
Published online:
21 August 2014
Published in print:
16 July 2014
Online ISBN:
9780199373413
Print ISBN:
9780199373390
Contents
Cite
'Epigraph', Constructions and Environments: Copular, Passive, and Related Constructions in Old and Middle English, Oxford Studies in the History of English (New York , 2014; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Aug. 2014), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199373390.002.0005, accessed 24 Apr. 2025.
Extract
Moððe word fræt. Me þæt þuhte
wrætlicu wyrd, þa ic þæt wundor gefrægn,
þæt se wyrm forswealg wera gied sumes,
þeof in þystro, þrymfæstne cwide
ond þæs strangan staþol. Stælgiest ne wæs
wihte þy gleawra, þe he þam wordum swealg.
“A moth devoured words. To me it seemed a fantastical event, when I learned about that wonder, that this worm, a thief in the darkness, swallowed an utterance of men, a glorious statement with a strong foundation. The thieving stranger was not a bit the wiser for having swallowed those words.” (c. 1000. Riddle 47, Exeter book)
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