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Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg

  • Genre/Type Descriptor(s)
    Edition of Old English Text
     
    Language(s)
    Old English
  • Textual Editor
    Klaeber, Friedrich
    Textual Editor
    Klaeber, Frederick
  • City
    Boston
    Publisher
    D. C. Heath and Company
    Date
    1950
  • Relationships
    (Upstream) Revises and recontextualizes -> Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, Klaeber, Friedrich (1941)
    (Downstream) Revised and recontextualized in -> Beowulf, Liuzza, R. M. (2012 (copyright 2013))
    (Downstream) Reproduced (without attribution) in new context in -> Beowulf: An Interlinear Translation, McLeod, Thomas J. (1970)
    (Downstream) Excerpted without attribution and recontextualized as -> From Beowulf, Lehmann, Ruth P. M. (1995)
    (Downstream) Elements revised in -> Beowulf, Lerate, Luis (1974)
  • Identifying Numbers
    [Fry 1026]; [GR 1650]; see Notes on Prior Documentation, below.
     
    Descriptive Notes

    cxc + 471 pp. Klaeber published his edition as "Fr. Klaeber" (not determining between the English form of his name, Frederick, and his birth name, Friedrich). Old English text preceded by very full Introduction and followed by notes, text of The Fight at Finnsburg, notes to the latter, appendices, glossaries for both poems, and Supplements containing additions to notes, bibliography, and glossary (the 1941 First Supplement and a new Second Supplement). This 3rd edition with its two Supplements was the final form in which Klaeber issued his text and saw many reprints over the following decades.

    The Beowulf text begins:

    HWÆT, WĒ GĀR-DEna     in gēardagum,
    þēodcyninga     þrym gefrūnon,
    hū ðā æþelingas     ellen fremedon!

    Oft Scyld Scēfing     sceaþena þrēatum,
    monegum mǣgþum     meodosetla oftēah,
    egsode eorl[as],     syððan ǣrest wearð
    fēasceaft funden;     hē þæs frōfre gebād,
    wēox under wolcnum     weorðmyndum þāh,
    oð þæt him ǣghwylc     ymbsittendra
    ofer hronrāde     hȳran scolde,
    gomban gyldan;     þæt wæs gōd cyning! (1)

    And ends:

    Þā ymbe hlǣw riodan     hildedēore,
    æþelinga bearn,     ealra twelfe,
    woldon (care) cwīðan,     [ond] kyning mǣnan,
    wordgyd wrecan,    ond ymb w(er) sprecan;
    eahtodan eorlscipe     ond his ellenweorc
    duguðum dēmdon,—     swā hit gedē(fe) bið,
    þæt mon his winedryhten     wordum herge,
    ferhðum frēoge,     þonne hē forð scile
    of līchaman     (lǣded) weorðan.
    Swā begnornodon     Gēata lēode
    hlāfordes (hry)re,     heorðgenēatas;
    cwǣdon þæt hē wǣre     wyruldcyning[a]
    manna mildust     ond mon(ðw)ǣrust,
    lēodum līðost     ond lofgeornost. (119-20)

     
    Notes on Prior Documentation

    Fry construes the description "Edited, with Introduction, Bibliography, Notes, Glossary, and Appendices" as part of the book's title.

     
    Authentication

    BAM.

  • Last Updated
    03/04/2025