The Story of Genesis and Exodus: An Early English Song, about 1250 A.D.

[13] See Preface to O.E. Hom., 2nd Series.

[14] It must be recollected that the Ormulum is much earlier than the Story of Genesis and Exodus.

[15] See Ormulum, Introduction, p. lxxviii., note 105; lxxxi., note 112.

[16] While agreeing with the editor of the Ormulum, that the simplicity of grammatical forms may fairly be considered as indicating a less artificial, and therefore advanced, stage of the language, I cannot adopt his theory, that "the strict rules of grammar" were therefore abandoned, and thereby was anticipated, to a certain extent, a later phraseology and structure; or that Orm, or any other O.E. writer, ever sacrificed "the more regular for a simpler, though more corrupt, structure and style." It must always be borne in mind that our earlier writers always speak of their language as English; but it was the English of the district in which they lived. In some districts, as in the Northumbrian, for instance, the language underwent certain changes at a very early period, which more Southern dialects did not adopt for more than a century afterwards: thus, in works of the 14th century, we find the Midland more archaic than the Northumbrian, and the Southern more archaic than either. Authors seeking to become popular would write in the dialect best understood by their readers, without considering whether it was simple or complex. Thus the Ayenbite of Inwyt (A.D. 1340), written for the men of Kent, contains far more of the older inflectional forms than the Ormulum of the twelfth century.

[17] Southern writers before 1340 formed the g.s. of fem. nouns in -e and not in -es.

[18] In the Southern dialect the article had separate forms for the nominative fem. (theo, tho), and neuter (thet, that); the fem. gen. sing. (thar, ther), and the masc. acc. (than, then).

[19] See Ormulum, Introduction, p. lxxviii., note 105.

[20] Sinden, are, occurs in the Ormulum and the Bestiary, but is not employed in the present poem.

[21] These forms occur in O.E. Hom., 2nd Series.

[22] In O.E. Hom., 2nd Series, we find hes = them. See Moral Ode, l. 186, O.E. Hom., 2nd Series: "wel diere he hes bohte."

[23] Robt. of Gloucester, Shoreham, Dan. Michel's Ayenbite of Inwyt.

[24] Deep he them buried under an oak.

[25] For Solomon find them shall.

[26] He took them.

[27] All his footsteps after him he filleth, draweth dust with his tail where he steppeth, or dust or dew (moisture), that they are not able to find them.

[28] I have in one case taken the liberty of separating the pronoun from the verb (for the convenience of the reader), giving the MS. reading in the margin; but I am sorry now that I did not let them stand as in the original copy.

[29] Mes = me + es = one, them, occurs in O. E. Hom., 2nd Series.

[30] All he them had (he had them all) with might begotten (obtained).

[31] Undealt (undivided) he them laid, whereso he them brought.

The dove hath habits good, All we them ought to have in mind

(i.e. we ought to have them all in mind).

Bilhah two children bore by him, Rachel called them Dan, Naphtali; And Zilpah two sons to him bore, Leah called them Gad and Asher.

[34] The tabernacle he put them in.

[35] He set them in the firmament.

[36] ðei occurs once only in the present poem, þeȝȝr, þeȝȝm, not at all; it occurs twice in O.E. Hom., 2nd Series.

[37] Philolog. Soc. Proceedings, vol. i. pp. 73, 261. Almigtin, almighty, p. 2, l. 30, is the only adjective I find with this termination.

[38] The dative of the A.S. bóc was béc.

[39] gebroðeren (A.S. broðru) occurs in the Semi-Sax. Gospels.

[40] A.S. cealfru.

[41] cildru.

[42] dura.

[43] ægru.

[44] handa.

[45] cý.

[46] lambru.

[47] greiðe (prepare), kipte (seized), lit (stain), liðe (listen), mal (speech), witterlike (truly), are found in Southern English, and may be the remains of the Anglian element in the A.Saxon.

[48] Those marked * thus constantly occur in Northumbrian and Midland works (with Northern peculiarities) of the 14th century.

[49] fere occurs for feren, so senwe = sinews (A.S. sinu, sing., sina, pl.).

[50] As a rule fem. nouns, and nouns of the n declension, take the inflexion -es; as, '_sinnes_ same' (sin's shame), '_sowles_ frame' (soul's profit), '_helles_ male' (hell's mail), '_werldes_ drof' (world's assembly). The Bestiary contains the following genitives in -e:—'_nese_ smel' (O.E. Miscell., p. 1), '_welle_ grund' (Ib., p. 3), '_kirke_ dure' (Ib., p. 6), '_soule_ drink' (Ib., p. 7), '_soule_ spuse' (Ib., p. 23), '_helle_ pine' (Ib., p. 24).

[51] The forms in -er, -est, are properly adverbial and not adjectival.