspect as is, for example, neodspearuwa. There are twenty-five compounds in Old English in which nid forms the first part; and in the poem Christ occurs nidewealu, almost the same word as nidcwealm. II, E, 41. sundoryrfe. 67, 10. - Wilsumne regn wolcen brincged / and ponne 138

See Arthur S. Napier (ed.). Old English Glosses, Chiefly Unpublished 5111. 133 See Fact and Lore, p. 195. " " See Fact and Lore, p. 195.

(Oxford, 1900), 1,

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

55

ascaded god sundoryrfe renders pluviam voluntariam segregans deus hcereditati tucc. HD enters sundoryrfe, 'private inheritance', from this verse. The usual rendering of hcereditas is merely yrfe\ a compound sundoryrfe alliterates with the preceding ascaded, called forth by segregans. Commentary on the psalms could have reinforced the versifier's decision to make the inheritance 'separate'. The verse gets a very full treatment from Bede;141 the general drift of Bede's exposition is that God's inheritance is the children of Israel who are separated from other men by the choice of God. The likely meaning of sundoryrfe is 'separate inheritance'. II, E, 42. swiSmihtig. 85, 13 (14). - And gesamnincge swidmihtigra / sohton mine sawla swype geneahhe renders et synagoga potentium qucesierunt animam meant. Twenty-five compounds with swid as first element indicate that swiSmihtig, 'very mighty', though documented only here, may have had some currency in Old English. II, E, 43. swyltdeaS. 55, 10 (13). - ForSon pu mine sawle of swyltdeades / ladum widlceddest renders quoniam eripuisti animam meam de morte. To maintain alliteration and line length, the versifier uses a tautological compound; either swylt or deaS renders mors equally well. Both of them together seem rather to paint the lily, but the versifier of the Paris Psalter liked unusual words and was not averse to tautological compounds, for example feorhlif, discussed above. II, E, 44. unmasge. 68, 8 (9). - And ic frampe weard fcederenbrodrum / wees unmcege gyst modorcildum renders exter foetus sum fratribus meis et hospes filiis matris mece. The dictionaries enter unmcege, 'not akin', from this verse. A variant Latin version of the line is extraneus factus sum fratribus meis et peregrinus filius matris mece. Either version would have given the versifier gyst, 'stranger', and hospes can mean 'stranger, foreigner', as well as 'guest, visitor'. Exter means 'foreign, strange, of another country or family'; extraneus means 'not of the family'. Apparently the versifier knew both versions of the Latin and conflated the alienation he found in exter, extraneus, hospes, and peregrinus into unmcege, 'strange, foreign, unrelated'. Probably, in view of matris, he had a word like modor in mind and used an alliterating word with m- as in unmcege. In these two lines, fcederenbrodrum and modorcildum as well as unmcege are hapax legomena, giving the versifier a fairly good noncing average for this verse. II, E, 45. utgemcere. 60, 1 (3); 71, 8. - At 60, 1, nu ic of eordan utgemarum / cleopige to pe renders a finibus terrce ad te clamavi. At 71, 8, op pysse eordan utgenwere renders ad terminos orbis terrce. The dictionaries enter utgemcere, 'extreme or remotest limit', from these verses. Since the simplex gemcere is a usual rendering of finis and also of terminus, it looks as if the versifier coined utgemcere for the sake of vocalic alliteration with eordan called forth by terrce. II, E, 46. waetergrund. 106, 23 (24). Hi drihtnes weorc digul gesawon / and his wundra wearn on wcetergrundum renders ipsi viderunt opera domini et miribilia 141

Pat. Lat.,

9 3 , 832, 6 - 8 3 3 , 13.

56

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

ejus in prof undo. Though obviously fitting into the alliterative pattern with wundra and wearn, the word wcetergrundum, 'sea depth', appears to be a quite unforced rendering of profundo. It, however, is found only here. II, E, 47. weorftord. 112, 6 (7). - He of eorSan mag pone unagan / weccan to willan and of woruftorde / pone pearfendan priste areccan renders suscitans a terra inopem et de stercore erigens pauperem. HD enters from this verse weorftord, 'dung of cattle'. For rendering stercore, 'cattle dung', the versifier has formed a word alliterating with weccan and willan by utilizing a variant form, woruf, of a somewhat rare word hwyorf, 'cattle'. 142 II, E, 48. wictun. 95, 8; 99, 3 (4). - At 95, 8, genimad eow arlice lac and in gangad / on his wictunas weordiad drihten renders tollite hostias et introite in atria ejus adorate dominum. At 99, 3, gad nu on his doru god andettad / and hine weordiad on wictunum / mid lofsangum lustum myclum renders intrate portas ejus in confessione atria ejus in hymnis confessionem. From these verses the dictionaries enter wictun, 'court, vestibule'. At 121, 2; 133, 2; 134, 2, atrium is rendered by cafertun, the usual Old English translation. As there are nine Old English compounds with wic as the first element, the versifier's use of wictun - apparently to alliterate with weordian - does not seem to be too strained. The etymology of cafer in cafertun is unknown; one may deduce from the Paris Psalter that at least one Anglo-Saxon felt it to be interchangeable with the well-known word wic. II, 1, 49. wigsmiS. 113, 12. - pa wceron deofulgild deorce hcepenra / golde and seolfre pa her geara menn / worhtan wigsmidas wrceste mid folmum renders simulacra gentium argentum et autrum opera manuum hominum. HD enters wigsmid, 'maker of idols', from this verse. An identical word occurs in Old English poetry and means 'warrior', but since the form wig can mean either 'war' or 'idol', it would seem from context that the versifier here had wig, 'idol', in mind in using a word to alliterate with worhtan. II, E, 50. wisfEestlic. 106, 19 (20). - He him wisfcestlice word onsende / purh pat hi hrcedlice hxelde wceron renders misit verbum suum et sanavit eos. The dictionaries enter wisfazstlic, wise, sagacious', from this verse. Wisfcestlic matches no Latin here and apparently has no source in commentary on the psalter. Wisfcest is a frequently documented adjective; and the versifier used it at 102, 17, in an added passage in which it alliterates with word; at 117, 22, in another passage laden with additional material, wisfcest, translating no Latin, alliterates with wera and wrohte. It seems likely that in 106, 19, wisfcestlice is parallet with hrcedlice in the next line and, like it, is an adverb. II, E, 51. woruldSearfa. 69, 6. - Ic eom wcedla and worldpearfa renders ego vero egenus et pauper sum. HD enters worulddearfa, 'poor man', from this line. Since in the Old English version of Bede's History occurs worulddearf, 'worldly needs', and in the poem Christ appears worulddearfende, 'poor in wordly goods', 142

See Fact and Lore, pp. 50-51.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

57

the use of woruldfrearfa in the Paris Psalter offers no striking innovation. The word woruld appears as the first element in one hundred twenty-eight Old English compounds. II, E, 52. wundorbeacen. 73, 4. - Settan hiora tacen sope ne ongeaton / swa hi on wege wyrcean sceoldon / wundorbeacen swa hi on wude dydan renders posuerunt signa sua signa et non cognoverunt sicut in via supra summum quasi in silva lignorum. The versifier tends to associate signs and wonders; see wundortacen, 104, 23. Wundorbeacen renders the second signa in the verse. The use of gloriati in the preceding verse could have given rise to wuldor, a word often interchangeable in compounds with wundor.us II, E, 53. wundortacen. 104, 23 (27). - He sette on hi sylfe sodne wisdom / worda and weorca wundortacna renders posuit in eis verba signorum suorum. In Old English the word tacen is at times associated with the word wundor,lu so that with Latin signorum calling for tacen and with worda and weorca calling for an alliterating word beginning with w-, a likely word is wundortacen. II, E, 54. wynele. 108, 18. - And sio his innad ywde swylce / wan wcetere gelic and wynele / se pe banes byrst beted and heeled renders et intravit sicut aqua in interiora ejus et sicut oleum in ossibus ejus. Wyn, 'pleasant', fits the context of the verse and offers an alliteration with wcetere rendering aqua. Wyn is the alliterative element in wyngesid and wynpsalterium which are discussed below, in wynburh, discussed in section D, and in wyngraf, discussed in section C. The last line, which is not called for in the Latin and which refers to the good effect of oil on the bones, perhaps reflects some commentary such as that of Remigius sicut oleum ossa penetrate II, E, 55. wyngesiS. 100, 3. - Et non adhcesit mihi cor pravum is rendered by IKES me wyngesid widerweard heorte. From this verse HD enters wyngesid, 'pleasant companion'. The verb adhcerere has among its meanings 'to cling to as a constant companion', which meaning could be reflected in wyngesid, 'pleasant companion'. II, E, 56. wynpsalterium. 56, 10 (9). - Aris wuldur min wynpsalterium / and ic on (ermergene eac arise / and min hearpe herige drihten renders exurge gloria mea exurge psalterium et cythara exurgam diluculo. The versifier of the Paris Psalter rather frequently takes words straight out of the Latin; see cama and gecoronian in section B above. A customary rendering of gloria is wuldor; to make psalterium alliterate with this would ordinarily be difficult - but not for the versifier of the Paris Psalter. Many of his compounds are found nowhere else.

143

144

See HD under wundor.

See tacen III, in BTD. »« Pat. Lat., 131, 707, 34.

58

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER II, F.

OTHER PARIS PSALTER WORDS WORTHY OF SPECIAL ATTENTION

Aside from the words discussed in the previous sections of this chapter there are several other words in the Paris Psalter which are worthy of particular attention. Thirteen of these are found only in the Paris Psalter,146 and others deserve discussion because of their relationship to similar words in difficult passages of Old English outside the Paris Psalter. II, F, 1. aefgrynde. 35, 6 (7). - And pine domas synt swa deope swa swa cefgrynde ofrfre seo deoposte see renders et judicia tua abyssus multa. From this verse HD enters cefgrynde, 'abyss'. BTS enters cejgrynde, 'an abyss', and connects the word with OHG ab^grunti, 'abyss'. The paraphrast came upon a hard word and rendered it with a hard word; then he divulged its meaning with an additional phrase. He could have found this information in Isidore: abyssus profunditas est aquarum impenetrabilis,147 He also could have learned what abyssus meant by reading Cassiodorus: abyssus est enim profunditas aquarum.iis /Efgrynde seems an etymological doublet of Greek abyssos: cef is a privative, 'without'; grynde is an umlauted form of grund, 'bottom'. II, F, 2. segype. 106, 10 (11). - Fordon hi dydan drihtnes sprcece / aghwees tegype and his gedeaht swylce / pees heahstan him hcefdan on bysmer renders quia exacerbaverunt eloquium domini et consilium altissimi irritaverunt. /Egype has caused a considerable amount of consternation among editors and lexicographers. Thorpe did not understand the word. GKS enters it from this verse and defines it i nugalis\ with a query. BTS enters czgype, 'without skill or cunning', and connects it with geap, a word with many meanings, among them, 'clever, cunning, shrewd, intelligent'. Dydan eegype, 'they made trifling' is not an impossible translation of exacerbaverunt. One would like, however, to find some more justification for connecting cegype with exacerbaverunt. /Egype seems to be compounded from ce-, a privative or intensive prefix, and gype, a form of geap, 'clever'. Bede, in commenting on the verse, says: acerba et hispeda fecerunt sibi eloquia dei.149 From exacerbaverunt and a comment such as Bede's the versifier might have come upon acerbus. Acerbus is a glossary equivalent of asper,150 and asper in turn has glossary association with callidus;151 which is glossed geap.152 The part ex- could call forth the part ce- as in the rendering of exasperat by cebylgad (q.v. in BTS), where, however, it is intensive and not negative. It is highly possible that eegype means 'very sharp, very cunning'. 146 For other words appearing only in the Paris Psalter but not given separate entries in the dissertation because they present no noticeable problems see the Word List, II, G. 147 Etymologies, 13, 20, 1. 14R Pat. Lat., 70, 253, 47-48. Pat. Lat., 93, 1024, 77-78. CGL, 6, 15. Ibid., 103, 169. 152 WW, 168, 10.

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II, F, 3. atreddan. 118, 69; 138, 2 (3). - At 118, 69, ic nu mid ealre / minre heortan hige hycge swide / pcet ic pin bebod beorht atredde renders ego autem in toto corde meo scrutabor mandata tua. At 138, 2, and mine gangas gearwe atreddest / and ealle mine wegas wel foresaw renders semitam meam et directionem meam investigasti et omnes vias meas prcevidisti. From these two verses, the dictionaries enter as a meaning for atreddan, 'to investigate, search, examine'. In 118, 69, scrutabor is well rendered by hycge. Atredde seems to be an uncalledfor word. The cenral meanings of the tred- words cluster around movement of the feet: tredan, 'to tread, step on, traverse, pass over, enter upon'; treddian, 'to step, walk'; tredel, 'step, sole of foot'. A reading of atredde which fits this central meaning cluster is not impossible. A translation of the Old English in 118, 69, might be: 'I now resolve very firmly with all the consideration of my heart that I will enter upon thy bright bidding'. In 138, 2, attreddest apparently renders investigasti. An attested signification of investigasti is 'to track, to trace out'. Given the combination of 'way, direction' and 'trace out', the versifier could very easily have decided to use a word for 'tread, trample, traverse, walk over', since in this manner a way is traced. II, F, 4. eowde. 118, 111. - Ic me eowde begeat renders ha>reditatem acquisivi. Eowde, the usual meaning of which is 'flock, herd', here renders hareditatem, for which the usual Old English gloss is yrfe, 'heritage'; but yrfe also means 'cattle'. The use in this line of eowde, 'flock', is semantically possible in place of yrfe, 'heritage, cattle'. II, F, 5. fileSe. 36, 2. - Forpcem swype hrape forseariad swa filede renders quoniam tamquam fenum velociter arescent. HD enters filede, 'hay', from this verse. The usual Old English rendering of fenum in the Paris Psalter is hig (71, 16; 101, 4, 9; 128, 4). There occurs in the Old English charters a word filidleag, 'meadow, hayfield'. Filede would then seem to be a denisoned Old English word which through chance has been recorded in the prose portion of the Paris Psalter. II, F, 6. gebeorhstow. 31, 8 (7). - ¡>u eart min gebeorhstow on minum earfopum renders tu es michi refugium a pressura. A variant reading of the Latin, tu es refugium meum a tribulatione, is probably closer to the Old English. From this verse the dictionaries enter gebeorhstow, 'a place of refuge'. The compounding procedure from gebeorh, 'refuge', and stow, 'place', is clear, but the reason for the paraphrast's use of the compound is less clear. At 9,9, he ys geworden fridstow dearfendra renders et factus est dominus refugium pauperum. At 45, 1, dryhten ys ure gebeorh renders deus noster refugium. At 30, 3, and beo min god and min gefridiend and beo min fridstow renders esto michi in deum protectorem et in locum refugii. At 30, 4, forpam pu eart min trymnes and min gebeorh renders quoniam firmamentum meum et refugium meam es tu. From gebeorh and fridstow, both rendering refugium, the paraphrast probably formed gebeorhstow by analogy. II, F, 7. hlafweard. 104, 17 (21). - He sette hine on his huse to hlafwearde renders et constituit eum dominum domus suae. The dictionaries enter hlafweard,

60

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

'steward', from his verse. This is the only occurrence of the unamalgamated compound which later became Old English hlaford, a point worth mentioning, for books on the English language are fond of tracing Modern English lord back to Old English hlafweard as if it were an obvious etymology; but without this one documentation it would not be obvious at all. II, F, 8. hlimme. 82, 8 (10); 109, 123, 4 (5); 125, 4. At four places in the metrical portion of the Paris Psalter the versifier uses a word apparently derived from hlimman, a verb meaning 'to make a noise', to refer to a stream. From these passages the dictionaries enter hlimme, 'a stream, a torrent'. It is of note that torrens occurs in all four passages, and, referring to streams, means 'rushing, boiling, roaring'. Old English hlimman, 'to sound, to resound, roar, rage', is used concerning the sound water makes: hwcelmere hlimmede, Exeter Riddle 2, 5; hlimman see, The Seafarer, 18; garsecg hlymmed, Andreas, 392. It is likely that the versifier's use of hlimme was much influenced by the idea of 'noise' in torrens. In connection with hlimme and hlimman, one might mention 73, 14, in the Paris Psalter in which the verb hlynnende, 'resounding', is associated with torrentes; as along with the verb hlynnan, 'to resound', there is also a noun hlynn, 'roar', so along with the documented verb hlimman, 'to resound', one may expect a noun hlimme, as actually occurs four times here in the Paris Psalter. II, F, 9. hopig. 68, 2 (3). — Com ic on sees hricg peer me sealt wceter / hreoh and hopig holme besencte renders veni in altitudinem maris et tempestas demersit me. From this verse HD enters hopig, 'eddying, surging'; GKS enters hopig, 'striking with ring-shaped waves, eddying', with a query and a reference to hopgehnast, 'dashing of waves', a hapax legomenon from Riddle 4, 27. BTS enters hopig, 'forming hills and valleys', and suggests a comparison with hope, a Scots word meaning 'a small valley'. HEW enters hopig, 'surging, billowing', and connects with hopgehnast, for which no etymology is known. In the Old English version of the life of Guthlac, a locution fennegan hopu occurs, 153 which seems to refer to swampy pools. Perhaps the word hopig could be used of a tempestuous sea with reference to deep hollows and pools between the waves. II, F, 10. leawfinger. 72, 11 (14). - Wees me leawfinger be leohtne dceg renders index meus in matutino. HD enters leawfinger, 'index finger', from this verse. The index finger, the pointer, is the betraying finger, as mentioned, for example, by Isidore who defines index as proditor. The first part of the compound is from Old English Icewan, 'to betray'.154 II, F, 11. nifara. 38, 15 (13). — Forpam ic eom nifara hider on eorpan beforan pe and celdeodig renders quoniam incola ego sum aput te in terra et peregrinus. Thorpe, in notes to his edition suggests nydfara, suspecting scribal error. Nydfara is an attested word, appearing in Exodus and translated 'exile, fugitive', but 'exile' 153 154

See hop in BTS. See Fact and Lore, p. 175.

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61

does not seem a very good rendering of incola. HD enters nifara, 'newcomer, stranger'. Isidore says of incola: Incola autem non indigenam sed advenam indicate Advena is glossed nuper adveniens, 'newly arriving.156 Nifara, 'newcomer', seems to match this glossing of advena very well. II, F, 12. oferhleoSur. 93, 9. Sede cerest ealdum earan worhte / hu se oferhleodur tefre wurde renders qui plantavit aurem non audiet. Documented only here, this word's meaning seems to be 'lack of hearing, failure to hear'. In formation oferhleodur is analogous to oferhieran, which means not only 'to overhear', but also 'to fail to pay attention to'. II, F, 13. opene. 113, 14. - Earan habbad swylce and opene nose / ne magon epian awyht gehyran renders aures habent et non audient nares habent et non odorabunt. The Latin calls for no such word as opene. One could accuse the versifier of using it here only to alliterate with earan, which renders aures. The reference is to idols which are said to be similar to those who make them (113, 17); they have mouths, eyes, ears, noses. It might have been pertinent, however, to mention that their noses were open; for it is remarked in Old English prose that the noses of dead men are closed.157 II, F, 14. rynewaen. 19, 7 (8). - On rynewanum and on horsum ure fynd fcegniad and pees gilpad we ponne on pam naman drihtnes ure godes us micliad renders hi in curribus et hi in equis nos autem in nomine domini dei nostri magnificabimur. BTD and HD enter rynewcen, 'a swift vehicle, chariot', from this verse. The usual Old English rendering of currus is ween, 'wagon'. Isidore says of currus: currus autem a cursu dictus.1SB The usual Old English rendering of cursus is ryne; perhaps this bit of Isidore etymology contributed to the compound ryneween. II, F, 15. teofrian. 117, 21 (23). - Halige dryhten / to wealles wrade wise teofrade expands a domino factum est istud which refers to the stone which the builders rejected. From this verse the dictionaries enter teofrian, 'to appoint'. In the Cura Pastoralis, 21, 2, a wall is described as atiefrede, where the word surely means 'decorated with paintings'. The present teofrade is probably the same word, and such a meaning would agree with the following line, 'that is all marvelous in our eyes'. II, F, 16. uppe godu. 81, 6. — Ge synd uppe godu / ealle uphea and cedele beam renders dii estis et filii excelsi omnes. This group uppe godu is analogous to the elsewhere documented up godu, 'gods above',159 mistakenly defined in HD as 'heathen gods'. In the present passage, the reference is surely not to heathen gods. II, F, 17. yppan. 71, 7. - On his agenum dagum ypped weordep / syb so5fastnes swide genihtsum renders orietur in diebus ejus justitia et habundatia pads. The form ypped, a past participle of yppan of which the usual past tense is ypte, 135 136 137

158 139

Etymologies, CGL, 6, 29. The Blickling Etymologies, See Fact and

9, 4, 40-41. Homilies, ed. R. Morris (London, 1874), p. 54, 1. 14. 18, 35. Lore, p. 83.

62

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

makes it likely that a past tense yppede might have existed. This is probably what lies behind the gloss hyppede to jigit at OEG 46, 11, for which H. D. Meritt has attempted a different explanation. 160 The context has to do with one who fixed his spear point upwards in the ground, and a word (h)yppede, 'upped', would suit this context exactly; the usual past tense of yppan is, however, ypte. II, G.

WORD LIST

All words discussed in Chapter II along with all other Old English words documented only from the Paris Psalter are listed in the form in which they occur in HD. The section of the chapter in which they are discussed is cited unless there is no discussion of the word, in which case the word is listed without a section number. The Latin which calls them forth is given, verbs in the infinitive, nouns and adjectives in the nominative. If the Latin which the word seems to render is not in the text of the Psalms but has been determined from some other source, such as medieval commentary, that Latin is given in parentheses. When the Old English word seems to represent a mistranslation, the Latin which the translator apparently thought he was rendering is given in parentheses alongside the Latin of the Psalter. Hapax legomena are identified by (h); words which occur more than once in the Paris Psalter but nowhere else are marked (PPs); proven or suspected ghost words are identified with a superscript * before the word. sebebod (PPs) aefenlac (h) aefgrynde (h) segype (h) ieppelbearu (h) ieteglan (h) aetfele (h) afasman (h) ahyltan (h) alihting (h) amawan (h) anmede (h) ansittan ansprace (h) ara *arscamu aspide aspreotan (h) aswerian (PPs) 180

II, It, II, II, II,

D, A, F, F,

c,

1 1 1 2 2, a

II, A, 2

c, c,

3, a II, 1, a II, II, B, 1

lex (mandatum) sacrificium vespertinum abyssus (acerbus) pomus (pomarium) proficere adhaerere attrahere supplantare illuminatio percutiere unanimis timere loquor simul in unum No Latin verecundia áspide eructare jurare

H. D. Meritt, "Twenty Hard Old English Words", JEGP, XLIX (1950), p. 236.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

atreddan (PPs) basilisca bealuinwit (h) bearm bedon (h) begretan (h) bejjerscan (h) bewrixlan (h) biernan brechrœgl (h) bregdan byrgend (h) cama (h) camp (h) clerus (h) cyme (PPs) daedfrom (h) drencan eahtung ealdian ealdesprœc (h) eallhalig (h) eallmiht (h) eardgyfu (h) cardhœbbend (h) eardland (h) earfoScynn (h) earfoSdasg (h) earwunga (PPs) eastrodor (h) eaöbede (h) edwitstœf (PPs) efenmid (h) efenscearpe (h) cgewylmum (h) ellenwod (h) eoröbuend (h) eorSgemœre (h) eorSstede (h) eorötudor (h) cowde eowdesceap (h)

II, II, II, II,

F, B, E, C,

3 1 1 3, b

II, D, 2 II, C, 2, b II, D, 3 II, D, 4 II, B, 2 II, B, 3

II, C, 2, c II, II, II, II, II,

C, D, E, D, E,

2, d 5 2 6 3

II, A, 3 II, A, 4

II, D, 7 II, E, 5 II, A, 5 II, D, 8 II, II, II, II,

D, A, D, D,

9 6 10 11

II, F, 4 II, A, 7

scrutari, investigan basilisca dolosus tabescere (tumescere) No Latin lamentan ventilare vendere ascendere (accendere) diplois (revertere) sepelire cama compes clerus mirabile (vis) adpropiare (propinare) consilium operire (perire) (proverbium) sanctificatio (omnipotentia) donum habitatio terra hereditas genus pravum dies tribulationis gratis ortus (lenitas) deprecabilis opprobium medium ut gladium (tempestas tribulationis) zelus (humilis) finis terrae terra (consors populus) hereditatem aries ovium

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

erinaces (h) eruca facendaed (h) facengeswipere (h) faederenbroSor (h) faerslide (h) faeststeall (h) fengnett (h) feohland (h) feondaet (h) feorhlif (h) feorhjjearfe (h) ferhtlic (h) fileSe (h) firenwyrcende (PPs) firenwyrhta (PPs) fleohcynn (h) *foddergifu fole folcegsa (h) folcned (h) folcu (h) forefiancolnes (h) forslitan (h) *forspyrcan fracoSe (PPs) fracuSe frean *freo3a frine frumsprecend (h) fyhtehorn (h) gaersbedd (h) gebeorhstow (h) gecornian (h) *gedrettan gedrugian (h) gefeohtdasg (h) gefreogan gehendan (h) gehrespan (h) gehyldnes (h)

II, B, 4 II, D, 12 II, E, 6 II, E, 7 II, E, 8

II, D, 13 11, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

E, E, F, E, D, E, C, C, E, E, A,

9 10 5 11 14 12 1, b 2, e 13 14 8

II, C, 1, c II, II, 11, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

D, C, C, C, D, E, E, F, B, C,

15 2, f 1, d 3, c 16 15 16 6 5 1, e

II, A, 9 II, C, 2, g

erinaceus (vermiculus) No Latin consilium astute No Latin lapsus stare reticulum locus pascuae No Latin vivens No Latin aequitas fenum peccator (peccator) No Latin esca poculum (populus) formido No Latin vacca populorum prudentiam No Latin aruere No Latin No Latin laboris (liberos) (beatitudo) No Latin principium (praenuntiare) cornu No Latin refugium coronare deficere sitis dies belli libere (liberare) tenere diripuere custodire

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

gemanan gescotfeoht (h) gestam (h) gesweoru (PPs) *getucian getyhtan (PPs) getyne (h) geöancas gefmn gnornscendende (h) gram gramhycgende (h) gramhydig gramword (h) haeSenstyrc (h) hai handgeweald (h) hathige (h) heahbeorg (h) heahbliss (h) heahgaldor (h) heahgnornung (h) heahgod (h) heahmiht heahsael (PPs) heahstrengSu (h) heahöearf (PPs) hearmedwit (h) *hemman heofonhlaf (h) hildedeoful (h) hinderling (PPs) hinderJ>eostru (h) hlafgebrecu (h) hlafweard (h) hlanc hleorsceamu (h) *hlidan hlimme (PPs) hopig (h) hwaetecynn (h) hygecken (h)

II, D, 17 II, E, 17 II, c , 2, h II, c , 1, f

II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

D, D, D, D, D, D, D, E, D, A,

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 18 25 10

II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

A, E, E, E, A, E, E, E, E, E, c, A, E,

11 19 20 21 12 22 23 24 25 26 1, g 13 27

II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

D, A, F, D, A, c, F, F, E, D,

26 14 6 27 15 1, h 8 9 28 28

No Latin bellum gemitus Collis No Latin erudire, confirmare atrium (superbia) (robustissimus vox) No Latin malus No Latin (exprobare) (verbum malitiae) vitulus No Latin manus dominati furor altitudo montium exultatio incantatio gemitus deus altissimum potentia tempus, beneplacia fortititudo No Latin improperium opilare (appelare) panis caeli daemonium retrorsum (tenebra) frustrum panis dominus (maceratum) reverentia facies extendere torrens No Latin frumentum simplicitas

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

hyhtan hyrian *ingebed inwitgyrene (h) inwitstaef (PPs) lacgeofa (h) lasdend (h) *laSweorc leawfinger (h) leodstefn (h) limwasd (h) lofmaegen (h) maegen maegenweorc (PPs) maerweorc (h) maga mamrian (h) manfolm (h) mangewyrhta (h) manidel (PPs) mansceatt (PPs) manword (h) manwyrhta (PPs) mearhcofa (h) min mindom (h) modblissiende (h) modorcild (h) *modorhri£ morhasS (h) mundbeorg (h) mure (h) muSfreo (h) mysci (h) nahtfremmend (h) neodlof (h) neodspearuwa (h) neodweorSung (h) nifara (h) nihtegsa (h) niÖcwealm (h) niSerdael (h)

II, II, II, II,

c, c, C, D,

3, d 3, e 1, i 29

II, c , 1, ]' II, F, 10 II, D, 30 II, D, 31 II, D, 32 II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

E, D, c, E, E, E, E, E, A, D, D, A, E, A,

c,

D, D, E, D, B, A, E, E, E, F, A, E,

29 33 3, f 30 31 32 33 34 16 34 35 17 35 18 1, k 36 37 36 38 6 19 37 38 39 11 20 40

adjicere merces oratio laqueus (nequitia) donum dare excusare opus index (plebs, vocabulum) vestimentum No Latin (fortitudo) magnificare virtus (ex patre) No Latin manus No Latin vanitas usura sermo operari iniquitas, peccator (sagimen) (sinister) pusillus animus laetans filius matris venter matris, uterus matris (siccus), mons (munire) No Latin (garrulus) musca operari iniquitas laudare passer No Latin incola, (advena) timor noctis mors inferior

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

ofergeatu (h) oferhige (h) oferhleoSur (h) oferhylmend oflecgan (h) *ofleogan *ofstofen onlihtend (h) *onmeltan opene *oÖer owœstm (h) pellican rœdeman (h) restbedd (h) *restan reöeman (h) rothwil (PPs) rynewaen (h) saeweg (h) salletan samheort (h) scuccgyld (h) *scrind *scyltumend sealmfaet (h) secan settan Sigelweara snsedingsceap (h) snytruhus (h) sped stenan (h) stencan sundoryrfe (h) swancor swiSmihtig (h) *swyld swyltdeaS (h) teofrian teon teosuspraec (h)

II, F, 12 II, C, 3, g II, C, 1, 1 II, C, 1, m II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

C, F, C, D, B, D, D, C, D,

1, n 13 1, o 39 7 40 41 1, p 42

II, II, II, II,

F, A, B, D,

14 21 8 43

II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

C, C, A, C, C, C, A, D, D,

1, q 1, r 22 2, i 2, j 2, k 23 44 45

II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

C, E, D, E, C, E, F, D, D,

3, h 41 46 42 1, s 43 15 47 48

preterire elatio non audire prasvaricari infixus mentiri impulsus illuminatio perfundere No Latin No Latin vitulus, (virigulta tenero) pellicanus (sessor) (culcitra, pulvinar) exultare (diabolus) refrigerare (cursus) currus semita maris psallare (collectio) sculptilis No Latin adjutor vas psallmorum allidere insidiari /Ethiopes ovis occisionis (divina responsa capere) (robur) gemitus adfligere (dispegere) hereditas deficere potens dolor mors facere No Latin (error, superbia)

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

treddan *treaflic Searfian (h) Seccend (h) öeodstefn (h) Öunian Öunurradstefn (h) unaga (h) unbealu (h) unleahtorwyröe (h) unmaege (h) *uphebbe uppe godu unsœd (h) un{)earfes (h) utgemaere (PPs) waepenstrael (h) waetergrund (h) waeterstefn (h) waeterSryJj (h) wealsad (h) weorftord (h) westwegum (h) weöan (h) wictun (PPs) wigsmiS (h) wincettan (h) wisboc (h) wisfaestlic (h) witehraegl (PPs) wiSdrifan (PPs) wiöerhabban (h) wliteandett (h) wohgod (h) wordgebot (h) worulddead (h) woruldjjearfa (h) wudufeld (h) wundorbeacen (h) wundortacen (h) wynburg (h) wynele (h)

II, D, 49 II, c , 1, t

II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

D, 50 c, 3, i A, 24 A, 25 A, 26 A, 27 E, 44 c, 1, u F, 16 A, 28 D, 51 E, 45 A, 29 E, 46 A, 30 A, 31 A, 32 E, 47

II, E, 48 II, E, 49

II, E, 50 II, D, 52

II, A, 33 II, A, 61 II, II, II, II, II, II, II,

A, E, A, E, E, D, E,

34 51 35 52 53 53 54

No Latin No Latin pauper protector (mundus iste) circumdare vox tonitrui inops innocentia inreprehensibilis exter, hospes fulica (herodius) deus excelsus insatabilis immanitas finis, terminus arma et sagitta profundus vox aquarum aqua multa superbus, laqueus stercus occidens No Latin atrium No Latin annuere liber No Latin (vestitus poenitentiae) repellere restare confessio et decor sculptilibus testamentum mortuos seculi pauper campus silvae signum signum (gaudium suavitatis) oleum

THE VOCABULARY OF THE PARIS PSALTER

wyngesiS (h) wyngraf (h) wynpsalterium (h) wynsum yppan yt>a

II, II, II, II, II, II,

E, C, E, D, F, C,

55 2, 1 56 54 17 2, m

adhaerescere exultatio psalterium (delectabilis) orior fructus (fluctus)

III.

SYNTACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE PARIS PSALTER

Syntax, interpreted broadly, refers to the relationship of any part of a portion of connected discourse to the portion taken as a whole. This broad definition is used in this following discussion of the syntax of the Paris Psalter. This chapter is, in the main, concerned with groups of Old English words, phrases and clauses, and their relationship to the sentence in which they occur as well their relationship to the Latin which they apparently render. The discussion which follows attempts to explain certain recurrent phrases in the Paris Psalter which seem to have no Latin back of them and to explicate other passages which seem to stray far from the Latin. In the metrical portion of the Paris Psalter many such passages are simply stereotyped phrases, a number of which have little or no syntactical value. Both the prose and metrical psalms contain evidence of the use of medieval psalter commentary in the translation and expansion of the Latin. In several verses of the metrical psalter the syntax becomes more intelligible if the construction is taken apo koinu. The stereotyped phrases of the metrical psalter are of several kinds. The versifier has a few automatic alliterative pairs like nama and neode and sprœc and sped. Nama and neode (or variants of neode) appear as the alliterative words in more than forty lines in the metrical psalter, and not once is 'zealously', the likely translation of neode, required by the Latin. The versifier uses sprœce sped, 'power in speech', to render Latin eloquium eleven times in Psalm 118. Although the locution is not unapt ,the sheer repetition of it demonstrates a certain lack of originality on the part of the translator. Alliterative line-fillers which render no Latin and bear little or no syntactical weight are another of the versifier's devices. Half-lines with swylce, neode swylce in particular, and with ungemete swyde are frequent in the metrical psalms. Another sort of stereotyped locution which appears in the metrical portion of the Paris Psalter is what might be called the "echoing" half-line. Several half-lines which render no Latin in the Paris Psalter and which seem to be added out of alliterative necessity have parallels in other Old English poems. Phrases such as hœleda beam, fag sweord, and swylt fornam give the reader a strange sensation of déjà vu. An understanding of the versifier's use of stereotyped phrases helps in an understanding of the syntax of the Paris Psalter and may also protect one from restless sparrows 1 and too much zealous emendation. 1

See neodspearuwa,

II, E, 38, supra.

SYNTACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE PARIS PSALTER

71

The prose psalms of the Paris Psalter carry a heavy burden of additional explanatory material. While a great many of these expansions are inserted to explain the literal meaning of the Latin when a simple translation might be inadequate, many of the expansions depend upon allegorical interpretation of the text derived from medieval psalter commentary.2 At 44, 1, for example, the explanatory expansion of good word, pat ys good godes beam, is obviously dependent on commentary such as Bruno's: verbum bonum, Filium Dei vocat. Several apparent aberrations of the versifier of the metrical portion of the Paris Psalter can also be explained by reference to commentary on the psalms. Ganetas, a word referring to sea birds, as a rendering of Latin coturnix at 104, 35, seems to mark the versifier as no bird-watcher until one discovers in commentary a reference to Numbers XI, in which the quails do indeed come from the sea. Reference to medieval commentary on the psalms proves to be almost as valuable in explaining difficult syntax in the Paris Psalter as it is in illuminating dark words. (See II, D). The construction apo koinu occurs several times in the metrical portion of the Paris Psalter. The versifier, usually for reasons of alliteration, sets a single word or phrase in syntactical relationship to an expression on either side of it. In 113, 23, heofonas healdad halig dryhten / sealde pas moldan manna bearnum, the word dryhten may stand as subject of both healdad and sealde. Although not a frequent occurrence in the Paris Psalter, the construction apo koinu is worthy of note. The syntactical problems of the Paris Psalter are here arranged under three headings: (A) Set Phrases; (B) Expansions Based on Psalter Commentary; (C) Apo Koinu Constructions. Under each heading selected passages which are representative of the syntactical problem are discussed. m , A.

SET PHRASES

In his struggle for alliteration the versifier of the Paris Psalter had a few indispensible aids. In II, E, some of the alliterative compounding words he used are pointed out. The versifier also used these same adjectives and adverbs freely to fill out an alliterative line even when the Latin required no such word. Helen Bartlett gives an extensive list of such words and briefly discusses the versifier's use of them.3 Aside from the alliterative compounding words and the stock words, the versifier had a few ready-made alliterative doublets upon which he relied whenever the situation demanded. Any time the versifier had trouble finding a word to alliterate with nama, 'name', he had recourse to neode, 'zealously', perhaps his favorite alliterative counter, or some other derivative of neod, 'pleasure, delight, zeal'. Moreover, nama and neode are often accompanied by swylce which usually seems to be of very little significance. A second alliterative pair of which the versifier seems to have been extremely fond is sprcec, 'speech', and sped, 'success, wealth', or forms 2 3

Bruce, p. 93. Bartlett, p. 38.

72

SYNTACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE PARIS PSALTER

of sped. Without sprcec and sped as an alliterative duo, the versifier could never have translated Psalm 118, in which he used the combination eleven times to render forms of eloquium. Swylce is a third noteworthy line-filler used by the versifier of the Paris Psalter.4 Other stock half-lines which occur frequently, generally rendering no Latin, are ungemete swide, 'very greatly', and ungemete georne, 'very diligently'. The versifier also uses nuegene, 'greatly', as an alliterative filler. Occasionally a line or half-line in the metrical portion of the Paris Psalter seems reminiscent of other Old English poetry. Below are collected a great many examples of the versifier's use of the doublets nama and neode, some examples of the sprcec and sped phenomenon, several stock phrases with swylce, and some examples of ungemete swype and ungemete georne, and several lines with nuegene. Here too are gathered some of the more striking phrases from the metrical psalter which seem to echo other Old English poems. Ill, A, 1. "nama" and "neode" III, A, 1, a. - At 53, 6, and naman pine niode [MS. mode] swylce / geara andette renders et confitebor nomini tuo. b. - At 67, 4, and his naman swylce neode heriad renders dicite nomini ejus. c. - At 68, 30, nu ic naman drihtnes neode herige renders laudabo nomen dei. d. — At 68, 36, and his naman neode lufiad renders et quit diligunt nomen ejus. e. - At 82, 12, ponne hi naman pinne neode seceaS renders et quterunt nomen tuum domine. f. - At 82, 13, ponne hi naman pinne neode secead renders et cognoscant quia nomen tibi dominus. The versifier apparently did not bother to translate the last clause of the Latin in 82, 13. He simply re-used the last line from 82, 12, even though it does not fit the sense very well. g. - At 88, 13, pat bid eadig fole / pe can naman dinne neode herigean renders beatus populus qui scit jubilationem. The versifier perhaps did not know what jubilatio meant, so he turned to a stock phrase. h. — At 88, 14, and on naman pinum neode swylce / beod ealne cUeg eac on blisse renders et in nomine tuo exultabunt tota die. i. — At 88, 22, and on naman minum neode swylce / his horn bid ahafen heane on mihtum renders et in nomine meo exaltabitur cornu ejus. j. - At 91, 1, and neodlice his naman asinge renders et psallare nomini tuo. Neodlice is simply a variant of neode. The versifier also used it to alliterate with nama at 101, 13; 128, 6; 146, 4. At 133, 3, hebbad neodlice nihta gehwylcre / eowre handa on halig lof / and bletsiad balde drihten renders in noctibus extollite manus vestras in sancta et benedicte dominum. In no case is 'zealously, diligently', or even 'greatly', which HD enters as a signification for neodlice from the Paris Psalter, called for by the Latin. Neodlice, 4

Fact and Lore, p. 196.

SYNTACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE PARIS PSALTER

73

like neode in most instances, is simply an alliterative filler. k. - At 95, 7,facethi naman drihtenes neode herigean renders afferte domino gloriam nomini ejus. 1. - At 98, 6, pa gode his naman neode cigdan renders qui invocant nomen ejus. m. - At 104, 3, hergead his naman niode swylce renders laudamini in nomine sancto ejus. n. - At 112, 1, and naman dryhtnes neode herigan renders laudate nomen domini. o. — At 113, 9, ac we naman pinum neode secgead/wuldur wide geond woruldricu renders sed nomini tuo da gloriam. Wide geond woruldricu is a characteristic alliterative expansion. p. - At 117, 12, peer me nama dryhtnes neode scylde renders et in nomine domini vindicabor meis. q. - At 118, 165, pam bid sib mycel pe him penced / pcet hi naman pinne neode lufien renders pax multa diligentibus legem tuam domine. There is apparently no reason for this unusual translation. r. — At 121, 4, pe his naman neode sceoldon [MS sealdon] / andetnes ceghwcer habban renders ad confitendum nomini tuo domine. The last half-line of this verse is an alliterative expansion. s. - At 123, 7, we us naman drihtnes neode habbad / on fultume fcesine and strange renders adjutorium nostrum in nomine domini. Fcesine and strange is not called for by the Latin. t. - At 134, 1, heriad naman drihtenes neode swylce renders laudate nomen domini. u. - At 137, 2, and peer pinne naman on neod secge renders et confitebor nomini tuo. Instead of using the adverb neode, the versifier uses a prepositional phrase adverbially. The reason for on neod is to maintain alliteration, v. - At 137, 3, pu pinne pone halgan naman neode gedydest / ofer us ealle ceghwcer micelene renders quoniam magnificasti super nos nomen sanctum tuum. JEghwcer is an alliterative addition. w. - At 139, 13, sod is hwcedere sodfeeste nu / pinne naman willad puruh neod herigean renders verumtamen ¡usti confitebuntur nomini tuo. As at 137, 2, the versifier uses a prepositional phrase to fill the alliteration gap. x. - At 141, 8, alced me of carcenes eluse swylce / mine sawle pcet ic syppan forp / pinne naman mote neode scecgan renders educ de carcere animam meam ad confitendum nomini tuo. Cluse, 'from the cell', is a pleasant alliterative addition; but the versifier also adds swylce, a meaningless filler. Carcernes, 'of the prison', is simply a Latin word given Old English inflection, y. - At 144, 1, and ic naman pinne neode herige renders et benedicam nomen tuum. z. - At 144, 2, and naman pinne neode herige renders et laudabo nomen tuum.

74

SYNTACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE PARIS PSALTER

Neode also alliterates with nama at 149, 3; at 62, 5, where swylce also appears; at 62, 6; at 65, 1, where there is also another alliterative pair; at 71, 14; at 73, 6; at 73, 19; at 74, 1; at 78, 6; at 78, 9; at 79, 17; at 85, 8; at 114, 4; and at 115, 4. The list is fairly exhaustive, and almost certainly exhausting; but there is some point to it. In the forty-two passages in which nama alliterates with neode or some other adverbial form of neod, there is not one instance in which the Latin calls for anything like 'zealously'. Of course, in most instances no real harm is done to the sense of the passage if neode is translated 'zealously', since the passages have to do with honoring, confessing, and praising the name of God. This list of occurrences of the nama neode alliterative doublet does illustrate the versifier's almost singleminded reliance on certain stock alliterative formulas. When he came to use nama, neode almost automatically followed. See the entry on neodspearuwa (II, E, 38) for a hint as to the difficulties this habit of the versifier has caused lexicographers. When from passages such as those cited above an Old English dictionary, HD for example, enters neodlice, defined 'greatly', one must treat the word with caution because it may have had little real currency.

Ill, A, 2. "sprcec" and "sped" When the versifier of the Paris Psalter was faced with Latin eloquium, 'eloquence, communication', he almost always used as alliterative words sprcec, 'speech', and sped, 'success, power, wealth'. In Psalm 118, eloquium, generally referring to the words of God, appears frequently. GKS enters eleven instances in Psalm 118 in which forms of sprcec and sped appear in the same line (pp. 625-628). At verses 154, 169, and 170, of Psalm 118, eloquium calls forth a form of sprcec and spedlice, 'effectively', an adverb based on sped; at 119, 6, ponne ic him spedlice to sprcece and hie Uerde renders dum loquebor illis. At 55, 4, ic wealdend god wordum herige / and on god swylce georne gelyfe / pat mine sprcece sped folgie aghwas ealnes dag renders in deo laudabo sermones meos tota die in deo sperabo. There is not an eloquium in sight, but the versifier could have found a hint in Bruno: In Deo laudat sermones meos quod loquitur bene. To speak well is a necessary part of eloquence. The versifier clearly knew that eloquium was more than simple sprcec; he hit upon a combination of sprcec and sped to render eloquium. Sprcec without sped or spedlice appears five times rendering eloquium but is at times accompanied by some other alliterative word. At 118, 41, and 118, 58, after pinre sprcece spowendlice renders secundum eloquium tuum; at 147, 4, he his sprcece hider spowendlice / on eordan cerest sended renders qui emittit eloquium suum terra. The word used here, spowendlice, 'prosperously', from spowan, 'to succeed', is quite similar to spedlice. At 118, 140, is pin agen sprcec innan fyren / sylf swipe hat renders ignitum eloquium tuum vehementer. In this verse, the versifier seems to have forgotten his formula, for he does not even use sprcec as the

SYNTACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE PARIS PSALTER

75

alliterative word. Perhaps the connotations involved with a very hot fire caused him to turn from sped and the other 'prosperous' words. At 118, 148, ic elne ongann / pinre sprcec spyrian georne renders ut meditarer eloquio, tua; here the versifier renders meditarer with an alliterative word, spyrian, and there is no need for the frequent sped. The alliterative doublet constructed on sprcec and sped is a bit different from that formed by nama and neod. In no instance does neod seriously alter the meaning of the Old English. Sped adds a good deal to sprcec besides alliteration. Moreover, sped appears often to be the grammatical center of the phrase. The usual form in which the phrase appears is pinre sprcece sped, in which pinre sprcece has a modifying function. (See GKS, p. 627.) Of course, spedlice and spowendlice are more alliterative than meaningful. Whether or not one considers sped as essentially alliterative, the linking of sprcec and sped to render eloquium is a noticeable feature of the versifier's style of translation. Ill, A, 3. Phrases with "swylce" The versifier of the Paris Psalter often uses swylce, 'as, such, too', as a meaningless line filler. Already pointed out in III, A, 1, are six examples of neode swylce as a half-line filler rendering no Latin. Neode swylce also occurs at 87, 1, alliterating with niht and rendering no Latin. Other instances of half-lines with swylce which render no Latin are: (1). (2). (3). (4). (5). (6). (7). (8). (9).

frecne swylce, 105, 16. ealle swylce, 106, 16. wide swylce, 107, 5. dcedum swylce, 108, 15. on cwicu swylce, 113, 8. oder swylce, 118, 38. See also II, C, 1, o. and hrade swylce, 118, 147. mid hige swylce, 129, 2. georne swylce, 139, 5.

Each of these phrases represents an entire second half-line; and, in no case, is any of the half-line called for by the Latin. Swylce is used nearly as often as neode as an alliterating word and apparently with as little real semantic value. There may be some instances in which swylce has a purpose. At 88, 10, heofonas pu wealdest hrusan swylce renders tui sunt cieli et tua est terra. The Latin is literally 'thine are the heavens and thine is the earth', while the Old English may mean literally, 'the heavens thou rulest, likewise the earth'. At 120, 2; 123, 7; 133, 4; and 145, 5; se de heofon worhte hrusan swylce renders qui fecit ccelum et terram. Here swylce, 'likewise', seems to have a point.

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III, A, 4. "úngemete swyde" and. "úngemete georne" III, A, 4, a. úngemete swyde. — Ungemete swyde, which may be translated 'very greatly', appears, according to GKS (pp. 739-740), seven times with úngemete as adverb and once, at 115, 1, with úngemete as instrumental of ungemet, 'excess'. At 118, 67, ungemetum swyde appears. At 115, 1, at 138, 15, and at 141, 6, úngemete swyde renders Latin nimis and has a syntactical function. Otherwise, the phrase seems completely empty. A few examples will demonstrate the versifier's use of úngemete swyde. (1). At 72, 5, jorpon hi oferhygd nam úngemete swype renders ideo tenuit eos superbia. (2). At 98, 1, rixad drihten and he rede folc / healded on yrre úngemete swide renders dominus regnavit irascuntur populi. (3). At 108, 2, and afuhten me / ealle earwunga úngemete swyde renders et expugnaverunt me gratis. (4). At 115, 1, ic eom eadmede úngemete swide renders ego autem humiliatus sum nimis. Nimis, 'too much', is rendered rather well in this line by úngemete swide. (5). At 118, 50, pas ic me on frofre fceste heebbe / on minum eadmedum úngemete swide renders hcec me consolata est in humilitate mea. Perhaps the similarity of the Latin to 115, 1, called forth úngemete swide. More likely, however, the versifier needed an alliterative half-line. (6). At 118, 67, terpon ic gehened hean gewurde / ic agylte ungemetum swide renders priusquam humiliarer ego deliqui. (7). At 138, 15, is heora ealdordom úngemete swide / on cneorissum cud gestrangod renders nimis confortatus est principatus eorum. Once again úngemete swide renders nimis. (8). At 141, 6, jorpon ic geeadmeded eom úngemete swide renders quoniam humililatus sum nimis. Except for those verses in which úngemete swyde renders nimis, the locution is merely an alliterative filler. Ill, A, 4, b. úngemete georne. - Ungemete georne, 'very diligently' appears at 108, 3, at 118, 58, and at 118, 70; ungemetum georne appears at 118, 107, and 142, 1. In no case does the locution render any Latin. Georne, like niode, swylce, and swide, is an adverb which the versifier of the Paris Psalter uses freely as an alliterative counter and meaningless filler. (1). At 108, 3, ic him a gebced úngemete georne renders ego autem orabam. (2). At 118, 58, ic bidde pinre ansyne úngemete georne / mid ealre gehygde heortan mine renders deprecatus sum faciem tuam in toto corde meo. (3). At 118, 70, ic Pat. Lat., 70, 744, 44-46. 29 Pat. Lat., 70, 915, 24-28. 27 Pai. Lai., 131, 773, 46-48.

SYNTACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE PARIS PSALTER

85

commentary as that of Cassiodorus: nam si ad tempus persecutorum suspendatur inquitas diabolicis tamen jugiter tentationibus subjacetur.28 In tentationibus subjacetur, 'he is subjected to temptation', the versifier could have found a source for peer me costunga cnysdan, 'where temptations oppressed me', and geneahhe is an exact reflection of jugiter. Ill, B, 13. - At 140, 9, sicut crassitudo terrce eructuat super terram is rendered by swa unefne is eorpe picce / syndon moras myclum asprotene, which may be translated, 'as uneven is the earth thick, the moors are much sprouted'. This misses the Latin quite widely, but the idea of sprouting appears in such commentary as that of Remigius: sicut fimus . . . reddit earn fertilem.29 The word unefne refers to the breaking out of seeds from the earth, the unevenness of ground where sprouting seeds first push up the earth. Ill, B, 14. — At 146, 10, se pe mete syled manegum neatum / hrefnes bridum ponne heo hropende / him cigead to cudes ceses renders qui dat jumentis escam et pullis corvorum invocantibus eum. Cudes ceses, an expansion in line three, presents problems. What is its meaning here, and how does it fit in syntactically? If the versifier had turned to commentary, he would have found in Cassiodorus about the eating habits of ravens: "pulli" vero "corvorum" . . . coelesti rore vescuntur et adhuc paternas escas, id est cadaverum fetores.30 Cadaverum, 'of corpses', could have called forth ceses, 'of carrion'. Richard Rolle of Hampole says that the pullis corvorum are sons of sinful men that the devil feeds with carrion. Since commentary explains that carrion is what the birds eat, it seems likely that cudes ceses is to be taken as genitive with cigead, 'when they crying make request of the known carrion'. i n , C.

"APO KOINU"

CONSTRUCTIONS

Herbert D. Meritt defines apo koinu as "a syntactical construction in which a word or closely related group of words, occurring between two portions of discourse, contains an idea which completes the thought of the first part, to which it is grammatically related, at once supplies the thought essential to the following part, to which it may also be grammatically related, and is not felt to belong more closely with the first part than with the second".31 Meritt collects and discusses ten instances of the construction in the Paris Psalter.32 Below, nine other apo koinu constructions are listed and discussed. The Latin of the Paris Psalter is given along with the Old English, and the common element in each construction is enclosed within parentheses. Pat. Lat., 70, 932, 6-8. Pat. Lat., 131, 815, 45-47. 3» Pat. Lat., 70, 1037, 23-25. 31 Herbert D. Meritt, The Construction "apo koinu" in the Germanic Languages (Stanford, 1938), p. 16. 32 Ibid., 20-54. See "Table of Citations", pp. 52-54. 29

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SYNTACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE PARIS PSALTER

III, C, 1. Common Element

Nominative

At 56, 1, odpcet gewite ford / and (unriht) me eall beglide renders donee transeat iniquitas. Unriht is syntactically the subject of both gewite and beglide but is connected to the first part of he construction by the conjunction and. This is similar to a construction found in Otfrid, such as ih sah thih er thih holoti joh Philippus giladoti.33 Constructions like this are not infrequent in Latin, for example ex hac copia atque omnium rerum affluentia.Si The Old English passage, read with the words in the order in which they occur, would in a literal Modern English translation be 'until shall go forth and iniquity from me all depart'. This is of course odd, but when recognized as a particular syntactical device, the passage may be correctly interpreted as 'until shall go forth and depart from me all iniquity'. Ill, C, 2. Common Element

Accusative

a. - At 88, 4, and pa halgan eac hergead on cyricean / pine (sodjeestnesse) secgead geneahhige renders confitebuntur . . . et veritatem tuam in ecclesia sanctorum. Here sodfeestnesse is object of both herbead and secgead. The verb confitebuntur which takes veritatem as its object is in the Old English expanded with two verbs between which the Old English equivalant of veritatem, namely sodfoestnesse, is placed. This object sodfeestnesse must be syntactically construed with hergead, otherwise the sentence is meaningless; and the likelihood of its being also construed with secgead is enhanced by such a documented locution as ic secge eow sodfeestnysse at John 8, 45. b. — At 93, 4, hi oftust sprecad (unnyt) scecgead renders pronuntiabunt et loquentur iniquitatem. In the Latin, iniquitatem comes after two verbs joined by a conjunction; in the Old English, unnyt, which renders iniquitatem, is placed between the two corresponding verbs and is the object of both. c. - At 112, 5, ofer ealle gesyhd / pa (eadmedu) ceghwcer begangced / on eordwege up on heofenum renders et humilia respicit in calo et in terra. Eadmedu is object of both gesyhd and begangced. Here the versifier makes two verbs out of the one Latin verb and places between them the object eadmedu, corresponding to Latin object humilia. Ill, C, 3. Common Element Dative a. - At 68, 16, gehyr drihten me forpon gedefe is / pin milde mod (mannum) fremsum renders exaudí me domine quoniam benigna est misericordia tua. The dative mannum is construed with both adjectives gedefe and fremsum. Nothing in the Latin calls for mannum, which is placed between the two Old English adjecives which represent the one Latin adjective benigna. Of course, no great difference in meaning occurs if one takes mannum as construed with only one of the adjectives; but such a procedure will lead to halty and bumpy translation. There are in Old 33

«

Meritt, "apo koinu", Ibid.

p. 48.

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87

English poetry many passages like the present one, for example Christ heo efirde dream bedadde from Christ and Satan, where ease of metrical movement is attained by reading it as apo koinu. A similar construction occurs in the following passage. b. - At 83, 11, forpon god lufad geornast ealles / pat man si mildheort (mode) sodjcest renders quoniam misericordiam et veritatem diligit dominus. Mode stands as dative construed with both mildheort and sodjcest. Since mode soSfczst forms the second half-line after the caesural pause, it is almost certain that these two words were read as a unit. But that mode was also construed with the preceding mildheort seems likely in view of the fact that the Paris Psalter uses the expression mildheort mod five times. Ill, C, 4. Common Element a Verb a. - At 113, 12, pa her geara menn / (worhtan) wigsmidas wrceste mid folmum renders opera manuum hominum. Here the verb worhtan has both menn and wigsmidas as subjects. It looks like awkward syntax until one notes that the construction is a not infrequent poetic device, for example, Beowulf, 1666, pa pott hildebil / (forbarn) brogdenmxl.35 b. - At 116, 1, ealle peode ecne drihten / mid hygecrcefte (herigan) wordum renders laudate dominum omnes gentes. Herigan is perhaps to be construed with both the prepositional phrase mid hygecrcefte and with the dative wordum. Herigan's position in the half-line with wordum makes likely its being taken with the dative, and mid hygecrcejte makes no sense unless it is construed with the verb. Whether or not a passage in Old English poetry is to be taken apo koinu is sometimes difficult to prove, but it may at times eliminate an editor's feeling that something should be supplied beyond what the text offers. The following example will illustrate this: at 77, 46, Sealde erucan yflan wyrme J let hiora wyrta wcestme forslitan renders et dedit erugini fructus eorum. Translated without regard to any special syntactical construction, this passage reads: 'He gave 'erucan', evil worms he let destroy the fruit of their plants'. It is possible in Old English to use Uetan with an infinitive where no subject is expressed, but that one feels the need for an expressed subject here is evidenced by the entry in BTD under forslitan: let [wyrm] hiora wcestme forslitan translated as 'he let [the worm] devour the fruit of their plants'. It is in keeping with the apo koinu construction to find an accusative filling a half-line between two verbs with each of which it may be construed. Here yflan wyrme is appositive with erucan,M object of sealde, and may also serve as subject accusative of the infinitive forslitan, an accepted syntactical device in poetry and one which, if recognized, avoids the lexicographer's inclination to supply something that he feels somehow is syntactically missing. 35

Meritt, "apo koinu", p. 38. That it is in apposition is to be inferred from the fact that both erucan and yflan explain the one Latin word erugini. 36

wyrme

IV.

CONCLUSION

The Old English version of the psalms known as the Paris Psalter contains a large number of words known from no other source and a great many passages whose meaning is difficult to determine accurately. Considerable light is thrown on the vocabulary problems of the Paris Psalter if one examines the dark words with reference to certain noticeable compounding traits exhibited by the translators: the tendency of both the paraphrast of the prose psalms and the versifier of the metrical psalms to render two or more Latin words with a single Old English compound; the occasional misinterpretation of the Latin, particularly by the versifier; the versifier's penchant for making up words to fit the alliteration; the frequent use of Biblical commentary on the psalms rather than any version of the Latin psalter as a basis for translation. If a difficult word from the Paris Psalter is studied with these traits in mind, one can generally come to some understanding of the word and the reason for its use. Thirty-five of the hapax legomena of the Paris Psalter are loan translations in which two or more Latin words are rendered part-for-part by a single Old English compound. A recognition of this method of compounding enables one to understand certain words which have given lexicographers difficulty. Sealmfiet which renders vasis psalmorum at 70, 20, is not so unusual as the dictionary definition ("vasis psalmorum!") implies; wceterdryd, 106, 22, defined 'rush of water', is better understood as a part-for-part rendering of aquis multis, 'multitude of waters'; the weal of wealsad, 139, 5, defined 'cord (for binding captives)' is a likely reflection of superbi, which stands immediately before laqueos, 'cords', in the Latin. Other strange-looking words such as modorcild, 68, 8, and sruedingsceap, 43, 23, appear less unusual when examined as loan translations. Both the paraphrast of the prose psalter and the versifier of the metrical psalter occasionally misinterpret the Latin, the versifier being a frequent offender. At 106, 17, drencyde makes no sense whatever in context, but its appearance is understandable when one realizes that the versifier may have seen in adpropiaverunt (the Latin to be rendered) the word propinare, 'to give one to drink'. Folc, 22 7, is the result of mistaking poculum for populum. Wyngraf, 'joy grove', seems a strange rendering of exultatio at 64, 13; but the graf, 'grove', probably stems from the versifier's seeing in exsultatio (a variant of exultatio) the Latin word saltus, 'wood-

CONCLUSION

89

land'. Y3a, 'wave', at 71, 16, represents a mistaking of jructus for fluctus, a mistake which may illuminate a dark word, brondegur, in another psalter passage. In dealing with a text such as the Paris Psalter, one must be aware that the Old English words are sometimes the result of a mistranslation and must take such aberrations into account. The versifier of the metrical psalms of the Paris Psalter, under the pressure of alliterative necessity, often creates compounds which reflect nothing in the Latin. A few of these alliterative anomalies, eallhalig, 131, 18, and swiSmihtig, 85, 13, for example, may have had some currency in Old English. Others, particularly those compounds with man, neod, and heah, seem to be true nonce words; manidel, 143, 9, 13, neodweordung, 142, 11, and heahmiht, 150, 2, are clearly forced creations. An alliterative hapax legomenon from the metrical portion of the Paris Psalter must be studied carefully before any lexicographical pronouncement concerning it is made; such a definition as that given in HD for feederenbrodor, 68, 6, fails to consider that fcederen is merely an alliterative addition. Certain hapax legomena in the Paris Psalter reflect patristic commentary on the psalms. Mearhcofa, 'marrow chamber', as a translation of ossa at 101, 3, may be explained in the light of commentary which says the bones are like wood from which the fat has been driven. Rcedeman, at 32, 15, hapax legomenon and rendering no Latin, is more easily understood when one discovers, in the commentary of Cassiodorus on this verse, sessor, 'a horseman, a rider'. A careful study of medieval commentary can often provide some hint as to meaning and method of formation of an obscure psalter word. Interpreting passages in the Paris Psalter which are syntactically puzzling is also made considerably easier if one recognizes some of the characteristic methods of expression used by the translators in turning the Latin of the psalms into Old English. Here, too, patristic commentary has been influential. When in rendering 104, 35, the versifier adds a phrase of garscege, 'from the sea', one must investigate the syntactical significance of the expansion. A note in the commentary of Bruno, referring to a passage in which the phrase trans mare occurs, helps him to an answer. The versifier of the metrical psalter uses a great many set phrases, such as niode swylce and ungemete swyde, which render no Latin and seem to be syntactically empty. The versifier also uses several locutions, usually rendering no Latin, which seem to be reminiscent of other Old English poetry. Such phrases as randas beran, swylt fornam, and hwcer com appear in other Old English poems, usually with considerably more contextual relevance than in the Paris Psalter. Certain passages of the metrical psalter become more clearly understandable if one takes a construction as apo koinu. In 77, 46, a recognition of wyrme as both an appositive and subject accusative of an infinitive enables one to explain the syntax of the passage without the necessity for supplying a word, as does BTD. Read as it is edited in the standard texts, the Paris Psalter is often puzzling. The present work, using the methods described above, attempts to remove as many of

90

CONCLUSION

these puzzles as possible, to make acceptable suggestions when direct solutions appear impossible, and, in the course of explaining passages from the Paris Psalter, to elucidate here and there certain analogous passages from other Old English works.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bartlett, Helen, The Metrical Division of The Paris Psalter (Baltimore, 1896). Bibliorum Sacrorum juxta Vulgatum Clementinam, nova edito ..., curavit Aloisius Gramatica (Vatican, 1929). Bosworth, Joseph and T. N. Toller (eds.), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (Oxford, 1882-1898). Bramley, H. (ed.), The Psalter Translated by Richard Rolle of Hampole (Oxford, 1884). Bright, J. W. and R. L. Ramsey (eds.), Liber Psalmorum: The West Saxon Psalms, Being the Prose Portion, or the First Fifty of the So-Called Paris Psalter (Boston, 1907). , "Notes on The West Saxon Psalms", MLN, XXXIII (1918), pp. 471-474. Bruce, James Douglas, The Anglo-Saxon Version of the Book of Psalms Commonly Known as the Paris Psalter (Baltimore, 1894). Colgrave, Bertram (general ed.), The Paris Psalter (facsimile edition) (Copenhagen, 1958). Cook, Albert S., Biblical Quotations in Old English Prose Writers (First Scries) (London, 1898). Diamond, Robert E., The Diction of the Anglo-Saxon Metrical Psalms (The Hague, 1963). Dobbie, E. V. K., "Review of Fact and Lore about Old English Words, by H. D. Meritt", Language, XXXI (1955), pp. 572-577. Du Cange, C. (ed.), Glossarium Media et Infinite Latinitatis (Paris, 1840-1850). Gneuss, Helmut, Lehnbildung und Lehnbedeutungen im Altenglischen (Berlin, 1955). Goetz, G. (ed.), Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum, seven volumes (Leipzig, 1888-1923). Grattan, J. H. G., "On the Text of the Prose Portion of the 'Paris Psalter'", MLR, IV (19081909), pp. 185-189. Grein, C. and J. Köhler (eds.), Sprachschatz der Angelsächsischen Dichter (Heidelberg, 1912). Hall, J. R. C. and H. D. Meritt (eds.), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Fourth Edition with Supplement (Cambridge, 1960). Holthausen, Ferdinand (ed.), Altenglisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (Heidelberg, 1934). Kock, Ernst A., "Interpretations and Emendations of Early English Texts, XI", Anglia, XLVII (1923), pp. 264-273. Krapp, George P. (ed.), The Paris Psalter and Meters of Boethius (= Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, V, New York, 1932). Kurath, Hans and Sherman Kuhn (eds.), Middle English Dictionary (Ann Arbor, 1956-). Lindsay, W. (ed.), Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Etymologiarum sive Originum Libri XX (Oxford, 1911). Lindsay, W. and others (eds.), Glossarium Latina (Paris, 1926-1931). Meritt, Herbert D., The Construction "apo koinu" in the Germanic Languages (Stanford, 1938). , Fact and Lore About Old English Words (Stanford, 1954). , "The Old English Glosses depce and minnten: A Study in Ways of Interpretation", JEGP, XLIII (1944), pp. 434-446. , The Old English Prudentius Glosses at Boulogne-sur-Mer (Stanford, 1959). , "Twenty Hard Old English Words", JEGP, XLIX (1950), pp. 231-241. Migne, J. (ed.), Patrologia Latina (Paris, 1844-1903). Morris, R. (ed.), The Blickling Homilies (London, 1874). Napier, Arthur S. (ed.), Old English Glosses, Chiefly Unpublished (Oxford, 1900). Stevenson, J., Saxon and Early English Psalters (= Surtees Society Publications, XVI, 1843; XIX, 1847).

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Tanger, Gustav, "Collation des Pariser altenglishen Psalters mit Thorpe's Ausgabe", Anglia, VI, Anzeiger (1884), pp. 125-141. Thesaurus Lingua Latina (Leipzig, 1900-). Thorpe, Benjamin (ed.), Libri Psalmorum Versio Antiqua cum Paraphasi Anglo-Saxonica ... (Oxford, 1835). Toller, T. N. (ed.), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Supplement (Oxford, 1908-1921). Wichmann, Johannes, "König Aelfreds Angelsachsisch Übertragung der Psalmen I-LI exclu.", Anglia, XI (1889), pp. 39-96. Wright, T. and Richard Wülcker (eds.), Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies, Second Edition (London, 1884).