Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/207

178 of colonus and nothing more. In the former case, the word came from the English bindan; in the latter, from the Norse bua.

At page 126, we see both the old form Tywesdai and the new form Tuesdai. Two foreign words were pro&shy;nounced in 1300 just as we wrongly pronounce them now: Stevene (Stephanus), page 124, and yused (solebam), page 23. We find simple opposed to gentle (page 124), as in Scott's writings.

Another of these Saint's Lives is the Voyage of St. Brandan (Percy Society, Vol. XIV.). In this we first see her and thar, at page 26; the preposition bi is used by sailors in a new sense, for we read at page 28, ‘hi se&#x0293;e an yle al bi southe.’

A line in page 30 is remarkable; speaking of an otter,

‘Mid his forthere fet he brou&#x0293;te a fur-ire and a ston.’

We did not use the word forefeet in 1300; fire-iron is an old compound.

An idiom, already known, is seen at page 3; we are there told that if men had not sinned, ‘herinne hi hadde &#x0293;ut ilyved’ (vixissent).

We now see a new word which was to degrade the Old English smirk. At page 4, we read, ‘bi the suete smyl of &#x0293;ou.’ This word has kinsmen both in Norway and Germany.

. . . . ..

Much about the year 1300, the great Romance of