Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/214

 208 Moore and in lust heara brohte him, translating desiderium eorum obtulit eis. 6 In view of the passages I have cited I would suggest that the meaning of lust wiged in Beowulf 599 is "has (the object of) his desire, has his own way" rather than " feels pleasure." Both interpretations seem possible, but the former is more in accord with the context than the latter, for in 590-601a Beowulf is taunting Unferth with the helplessness of the Danes against the ravages of Grendel and with Grendel's knowledge of their helplessness. Ill past he ne mehte on j?aem meSel-stede wig Hengeste wiht gefeohtan, ne )?a wea-lafe wige forj?ringan, J?eodnes tSegne (10825.) The accepted interpretation of forpringan in 1084 is "res- cue, " " defend, " " entreissen, " and the like. In the other places in which the word is known to occur it has quite a different meaning. In the Old English version of the Benedictine Rule the words "et in omnibus omnino locis etas non discernatur in ordine nee preiudicet" are translated by "on nanum stowum ne sy endebyrdnes be nanre ylde gefadod, ne seo ylde ]?a geogofte ne forj?ringe." 9 In this passage forpringe has some such mean- ing as "keep down" or "crowd out." The word also occurs in the Ormulum: & himm f>att i cwarrterrne lif> Forrbundenn & forrj>nmgenn, Himm birrj) J>e fillstnenn wiJ>J> t>in fe To lesenn himm off bandess 10 In this passage forrfirungenn has some such meaning as "oppressed." Interpreting the Beowulf passage in the light 8 Vespasian Psalter, 77:29 (Sweet, Oldest English Texts, p. 297). Schroer, Die angelsachsischen Prosabearbeitungen der Benedictinerregel, 115, 5 ff. I have quoted the Latin text from Schroer, Die Winteney-Version der Regula S. Benedicti, 128, 3 fl[. This example of forpringan is cited by Toller in|his Supplement to the Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. He makes no reference, however, to the Beowulf passage. The example of the word that occurs in the Winteney version (23, 25) is a scribal error for forpbringan t as comparison with the version of the other MSS. shows. 10 Ormulum, ed. Holt, 11. 6168 ff. This is cited in Bosworth and Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary.