Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/273

 The Functions of Old English Geweordan 267 Marthe hatted hire mester, leted hire iwurden ('let her attend [to it]'), and sitte $e mid Marie ston-stille ed Codes fet. . . Marthe mester is uorto ueden and schruden poure men, ase huse- lefdi. [Note the following clause:] Marie ne ouh nout uorto entremeten hire per of, Ancr. Riwle 414.19. Lauerd, beo peu stille, let me al iwurpen, Laj. 3343. Madden: "leave me to manage" [scil. it]. Loue hem and lakke hem noutfe, late God take pe veniaunce, / Theigh pei done yuel, late pow God yworthe (Varr.: aworthe, worthe, etc.), P. Plwom. B 6.227. b) In place of a genitive, the preposition wip appears. Bote we letep God i-worpe wip his owne privete (Var.: but as God wil soo mote it be), Trevisa, Higden vi, 279; = sed Deosua decreta [Var.: secreta] committimus. 40 c) By ellipsis, the combination is hardened into a set phrase: 'let alone,' 'let go,' etc. God wot nat of hem wite, bote letep hem yworthe, P. Plowm. 1 1. 163 ; = dimisi eos secundum desideria cordis eorum, Ps. ixxx, 13. Lakke hem notf, but lete hem worthe, P. Plowm. 3.49. for nothynge he [the chylde] hit myght lerne* 1 for betynge, thretynge, ne fayrnesse, and therfor they letten hym ywourthe, Secreta Secretorum (EETS., Extra Ser. 74) 217.4. Soone hee leapes on-loft and lete hym worthe, / To fare as hym lystfaine in feelde or in towne, Alisaunder 1186 (Will, of Palerne ed. Skeat, p. 216). $if eni wurded so wod. . . pat he worpe his hond ford tou- ward pe purl clod, swiftliche anonriht schutted al pet purl to and letted hine iwurden, Ancr. Riwle 96.8. d) In place of a person (living being), a thing appears as object of leten. (Clearly a secondary usage.) pe ualse demeres . . . zellep hare domes oper ham letep yworthe, Ajenb. 40. This list could easily be extended. "Quite possibly also P. Plowm. B 6.84: late God yworth (A text 7.75: wor ])e) with al belongs here. 41 Thus the punctuation is to be corrected.