CAMBRIDGESTUDIESINANGLO-SAXONENGLAND23BEOWULFANDOLDGERMANICMETRECAMBRIDGESTUDIESINANGLO-SAXONENGLANDGENERAL EDITORSSIMONKEYNESMICHAELLAPIDGEANDYORCHARDVolumes published1Anglo-Saxon Crucifixion Iconography andtheArt of theMonastic RevivalbyBARBARAC.RAW2The Cult of the Virgin Maryin A nglo-Saxon England by MARYCLAYTON3Religion and Literature in Western England,600-800by PATRICKSIMS-WILLIAMS4Visible Song:Transitional Literacy in Old English Verse byKATHERINEO'BRIENO'KEEFFE5TheMetrical Grammar of Beowulf by CALVINB. KENDALL6TheIrish Tradition in Old English Literature by CHARLESD. WRIGHT7A nglo-Saxon Medicine byM.L.CAMERON8ThePoetic Art of Aldhelm byANDYORCHARD9The Old English Lives ofStMargaret by MARYCLAYTONand HUGHMAGENNI S10Biblical Commentaries from theCanterbury School of Theodore and HadrianbyBERN HARDBISCHOFFand MICHAELLAPIDGE11ArchbishopTheodore: CommemorativeStudieson his Lifeand Influenceeditedby MICHAELLAPIDGE12Interactions of Thought and Language in Old English Poetry by PETERCLEMOES13The Textuality of Old English PoetrybyCAROLBRAUNPASTERNACK14The 'Laterculus Malalianus' and theSchool of Archbishop Theodore byJANESTEVENSON15The Text of theOld Testament in A nglo-Saxon England by RICHARDMARS DEN16Old English Biblical Verse byPAULG.REMLEY17The Hymns of theA nglo-Saxon Churchby INGEB.MI LFULL18Scenes of Community in Old English Poetry by HUGHMAGENNI S19The Old English Apocrypha and their Manuscript Source:'TheGospel ofNichodemus' and'TheAvenging of theSaviour' editedbyj . E. CROSS20The Composition of Old English Poetry by H.MOMMA21Trinityand Incarnation in A nglo-Saxon A rt and Thought byBARBARAc.RAW2 2Heathen Gods in Old English Literature byRiCHARDNORTHBEOWULF ANDOLDGERMANICMETREGEOFFREYRUSSOMProfessor of English, BrownUniversityCAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESSCAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESSCambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, DelhiCambridge University PressThe Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UKPublished in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New Yorkwww. Cambridge. orgInformationon this title:www.cambridge.org/9780521593403 GeoffreyRussom1998This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place without the writtenpermission of Cambridge University Press.First published1998This digitally printed version 2008A catalogue record forthis publicationis available from the British LibraryLibrary of CongressCataloguing in Publication dataRussom,Geoffrey.Beowulf and Old Germanic metre / GeoffreyRussom.p.cm. -(Cambridge studies in Anglo-Saxon England: 23)Includes bibliographicalreferencesISBN 0 521 59340 9 (hardback)1. Beowulf -Versification.2. English language -Old English, ca. 450-1100 -Versification.3. English language -Old English, ca. 450-1100 -Rhythm.4. Germanic languages -Versification.5. Civilization, Anglo-Saxon.6. Rhetoric, Medieval. 7. Alliteration.I. Title. II. Series.PR1588.R871998829'.3-dc2197-13720CIPISBN 978-0-521-59340-3 hardbackISBN 978-0-521-09309-5paperbackFor Ray and WaiContentsPrefacepageixListof abbreviationsxi1Introduction12Thefoot133The verse294Lightfeetandextrametricalwords455Metricalarchaisms606Alliteration647Metricalsubordinationwithinthe foot878Resolution979Wordorderandstress withintheclause11810OldSaxon alliterativeverse13611Hildebrandslied11112Conclusions194Appendix. Rule summary216Bibliography220Index225Verses speciallydiscussed231vnPrefaceIthasbeenmygoodfortunetopursueresearchonalliterativemetreduringa periodwhenthissubjectattractedtheattentionof manyAnglo-Saxonistsandwhenquestionsofpoeticformtookonspecialimportancefortheoreticallinguists.ForvaluablediscussionofmetricalproblemsbycorrespondenceandatvariousconferencesI owe thankstoPatriciaBethel,MaryBlockley,ThomasCable,RobertCreed,DanielDonoghue,EdwinDuncan,DavidHoover,ConstanceHieatt,RandHutcheson,CalvinKendall,O.D.Macrae-Gibson,BruceMitchell,HarukoMomma,EricStanleyandJunTerasawa.AdraftofthebookwasreadbyWilliamCrossgrove,R.D.Fulk, JosephHarrisandtwoanonymousreviewers,forwhosecommentsIamgrateful.MyapproachtorelatedlinguisticproblemsbeganmorethantwodecadesagoindiscussionswithRomanJakobson,SamuelJ.KeyserandPaulKiparsky.SincethenIhavealsoprofitedfromconversationorcorrespondencewithlinguistsElanDresher,BruceHayes,RichardHogg,Pauline Jacobson,RogerLass, DavidLight-foot,C.B.McCully,DonkaMinkova,RobertNoyer,RobertStockwell,SeiichiSuzukiandGilbertYoumans.Someoftheseresearchershavepublishedviewsdifferingfrommyown,butallhavebeencourteousandhelpful.Theybearnoresponsibility,of course,foranyerrorsIhavemade.ToJacquelineHaringRussomIowespecialthanksforidentifyingcomputationalproceduresthatgreatlyenhancedmycontrolofthedata.AllenRenearsScholarlyTechnologyGroupfoundjusttherightsoftwaretoimplementtheseproceduresandshowedmehowtouseitmosteffectively.KalevPeeknahelpedmenavigatetheinternettoacquirevaluableworkingmaterials,notablyanelectronictextoftheASPRwithcorrectionsbyBethelandMacrae-Gibson.ThanksareduetotheOxfordTextArchiveformakingthisversionavailable.Finally,ithasbeenapleasuretoworkwithMichaelLapidgeandSarahStantononproblemsofeditingandbookproduction.AbbreviationsAGMASPRBehaghelTaegerBGDSLBliss, MetreBostockKingMcLintock.BrauneEbbinghausBraune-EggersCHELICSASEDGVESGordonTaylorE. Sievers, Altgermanische Metrik(Halle,1893)G.P.KrappandE.V.K.Dobbie,eds.,The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records,6 vols. (NewYork,1931-53)O.Behaghel,ed.,HeliandundGenesis,9thednrev.byB. Taeger(Tubingen,1984)BeitrdgezurGeschichte derdeutschen SpracheundLiteraturA. J.Bliss,The Metre of Beowulf",rev.edn(Oxford,1967)J.K.Bostock,AHandbookofOldHighGermanLiterature, 2ndednrev.byK.C.KingandD.R.McLintock(Oxford,1976)AlthochdeutschesLesebuch, 16thednrev.byE.A.Ebbinghaus(Tubingen,1979)AlthochdeutscheGrammatik,13 thednrev.byH.Eggers(Tubingen,1975)R.M.Hogg,TheCambridgeHistoryofthe EnglishLanguageI:TheBeginningsto1066(Cambridge,1992)CambridgeStudiesin Anglo-SaxonEnglandW.P.Lehmann,TheDevelopmentof GermanicVerseForm(Austin, TX,1956)English StudiesE.V.Gordon,AnIntroduction toOldNorse,2ndednrev.byA.R.Taylor(Oxford,1957),withShortGrammar,pp.265329(citedbysectionnumber)AbbreviationsHofmann,D.Hofmann,DieVersstrukturen deraltsdchsischenVersstrukturenStabreimgedichteHeliandundGenesis,2vols.(Heidelberg,1991)KlaeberF. Klaeber,ed.,Beowulf andThe Fight atFinns burg,3rdednwithfirstandsecondsupplements(Boston,1950)Kuhn,'Wortstellung''ZurWortstellungund-betonungimAltgerma-nischen', BGDSL57(1933),1-109Modern Language ReviewG.Neckel,Edda:DieLieder des Codex Regiusnebstverwandten Denkmdlern,5thednrev.byH.Kuhn(Heidelberg,1983)A.Noreen,Altnordische GrammatikI(Tubingen,1884)A. Campbell, Old English Grammar (Oxford,1959)Old English Meter and Linguistic Theory(Cambridge,1987)J.C.Pope,The Rhythmof Beowulf:AnInterpretationoftheNormalandHypermetricVerse-FormsinOldEnglish Poetry,rev. edn(NewHaven,CT,1966)'ZurRhythmikdesgermanischenAlliterations-verses', BGDSL10 (1885), 209-314and451-545Studia NeophilologicaTransactions of the Philological SocietyZeitschriftfurdeutschesAltertumunddeutscheLiteraturMLRNeckel-KuhnNoreenOEGOEMPope,RhythmSievers,'Rhythmik'SNTPSZDAAbbreviatedtitlesforNorseEddiepoemsarethosegiveninNeckelKuhn, pp. ixx.xn1IntroductionTheauthorofBeowulf composedinanancientverseformalsoinheritedbyScandinavianandcontinentalWestGermanicpoets.Theoldestsurvivinglineinthisformillustratesitsessentialfeatures:(1)ekhlewagastiR: holtijaR: horna : tawido i1Line(1)wascarvedinrunesonagoldendrinkinghorn.ThecharacterRrepresentsasoundderivedfromGermaniczthathadnotyetmergedwithr. Thelanguageis probablyanearlyformof Norse,andtheartefactdatesfromabout400AD.2LikethelinesemployedinBeowulfline(1)fallsintotwonaturalsyntacticconstituentsofaboutthesamesize.Thefirstconstituent,a grammaticalsubject,containsa personalpronounandtwopropernouns.Thesecondconstituent,agrammaticalpredicate,containsanounobjectandafiniteverb.WordorderisSOV(subject-object-verb),generallyregardedasthebasicpatternforearlyGermanic.3Eachhalfof thelineincludestwostressedwordsseparatedbyaboundarymarker,indicatedabove bya colon.4Nopunctuationappearsbetweentheunstressedpronounek andthefirststressedword.ThestressednounsinthefirsthalfofthelinebothbeginwithH-andaresaidtoalliterate.Thesetwo wordsalso alliteratewithhorna inthesecondhalf of theline.1'I,Hlewagast,Holt'sson,madethehorn.'ThetextiscitedfromKrause, Runenin-schriften,p.596.ThetranslationisfromElliott,Runes, p.80.Krause,Runen, p.72,gives essentiallythesame translationinGerman.2Diiwel, Runenkunde, pp.15,17and28; Krause, Runen, 52.3See CHEL /,2.6.Copiesoftherunicpassagemadebeforethehornwaslostrepresentthismarkerasacolumn of four points.See Krause, Runeninscbriften, pp.5968; Morris,Epigraphy,4.7.Beowulf and Old Germanic metreTHEORETICALFRAMEWORKInaworkdevotedtoOldEnglishmetre,IproposedfourfundamentalprinciplestoexplaintheverseformofBeowulf?Theseprinciplescanbestatedin a generalformapplicabletothecognateGermanictraditions:PIFootpatternscorrespondtonativewordpatterns.Thefootpatternsmosteasily perceivedcorrespondtothemostcommonwordpatterns.P2Theverse consistsoftworeadilyidentifiablefeet.Footpatternscorrespondingtounusualwordpatternsaddtothecomplexityofversesin whichtheyappear.P3AssignmentofalliterationcorrespondstoassignmentofstressinGermaniccompoundsandservestobindsmallermetricalconstitu-entsintolargerconstituents.Theintegrityof thelargerconstituentismarkedby alliterationonitsfirstsubconstituent.P4Thelineconsistsoftwoadjacentversesboundbyalliteration.Thefirstof theseis the a-verse\the secondis the b-verse.Thesecondhalfofline(1)obviouslyconstitutesa well-formedb-verseoftwoword feet,sinceeachofitssubpartsconsistsofasinglestressedword.Therearealsotwostressedwordsinthefirsthalfoftheline.Therunesmith'sdecisionnottoplaceawordboundaryafterthepronouneksuggeststhatthisunstressedconstituentdidnotcountasanadditionalword,i.e.,thatitwasregardedasananacrusis.ThestressruleforGermaniccompoundsassignsprimarystresstothefirstconstituentandsubordinatesthesecondconstituent.Thislinguisticrulereappliesatahigherlevelincompoundswithmorethantwoconstituents.6RuleP3appliestothemetricalconstituentsof(1)inexactlythesameway.Aswithstressassignment,assignmentofalliterationconfersspecialpromi-nenceonsomeconstituentsandsubordinatesneighbouringones.Atthelevelof theverse,P3assignsalliterationtothefirstfootandsubordinatesthesecondfoot.Attheleveloftheline,P3subordinatestheb-versetothea-verse.Thesubordinatefootofthedominanta-verse,occupiedbyboltijaR,remainsfairlyprominent,andmaycontainanalliteratingsyllable.A-verseswithtwoalliteratingsyllablesappearinallGermanictraditions,thoughtherearealsomanya-versesinwhichthesubordinate5OEM,0.2.6OEM,7.4; cf.Sauer, Nominalkomposita,4.1.1.2Introductionfootfailstoalliterate.Significantlyless prominentisthesubordinatefootofthesubordinateb-verse,occupiedin(1)bytawido.NoneoftheearlyGermanictraditionspermitsalliterationinsuchadoublysubordinatedfoot.Althoughexample(1)hasimportantaffinitieswithlinesfrom Beowulf,therearedifferencesindetail.Personalpronounscomparabletorunic ekdonotappearasanacrusesintheOldEnglishepic.TheBeowulfpoetusuallyemploystheleastconspicuousunstressedconstituentsforana-crusis,suchasverbalprefixesandpreverbalnegativeparticles.7Inaddition,thea-verseof(1),withitstwolongpropernames,wouldberejectedasunacceptablylargebytheBeowulfpoet.8Thelessstrictconstraintsonversesize attestedby(1)mustresultinpartfromthelargeaveragesizeofearlyGermanicwords,ascomparedwithwordsofthehistoricalperiod.Itisinterestingtonote,however,thatthelineremainsdeviantfromanOldEnglishpointof viewevenwhentranslatedintoOldDanish,alanguagelaterspokeninNorthSchleswig,wheretherunichornwasfound.TheOldDanishtranslationprovidedinastandardintroductorytextisEk,HlegestRH0ltiR,borntada.9ByOldEnglishstandards,HlegestR H0ltiRisaperfectlygooda-verse,butwestillhavepronominalanacrusis, andtheb-verse has becometooshort,fallingbelowthe absoluteminimumof foursyllablesthatappliesin BeowulfThedetailrulesevidentlydifferedfromonetraditiontoanother.Asweshallsee,OldNorsemetreofthehistoricalperiodemploysshortversesofatypenotfoundinBeowulfandOldSaxonmetreemploysmanynon-prefixalanacruses.PERCEPTIONOFMETRICALFORMIna literatetradition,rulesforpoetrycanbe publishedbyacknowledgedauthoritiesandstudiedbypoetswhowishtoconform.Germanicmetre,ontheotherhand,clearlydevelopedinapreliterateera.Althoughnon-literatepoetsoftenadheretostrictstandardsofversecraft,theyaretypicallyquiteunabletostatethemetricalrulestheyfollow.10Rulesoforal-traditionalmetreareacquiredbyintuition,likelinguisticrules.Metristscanscanawrittentextatleisure,consultingreferenceworksif7See Cable, Meter and Melody, ch. 3.8OEM, 2.5.9Gordon-Taylor, p. 187.10See Jakobson, Selected Writings V,195-6.Beowulf and Old Germanic metrenecessary.Whenpoetryof anykindis recited,scansionmusttake placeatthespeedof performance,like analysisoflinguisticformduringordinaryspeech.11AnexplanatoryaccountofGermanicversecraftisthereforesubjecttosevereconstraints.Itwouldbequiteimplausibletoargue,forexample,thatthepoet'saudiencememorizedalong,arbitrarylistofacceptablepatternsandcheckedeachverseagainstthelistduringperformance.Suchmentaloperationscouldhardlytakeplacewiththenecessaryspeed.12ThedetailedclassificationsofscholarslikeBlissshowthatstrictmetricalconstraintsexisted,butdonotexplainhowsuchconstraints couldbe appreciatedor transmitted,as Bliss himselfrealizes.13Onewaytoexplainfundamentalprinciplesofverseconstructionistoshowthattheycorrespondtolinguisticprinciplesalreadyinternalizedbythenativespeaker.PrinciplesPI ^4attemptthiskindofexplanation.Speakersofalanguagecanidentifynativewordunitsinstantlyinanacousticsignal,soitseemsreasonabletosupposethattheycouldidentifymetricalunitscomparabletonativewordsatthespeedofperformance.Recognitionof wordfeetisutterlytrivial,of course,inthesecondhalfofexample(1),whereeachfootconsistsofasinglestressedword.RuleP3operatesexactlylikethecompoundstressruleinternalizedbyallnativespeakersofearlyGermaniclanguagesandshouldhavebeenquiteeasytolearn.InametricalsystemwithP3,moreover,P2andP4followasamatterofcourse.Becauselinguisticcompoundingisabinaryoperation,thelargermetricaldomainsboundtogetherbyalliterationaremostnaturallyconstructedinabinaryfashion.Notethattheunitsboundbyalliteration(wordfeet)correspondtotheunitsboundbythecompoundstressrule(words).Inthissense,PIalsofollowsfromP3.ThusPI - 411Theaudience'sabilitytoscaninrealtimeiscommonlypresupposedevenbymetristswhoconfessthatthey are unableto accountfor it.Thusfor exampleMcLintock,'MetreandRhythm',p.567:'Aneducatedaudience(byaprocesswhichisdifficulttodescribe)canrecognizewell-formedverses.Itwillbecontent(butnomore)ifitdiscernssuchverses andcan pronouncethe poetcompetentinhiscraft;itwillapplaudhimif he can exploithis craftinperformance.'12SeeJackendoff,Consciousness',4.2.Thisproblemwouldariseinanyverseformintendedforrecitation,evenifpoetandaudiencewerefullyliterateandhadreceivedsomeexplicittraininginmetricalanalysis.AccordingtoKendall,Metrical Grammar,p.5,metricalconstraintsofthekindobservedinBeowulf wereunlikelytobecodifiedas explicitrules, andthe poet,thoughprobablyliterate,used an oral-traditionalmetre.13Bliss, Metre, 122.Introductionhavethekindofcoherencethatallowsinternalizedrulesystemstofunctionathighspeed.14The detailrulesof a coherentsystemfollowfromits generalprinciples.InBeowulf, anumberofdetailrulesguidetheaudiencetocorrectinterpretationofunstressedprefixesinanacrusis,preventingconfusionaboutthenumberof feetintheverse.15Theserulesrepresentanintuitiverejectionofversesthatlackacleartwo-footstructure,andthusfollowfromP2.Observethatastrongpredictionismadeaboutwhatwouldhappento a Germanicmetreif unstressedprefixeswere lostfromthe poet'slanguage. Inthatcase, therelateddetailrules wouldserve no purpose,andshouldbelostas well.Wecantestthis predictionbecauseOldNorselostunstressed prefixesjustbeforethe Eddie poems were composed.As itturnsout,theolddetailruleswereinfactlost,andversesof akindavoidedbythe Beowulf pottbeganto appearin significantnumbers.16METRICALCOMPLEXITYINTHEWORD-FOOTTHEORYGoodpoetsoftendeviatefromstandardversepatterns,inpartbecausewhattheywishtosaymakesitnecessarytodosoandinparttoavoidmetricalbanality.17Inapoeticformintendedforrecitation,however,deviancemustnotcreateversestoocomplexforintuitivescansion.Thecomplexity of an individual verse mustbe kept withintolerable limits, anda poemmustnotcontainan intolerablyhighfrequencyof the mostdeviantverses.AnancientGermanicversecanbecomplexintwoquitedifferentways.First,theremaybeoneormoremismatchesbetweenthelinguisticmaterialoccupyingthe verse andits underlyingtwo-wordpattern.A versewithmorethantwowordsmayhaveanacceptablestresscontourandtheusualnumberofsyllables,butitwillnotbeaperfectmatchfortheunderlyingpattern.Second,a versemayhaveaninherently complex patterninwhichoneof thefeetcorrespondstoa wordof relativelylowfrequency(see PI). Bothtypes of complexitycan occur in a single verse, butthemorecomplex verse patterns are relatively intolerantof mismatches.1814See Dresher and Lahiri,'Germanic Foot', p.283; OEM, p.156.15OEM, ch.3 and6.4.l 6See below,ch.4.17See Kiparsky,'RhythmicStructure', p.224.18Ingeneral,apoetwhodeviatesfromthenorminonewayislesslikelytodosoinother wayssimultaneously.See Kiparsky,'RhythmicStructure',pp.2012.Deviationsfromthenormsimilartothosediscussedherearerecognizedin AGMbySievers,whoBeowulf and Old Germanic metreThetwotypesof complexityareillustratedbythefollowingexamples:(2)(3)(4)(5)lange/ J^rage19sineaet /symle20har/hilderinc21enta/aergeweorc22(Beo114a)(Beo8U)(Beo 1307a)(Beo1679a)Sieverspositstwotrochaicfeetinverseslike(2),whichheclassifiesastypeAlinAGM.Averselike(3),whichhasthesamestresspatternas(2),wouldalsobeclassifiedas typeAlwithinSievers s system.HofmannobjectstoSievers s scansionas unnatural,pointingoutthatthecaesuraormajorsyntacticbreakin(3)doesnotcoincidewiththepositedfootboundary(indicatedabovewithaslash).23Forsimilarreasons,Blisswouldassign(2)and(3)todistinctclasses.24ThecritiquesofHofmannandBlissmightatfirstglanceseemapplicabletotheword-foottheory,whichrepresents(2)and(3)asexpressionsofthesameversepatternanddividesthemasSieversdoes.UnlikeSievers stheory,however,theword-foottheorydistinguishes(2),thedirect,two-wordreali2ationofthepattern,from(3),whichisrepresentedasdeviantdespitethefactthatithasthenormalstress patternandnumberof syllablesforan Alverse.Thedifferencebetween(2)and(3)iscapturedasadifferenceinmetricalcomplexity.Theprepositionatin(2)doesstandclosersyntacticallytosymle thantosine, asHofmannobserves.Note,however,thatthestressedsyllablefollowingatisrenderedmoreprominentbyalliteration,whichreinforcesthefootboundaryobscuredbythesyntax.Kendallproposesacategoricalrulerequiringa secondalliterationinallOldEnglisha-versesoftypeAlwiththiskindofsyntacticstructure.25Kendall'srulehasgenuineempiricalforcebecausetypeAlversesthatarefreeofunstressedfunctionwordsusuallyhavesinglealliteration,like(2).If(2)and(3)representunrelatedversepatterns,thereisnoobviousexplanationfortheirdifferingalliterativerequirements.If(3) countsas a complexvariantofthepatternexpresseddirectlyby(2),wecanexplainthesecondalliteratingsyllable as an aidtointuitivescansion.rankshis verse typesinapproximateorderof complexity(A-E)andidentifiescertainverseswithanunusualstresscontour(e.g.thoseinwhichanacrusisisposited)ascomplex variants of a given type.19'a long time . . . '20'treasure at thefeast'.21'old man of battle ...'22'ancient work of the giants23VersstrukturenI,29.24Metre, 43.25Metrical Grammar, p.208.IntroductionThekindofanalysisappliedto(2)and(3)canbeappliedtoallversepatternswithintheword-footframework.Ingeneral,poetsimposethefewestconstraintsonparadigmatictwo-wordrealizationsofagivenpattern.Specialconstraintsmayapplytoothervariantsofthepattern,sincetheeffortofassociatingthesevariantswithtwo-wordparadigmsmustnotbecomeunpleasantlyburdensometotheaudience.Inametricaltheorywithexplanatoryambitions,of course, a variantsubjecttoa specialconstraintshouldhaveanunnaturalscansion.Theunnaturalnessofthescansionnotatesthemetricalcomplexityofthevariant,illustratingtheneedfortheconstraint.Thisadvantageofword-footnotationseemstorequireemphasis.26Theverse patterncorrespondingto(2) and(3)is designatedas typeAlbySieversbecauseofitshighfrequency.Withintheword-footframe-work,thepriorityoftypeAlfollowsdirectlyfromP2,whichstatesthatfeetcorrespondingtounusualwordpatternsaddtothecomplexityofversesinwhichtheyappear.SincethemostcommonOldEnglishwordpatternistrochaic,theversepatternwiththeleastinherentcomplexitywillhavetwotrochaicfeet.Example(2),withatrochaicwordineachfoot,realizesthesimplestpatterninthesimplestway.HofmannrejectstheideathattypeAlhaspriorityformetricalreasons.HeclaimsthattrochaicwordsareaboutascommoninGermanicproseasinGermanicpoetry,andarguesthatthehighfrequencyofAlversesresultsfromunrestrictedemploymentofahigh-frequencywordpattern.27ThishypothesismightbedifficulttorefutewithevidencefromOldSaxonpoetry,Hofmann'sspecialinterest,butitfailstoexplainsomeimportantfactsaboutpoeticwordchoiceinotherGermanictraditions.Naturalsyntacticconstituentsofexactlytwotrochaicwords,withnoclitics,haveafarhigherfrequencyinBeowulf thaninacomparableprosetext.28We26Whi t man,forexample,rejectsmyscansionofBeo1696a,gesetedond gesced,whichhecharacterizes,withoutargument,as incredible{Comparative Study\p.156, n.6); buttheunnaturalnessofthescansionusefullynotatestheunnaturalnessoftypeBverseswithanisolatedverse-initialprefix,whichareveryrareinOldEnglishpoetry(asIhadpointedoutinOEM,3.5).Sievers'snotationfortypeB,whichWhi t manadopts,representsverseslikeBeo 1696aasnaturalrealizationsof a patternwithrisingrhythmineachfoot,predictingincorrectlythatsuchverseswillbecommon(asvonSeeobservesin GermaniscbeVerskunsty p. 5).27Versstrukturen1, 32- 3.28OEM,10.5.Beowulf and Old Germanic metreencounterverseslike(2)sooftennotbecausetheycorrespondtohigh-frequencygrammaticalconstructionsbutbecausetheyhavethekindofmetricalsimplicitydefinedbyPl - 2 .Inthe heavierverse types,moreover,thepoetusuallypairsa stressedwordof greaterthanaveragelengthwithalexicalmonosyllableratherthanalexicaltrochee.29Ifthefrequencyofversepatternsreducedtothefrequencyofwordpatterns,verseslike(4)wouldoccurlessoftenthanthoselike(5).Infact,theBeowulfpoetemploysabout five verseslike (4) forevery verse like (5).Ingeneral,wewouldexpectmetricalconstraintstolimittheplace-ment,notthefrequency,ofwordswithagivenpattern.LaterEnglishpoets,atanyrate, arequitereluctanttorestricttheirvocabulary,andwillevenstretchtherulesslightlytoaccommodateanunusualword.30AncientGermanicpoetsdidnottrytoavoidwordsdeviatingfromthetrochaicnorm.Instead,theymadeasignificantefforttobalancethelesscommonwordtypesagainstoneanother,increasingthefrequencyofversescomparableto(2)inlengthandstresscount.Itseemsquitelegitimate,therefore,torepresentthepatternof(2)asametricalnorm.Otherversepatternswillberepresentedasinherentlycomplextotheextentthattheydeviate fromthisnorm.ORGANIZATIONOFTHECOMPARATIVEPROJECTInthisbookIattempttoexplainthedevelopmentofGermanicverseformattheleveloffinedetail,usingPI4asatheoreticalframework.Theanchorof ourinvestigationis theOldEnglishBeowulf,a uniquelongpoemintraditionalstyledealingwithtraditionalsubjectmatter.OfequalimportanceareEddiepoemsonnativeScandinaviansubjectsinfornyr8islag,generallyregardedastheNorseequivalentofOldEnglishmetre.Comparisonof OldEnglishandOldNorsematerialsoccupieschs.29 andyields a completesetof rules forfornyr5islag.Eddiepoemsbasedonmaterialfromsouthof Scandinaviaare excludedfromconsideration,inpartbecausetheyformadistinctmetricalgrouppossiblyinfluencedbycontinentalGermanicnorms.31Suchworksalsohadtobeexcludedto29OEM, 2.5.30Kiparsky,'RhythmicStructure', p.214.31See Kuhn,'Westgermanisches'.8Introductionprovide a fairtestforKuhn slaws, whichhavereceivedmuchattentioninrecentstudiesof OldEnglishmetre.32TheOldNorsematerialsshowwhathappenstoaGermanicmetrewhenthenaturallanguagehasanespeciallyforcefulprimarystress,thekindofstressthatweakensnon-primarystresseswithina wordorphraseandtendstoreducethenumberof unstressedsyllables.Inchs.10and11weturntocontinentalWestGermanicverse,whichshowsthemetricalconsequencesof a weakenedprimarystressthatallowsunstressedsyllablesto proliferate.33TheHeliand doesnotdeal withheroicsubjectmatter,andsometraditionalverse-makingstrategiesseemtohavebeeninconsistentwithitssacredcontent.Nevertheless,thisOldSaxonpoemprovidesvaluableevidencebearingonmanyissuesthatariseinanalysisofcognatetraditions.ThelengthoftheHeliandisadistinctadvantageforthemetrist,andparallelmanuscriptsofthepoemmakeitpossibletoclarifysomeproblemsthataredifficulttostudyinBeowulf, notablythoseassociatedwithelision.ThelastpoemtobeconsideredisthecontinentalWestGermanicHildebrandslied,a short,fragmentaryworkthatdoeshavetraditionalheroiccontent.TreatmentofNorsetraditionisselective,emphasizingfeatureswithobviouscomparativesignificance.ReadersinterestedinthewholerangeofNorsemetrescanconsultAGMandanumberofotherstudies.34IndealingwiththeHeliandandHildebrandslied,Ihavefoundedmyargumentsprimarilyonclearcases,sidesteppingsomenotoriousdifficul-32SeeKendall,MetricalGrammar,andDonoghue,Style,whichprovidereferencestopreviouswork.AccordingtoKuhn,'Wortstellung',pp.36and 46,hislawsarewellobservedinnativeEddiefornyr9islagbutare frequentlyviolatedinfornyr9islagwithexoticcontent.Kuhnprovidesampleevidencetoshowthatlegendarymatterfromthesouthwas expressedina distinctmetricaldialect.Hisclaimthatheroicpoemsof theEddaweretranslationsof WestGermanicoriginalsiscontroversial,however.SeeFulk,Historyof OldEnglishMeter,273-H.Mommakindlyallowedme to see pageproofsofTheComposition of Old EnglishPoetry,forthcomingas CSASE20, animportantstudyofKuhn'slawsastheyapply(orfailtoapply)withinthewholecorpusofOldEnglishverse.HereIwillbeconcernedwithKuhn's-laweffectsinthecognateGermanictraditionsandwiththepurelymetricalissuessystematicallyexcludedbyMommafromher study(p.182).33SeeDGV, ch.3.34See especiallyArnason, Rhythms of Drottkvcetf,Faulkes, Hdttatal;Frank, Old Norse CourtPoetry; Heusler,DeutscheVersgeschichte;andKuhn,Drottkvcett.ForabriefoverviewofEddie forms,see Russom,'Eddie Meters'.Beowulf and Old Germanic metretiesofmetricalclassification.35Ihavenotreiteratedalltheevidencefortheword-foottheoryprovidedinOEM,butIusesimilarheadingshereandadoptasimilarorderofpresentation.ThereadercanoftenfindadditionalOldEnglishevidencefortheoreticalclaimsmadebelowbyconsultingthetableofcontentsinOEM.AsinOEM,rulesintroducedduringtheargumentarerepeatedattheendofthebookforthereader'sconvenience.Unlessthereaderisnotifiedtothecontrary,versesarescannedas theyappearinKlaeber(forBeowulf),NeckelKuhn(forEddieverse),orBrauneEbbinghaus(forHildebrandslied).VersesfromtheHeliandareusuallycitedfromBehaghel-Taeger.36CitationsofOldEnglishpoemsotherthanBeowulf comefromtheASPR.Indicationsofvowellengtharesometimesaddedwhennotsuppliedbytheeditor,andeditorialpunctuationis deletedoccasionally.Inmanycases, theword-foottheoryisolatesas particularlycomplexorunmetricalaverseemendedbymoderneditors.Ioftenciteemendationsasindependentwitnessestotheproblematiccharacterofaverse,thoughusuallywithoutattemptingtojustifyorcritiquethemasemendations.Somefunctionwordsineachmanuscriptwereprobablyaddedbythescribes,thoughitisdifficulttoachievecertaintyaboutparticularcases.Mycountsofunstressedsyllablesmaybeslightlytoohighforallthepoemsstudiedhere,butsuchimprecisionprobablyhasnocomparativesignificance.Ithasseemedmostimportanttoensurethatstatisticsforagiventraditionshouldbederivedfromaconsistentlyeditedbodyofmaterial.MyNorsestatisticsarebasedexclusivelyonpoemsinNeckelKuhn,whichyieldacorpusofmaterialabouthalfthesizeofBeowulfThisis perfectlyadequateforourcomparativepurposesbecausetheNorsepoemsdifferquitedramaticallyfromWestGermanicpoems.37Ourcorpuscertainlyincludes worksby several Norse authors, andthemetrical3 5Forinformativediscussionofthesedifficulties,seeHofmann,VersstrukturenI,ch.5.3 6Variants,however,areroutinelycitedfromtheparallel-textedition,Heliand,ed.Sievers.3 7Thecorpuscontainsthefollowingpoemsinfornyr3islagwi thnativecontent:VQlospd(Vsp),Hymisqvida(Hym),Prymsqvifia(Prk),HelgaqvidaHundingsbanainfyrri(HH),HelgaqvidaHiorvardzsonar(HHv),HelgaqvidaHundingsbanaqnnor(HHII),Baldrsdraumar(Bdr),Rigspula(Rp),Hyndloliod(Hdl)yandGrottasqngr(Grt).TheHel gipoemshaveanad-hocconnectionwi thSouthernlegend,butarebasedprimarilyonNorsematerialandareclassifiedasnativeEddiefornyr&slaginKuhn,'Wortstellung',pp.258.Heliandisabbreviatedas HelandHildebrandsliedasHid.10IntroductionfeaturessharedbytheseworksareconsistentwithSnorri'sparadigmaticexampleoffornyrdislag,whichregularizesthem.38VersecountsfortheHeliandarederivedfromtheextremelyprecisescansioninHofmann,Versstrukturen II,whichthereadermaywishtoconsultindependently.Statisticsfortheotherpoemsarederivedfromelectronicscansionsthatcannotbecapturedontheprintedpage.Readersinterestedinobtainingcopies of these scansionsshouldwritetotheauthor.39VERSERHYTHMLittleisknownabouttheperformanceof alliterativepoetry.WedoknowthatGermanicpoetssometimesaccompaniedthemselvesonakindoflyre,thoughevidentlynotinNorsetradition.40Theonlysignificantcluestoverserhythmareprovidedbyconstraintsonpoeticlanguage,asevaluatedwithinthecontextof researchonmusicalcognition.SomescholarshavesuggestedthatGermanicversewashardlymorerhythmicalthanGermanicprose.41If thatweretrue,wemightimagineaperformanceofBeowulf accompaniedbysomethinglikeGregorianchantortheopeningalapsectionofaNorthIndianraga.42Itseemsinappropriate,however,toignoreeffortsmadebythepoettocontrolstressandsyllablecount,whichpointtowardssometypeofregularrhythm.Althoughalimiteddegreeofrhythmicregularitysometimesoccursinprose,theclearcasesinvolverepetitionof similarstresspatternswithinthephraseorwithinadjacentphrases.43SuchprosepoetryisnothinglikeBeowulf,inwhichadjacentversesnormallyhavecontrastingstresspatterns.44PI4makenomentionofrhythm.Ifthesefundamentalprinciplesholdtrue,therhythmsof Germanicwordswouldhave providedthebasis38See below, pp. 85- 6.39CurrentlyattheDepartmentof English,Box1852, BrownUniversity,Providence,RI02912,USA.4 0Hofmann,VersstrukturenI, 2 0 - 1 .41SeeespeciallyDaunt,'SpeechRhyt hm' ,p.64.InHistoryofOldEnglishMeter,pp.278, Fulkcritiques'SpeechRhyt hm'andotherpublicationsexpressingsimilarviews.4 2TheserhythmicallyirregulartraditionsarediscussedbyLerdahlandJackendoffinTonalMusic,2.2.4 3ForgoodexamplesanddiscussionseeTraugottandPratt,LinguisticsforStudentsofLiterature,pp. 779-4 4See R.Lehmann,'BrokenCadences'.11Beowulf and Old Germanic metreforpoeticrhythm,andanartisticapproachtorhythmwouldhaveinvolvedscoringthelinguisticgivenseffectivelyforperformance.45BecauseGermanicsimplexeshaveapredominantlyfallingrhythm,withstressonthefirstsyllable,themostconvenientverserhythmswouldbefalling.ThesearethepreferredrhythmsoflaterWesternmusicandalsoseemtobepreferredacrosstraditions.AccordingtoLerdahlandJack-endoff,genuinelyrisingrhythmslikethoseofgamelanmusicareexceptional.46Whatseemsquiteimpossibleisdirectrhythmicalinter-pretationofSievers'sfive-typessystem,whichpositstwofallingfeetintypeA,tworisingfeetintypeB,andonefootofeachkindintypeC,supposedlyanexampleofrising-fallingrhythm.47Certainrhythmicalshiftsinversedohavemusicalparallels.Stravinsky,forexample,willchangefrom4/8to5/8timeandbackagainwithinafewbars.48ThismightbecomparedtotheshiftfromnormaltohypermetricalpatternsinWestGermanicpoetry.49LerdahlandJackendoffhavenotfoundatraditionalidiomthatshiftsabruptlybackandforthbetweenrisingandfallingrhythmsof equalstatus,however.IfGermanicversepatternshadagenuinelyrhythmicalinterpretation,wewouldexpectthemostcommonpattern,typeAl ,toserveastherhythmicalnorm.Otherversepatternswouldthenbeperceivedassyncopateddeparturesfromthenormratherthanasshiftsfromonerhythmtoanother.ThisisessentiallythehypothesisadvocatedbyPope,whichseemstomequiteplausible,thoughlikeallsuchhypothesesitisstilldisputed.5045Likeanumberofothermetrists,Idistinguishmetricalcompetence(theabilitytorecognizemetricalverses)frommetricalperformance(theabilitytoexploitmetricalcompetenceinproductionofacompleteworkwithsignificantrhetoricalandartisticqualitiesofanon-metricalkind).Effectivescoringofversesseemstoberelatedquiteindirectlytometricalcompetence.Forfurtherdiscussion,seeMcLintock,'MetreandRhythm'.46Tonal Music,7.7.47AGM,12.5.48Lerdahland Jackendoff, Tonal Music, pp. 64- 5.4 9See Pope, Rhythm,p.122.50For a recentcritiqueof Pope, Rhythm,see Hofmann,Versstrukturen I,16- 30.122ThefootLetusbeginbyconsideringthedefinitionof'word'thatunderliesthefootpatternsof OldEnglishmetre:Dl aAllstressedsimplexescountas words.Dl bUnstressedprefixescountas functionwords.Di eA compoundmaycountas one wordor as two.Di dAfunctionwordmaycountasawordorasundefinedlinguisticmaterial.ProvisionDl ahardlyrequirescomment.Thesimpleequation foot=wordwouldnotbecommunicatedtotheaudienceifsomeordinarystressedlexicalitemsdidnotcountas words.ProvisionDl bgoesagainstmodernwordspacingconventions,butisjustifiedbythefactthatOldEnglishunstressedprefixesstilllooklikeprepositionsinmostcasesandbehaveexactlylikeprepositionsfromaphonologicalpointofview.ProvisionDi eacknowledgesthatword-levellinguisticrulessometimestakeawholecompoundastheirdomainandsometimesapplytothesubcon-stituentsof a compoundasif eachwere a separateword.ProvisionDi disjustifiedbythefactthatprepositions,conjunctions,andsimilarun-stressedconstituentshavearatherweakidentityaswords,anidentityoftenlostaltogetherwhentheyareabsorbedbyneighbouringstressedwords.Ingeneral,themetricalinterpretationofwordswillvaryonlyinthe waythatlinguisticinterpretationvaries.1ProvisionsDl a,Di e,andDi dshouldapplytoEddieas wellas toOldEnglishpoetry,butprovisionDl bwillseldomapplybecauseOldNorsehas hardlyany unstressed prefixes.AllGermaniclanguageshadunstressed1For more detailed justification of Dla-d, see OEM, 1.11.1.4.13Beowulf and Old Germanic metreprefixesoriginally.2Whenattachedtofollowingwords,primarilyverbs,theseprefixescreatedextendedorepistemicsenses.Becauseepistemicsenseswerenotrelatedtorootsensesinanypredictableway,acommonprefixcouldtake overthefunctionof a marginalprefix,whichwouldthenbelostfromthelanguage.InOldNorse,thisprocesscontinueduntilasingleprefix,spelledoforurn,becamedominant.Asacatch-all,thedominantprefixhadacquireda senseso vagueas tobe practicallyuseless.BragiBoddason,thefirstknownskald,usedpastparticiples(normallyprefixedinearlyGermanic)onlywhenthemetrewouldallowof Iumtobeinsertedbeforethem;butlaterskaldsfeltfreetodisregardthisconstraint,andemployedoflumsimplyformetricalconvenience.Ac-cordingtoKuhn,oflumthenceasedtobea prefixandbecamea Fullivortor filler word.3TheEddiecorpususedforthiscomparativestudycontainsonlyoneunstressedprefixoftheordinaryGermanickind:fyr-9whichoccurswithahandfulofOldNorseverbs.4TheonlyothertraceofanunstressedprefixsurvivinginOldNorseisthecognateofOEge-, whichappearsinformssuchasONglikrlike'(cf.OEgeltc). Thisrelic,whichhaslostitsvowelduetothesubordinatingeffectofthefollowingstress,nolongerbearsanyresemblancetoaword.LossofprefixeswasaccompaniedbysubstitutionofnewencliticformsforothercloselyboundNorse procliticssuchas definitearticlesand preverbalnegatives.5WORDPATTERNSInearlyGermaniclanguages,thesignificantfeaturesof wordpatternsaresyllablelength,syllablecountandstress.ThelengthofanOldNorsesyllabledependspartlyontherelationofitsconsonantstothevocalicelement,whichconstitutesthesyllabicnucleus.Consonantsplacedbeforethenucleusoccupytheonset. Theseconsonantshavenoeffectonthelengthoftheirsyllable.Consonantsplacedafterthenucleusoccupythecoda.Asyllablewithoneormoreconsonantsinthecodais closed,andallclosedsyllablesarelong.Someexamplesofclosedsyllablesaremono-2See Kuhn, Fullwort.3Ibid.,p.94.InNeckel-Kuhn, filler wordsappearas independentconstituents flankedby word spaces.4Ibid.,p.97.Neckel-KuhnprintsthisaspartofthefollowingwordinVsp 1/6, velfyrtelia.5See Samuels, Linguistic Evolution,p.85.14ThefootsyllabicwordslikeONstad 'place'(shorti-stem,accusativesingular)andgest'guest'(longi-stem,accusativesingular).Asyllablewithnocon-sonantsinthecodais open.Opensyllablescanbelongiftheyhave alongvowelinthenucleus. AmonosyllabicwordlikeONkm'knee'consistsofalong,opensyllable.Ashortsyllableisanopensyllablewithashortvowel.6Germaniclanguagestendtomaximizeonsets.7InOldNorse,asingleconsonantbetweenvowelsalwaysoccupiestheonsetofthefollowingsyllable,leavingtheprecedingsyllableopen,asforexampleintheshort-stemmednominativepluralsta.Sir (wherethepointindicatesthesyllableboundary).8Thestemsyllableofshort-stemmedwords(astheyaresomewhatmisleadinglycalled)isshortonlywhenitsfinalconsonantoccupiestheonsetof a followingsyllable.Intheaccusativesingularformstad,thefinalconsonantnecessarilyoccupiesthecodaof thestemsyllable,whichisthereforelong.Thefirstoftwointervocalicconsonantsnormallyoccupiesthecodaoftheprecedingsyllable.Ininflectedlong-stemmedformslikenominativepluralges.tir (cf.gest), theinitialsyllableremainslong.9Poetssometimesmakeadistinctionbetweenanordinarylongsyllableandanultra-longsyllable(aclosedsyllablecontainingalongvowel,e.g.bok 'book').OldNorsehasfewerultra-longsyllablesthanOldEnglishduetoearlyshorteningoflongvowelsbeforemostdoubleconsonantsandsome consonantgroups.10IsolatedshortsyllablescouldnotbearstressinearlyGermaniclanguagessuchas OldNorse.Therewerenoshortstressedmonosyllables,andshortstressedsyllablesdidnotoccurword-finally.Ifaword-finalconsonantwaslostafterashortstressedvowel,thevowelwaslength-ened.11Thesmallestwordscontainingashortstressedsyllablehadthe6Since the nucleus and the coda both affectsyllable lengthin Germanic languages, theyare oftenplacedtogetherina higher-levelconstituentcalledtherhyme.See CHEL /,33.2.1.Inrecenttheoreticalresearch,syllablesaredesignatedheavyorlightratherthan long or short. I use the older terms here because they prevail in standard works onGermanic metre.7See Fulk, History of Old English Meter,109.8SeeGordon-Taylor,28;AGM,37.MysyllabicationfollowsDresnerandLahiri,'Germanic Foot', which comments on earlier proposals in Lass, 'Quantity',and Suzuki,'Syllable Structure'. See also Arnason, Rhythms of Drottkvcetty p. 118.9TheclusterstoccasionallyactslikeoneconsonantinOldEnglishverse.See OEM,10.2, examples (98bH98c).10Gordon-Taylor,55.nIbid., 53.15Beowulf and Old Germanic metrepatternofsaga'story',withashortstressedsyllablefollowedbyanunstressedsyllable.Sieversobservesthatthesequenceofsyllablesinawordlikesaga oftensubstitutesforalongsyllableonastrongmetricalpositionorarsisinGermanicversepatterns.12Thesyllabicsequenceisthensaidtoberesolved.Thistypeofsubstitutionseemsnatural,sinceresolvedsequencesandlongsyllablesarebothminimaldomainsofstressassignment.RecentworkonGermaniclanguagesinmetricalphonologysuggeststhatresolutionisadirectexpressionofphonologicalstructure.AccordingtoDresherandLahiri,forexample,resolvedsequencesandlongstressedsyllablesoccupythesametypeofhigher-levelphonologicalconstituent,calleda metrical position,13Likethearsis of Sievers, thisstress-bearingpositionisthestrongelementofadomaincalledthefoot.Thepurelylinguisticfoot,calledtheGermanic foot,alsohas a weakelementinthesimplestorunmarkedcase.Wheneverpossible,thesyllablesofGermanicwordsareorganizedintolinguistictrochees;one-positionfeetarisebydefault,inmonosyllableslike gest andinresolveddisyllableslikesaga.UseoftheGermanicfoottorepresentlinguisticenvironmentsenablesDresherandLahiritoaccountforhigh-voweldeletionandj-vocalization (Sievers s law) as well as stressassignment.14The resolvable sequence was a complexor marked alternativetothelongsyllablenormallyassociatedwithstress.15BothEnglishandIcelandiceliminatedmostresolvablesequencesduringthelaterMiddleAgesbylengtheningthevowelsofstressedopensyllables.Becauselongvowelsunderwentshorteninginultra-longclosedsyllables,moststressedsylla-blesthenhadstandardlength.16InOldNorse,resolvablesequenceshadalreadybecomesignificantlylesscommonthaninOldEnglishduetowidespreadsyncopationofunstressedmedialvowels, generallyattributedto the influenceof a particularlystrong primarystress.17 Norseinflectional12AGM,9.1.13See'GermanicFoot'.14HansonandKiparskyregardtheGermanicfootas a theoreticalnecessity,butrepresentit as a 'maximalfoot'derivedfroma 'minimalfoot'of a kindmore widelyemployedinphonologicaltheory('PoeticMeter',p.305).Forourpurposeshere,theviewofresolutionadvocatedby HansonandKiparskydoesnotdiffersignificantlyfromthatofDresher and Lahiri.15Ibid., p.282.16Ibid., pp.279- 83.17DGM,pp.7888.Thesesyncopatedvowelshadoftenprovidedthesecondsyllablefora resolvablesequence.16Thefootvowelshadalsobeenlostinsomecases.18OldNorseprobablyresembledforcefulstyleregistersinwhichphonologicallysubordinateconstituentsareespeciallyvulnerabletoreductionorelimination.19ItisparticularlydifficulttofindNorseanaloguesforOldEnglishformslike werodes'ofthetroop'(gen.sg.),whichcanacquireatrochaicvaluebyresolutionofthefirst twosyllables.SecondaryconstituentsofcommonOldNorsecompoundsoftenundergostress reduction,anda longvowelinsucha constituentmaythenbeshortened,asinformsof af-rdS 'tribute',whichoftenshowshorteningoftheradicala.20UnstressedvowelsarealwaysshortinOldNorse.Vowelsof OldNorseinflectionsarenevermarkedlong,unlikeOldHighGermaninflectionalvowels,whichretainedetymologicallengthinsomecases.21SomeNorsefunctionwordscontainetymologicallylongvowels(e.g.hon 'she', honum 'tohim').Thelengthindicatedineditorialspellingwasretainedonlywhenthefunctionwordborephrasalstress,however.22Word-finalvowelsinfunctionwordshadtobelongundersignificantstress,butwereshortotherwise.InstandardeditionsofEddiepoetry,afinalrootvowelinafunctionwordisalwaysmarkedwiththeacuteaccent,butinmanycasesthewordclearlylackedstressandthemarkedvowelwouldhavebeenshortened.Closedunstressedsyllablescouldbecomeshortbyconsonantloss.Lossofword-final-min frd'from',forexample, wascompensatedinstressedusagebylengtheningof thevowel,butinunstressedusagetheshorteningwentthroughtocompletion.Vowelsalso underwentshorteninginfunctionwordsthatbecameenclitictoastressedword.ThusthefinalvowelinONpu'thou'lostitslength(anddistinctiveheight)invildo'thouwilt'.Theinitialconsonantof piiwasaffectedbyenclisisaswell,becomingdbytheusualword-levelruleforthesequencelp23>Informslikevantattu'youdidnothinder',word-final puassimilatedtotheprecedingnegativeencliticform-at-.Sinceword-levelrulesexpressthenativespeaker'sintuitiveconceptofword-hood,formslikevildoandvantattuarebestregardedassinglewordsinwhichencliticshave thestatusof secondaryaffixesorinflectionalendings.1 8Cf.tetrasyllableOEmiddangeardes,disyllabicONmidgarSs('ofmi ddl eearth',gen.sg. ).1 9Samuels,LinguisticEvolution,pp.2 1 - 2 ,25and89.Ontherelationbetweenstressandheavyusage(lexicalization),seeOEM, 1. 1. 2.2 0Noreen, 151. 1.2 1Prokosch,ComparativeGermanicGrammar,p.139-2 2Gordon-Taylor, 44and109;Noreen, 151.2 3Gordon-Taylor,\66.17Beowulf and Old Germanic metreDERIVATIONOFFOOTPATTERNSFROMWORDPATTERNSTheelementsoffootpatternsaremetricalpositionsandboundaries,whichare derivedfromthe syllablesandboundariesof words. The primaryarsis,representedbyacapitalSyisametricalpositionderivedfromasyllablewithprimarystress.Alower-casesrepresentsthesecondaryarsis,derivedfroma syllable withsecondarystress. S ands positionsarederivedonlyfromtheunmarkedtypeofGermanicstressedsyllable,whichislong.Ordinarily,anarsiswillberilledbya singlesyllable(theunmarkedcaseinpoeticmetreasinmetricalphonology).Likethestrongmetricalpositionof DresherandLahiri'sGermanicfoot,however,the primaryarsiswillsometimesbeoccupiedbyaresolvablesequence(themarkedcase).Thishappensmostfrequentlywhentheresolvablesequencebearsprimarystress, the degree of stress moststronglyassociatedwithlength.Stress andlengtharelessstronglyassociatedonsubordinatespositionsandinresolvablesequencesthathave undergonelinguisticsubordination.Asthedegreeofsubordinationincreases,thebiastowardsanunmarked,one-to-oneassignmentofsyllablestometricalpositionstakesprecedenceoverconsiderationsoflength,andtheshortstressedsyllablemaystandunresolvedonanarsisofitsown.Aweak position, representedbyalower-case x,is derivedfroma syllablewithweakorzerostress.Weakpositionscanrepresentunstressedsyllablesofstressedwords,asforexampleinthefootpatternSx,whichcorrespondstowordslikebrodir 'brother'.EarlyGermanicmetresalso employfeetcorrespondingto unstressedwords.Thex footis derivedfromwordslikeONoc'and'.Thexxfootis derivedfromwordslikeyfir'over'.Aswehaveobserved,unstressedsyllablesarecharacteristicallyshortratherthanlong.Becauseastrongexpectationoflengthisrequiredtoovercometheinitialbiastowardsone-to-onecorrespondencebetweensyllablesandmetricalpositions,adjacentun-stressedsyllablescannotundergoresolution.24Initsuseofdistinctxpositions,word-footnotationdepartsfromthefive-typessystem,whichassignsadjacentweaksyllablestoanundifferentiatedmetricalpositioncalledthe Senkung,translatedinto Englishas thesis ordip.252 4ResolutionorAuflosungisdistinctfromelisionofadjacentunstressedvowels(seeOEM,1. 8).AdjacentweaksyllablesnoteligibleforelisionaresometimesassignedtooneweakmetricalpositioninskaldicpoetrybyVerschleifung,butthiscannotbeassumedforEddiemetres(seeKuhn,Drottkvatt,p.41) .2 5SeeAGM, 10. 1.18ThefootTable2.1OldNorse footpatternsFeetXSXXSxSsXXXSxxSsxSxsCorrespondingwordsoc 'and'um (fillerword)km'knee'yfir'over',prep.drottinn 'lord'midgardr 'middleearth'ertattu 'youarenot'jafnadi'hetrimmed'vantattu'youdidnothinder'heilrcedi'wholesomecounsel'hveitiakr'wheatfield'bekkjunautr'benchcompanion'ALISTOFFOOTPATTERNSThelexicalinventoryofOldNorseyieldstheinventoryoffootpatternsshown in table2.1. The Norse lexical inventory differsin certainimportantrespects fromthe correspondingOldEnglishinventory.26 The Beowulfpottemploysprefixesasverylightfeetinsomeverses,butrelatedOldNorseverseshavefillerwordsinstead.CharacteristicNorseformswithencliticsinclude xxx words andSxx words withno OldEnglishequivalents.27Since2 6OEM,1. 4.2 7Al t hought heyhavel ongmedi alsyllables,formsl ikevantattuclearlyhavet heval ueSxxinverseslikevantattuIvigi(HHII28/ 5) ,whi chcannotbeSsx/Sx,aforbi ddenpat t er ninfornyr5islagasinOl dEngl i shpoetry.InBeowulf,trisyl l abicsi mpl exeswi t hl ongmedi alsyllablesl i kemurnendemus tnor mal l ybei nt er pr et edasSsxrat hert hanSxx,sinceanumberofversesl ikemurnendeImod(50a)woul dot herwi seconst i t ut eaforbiddenpat t er nSxx/S.Becauset heSxx/Spat t er nisempl oyedinfornyr3islag,t hereisnomet ri calt estoft hi ski ndforl i ghtstressont hel ongmedi alsyllable-at-informslikevantattu.Itseemslikely,however,t hatstresswasassignedtol ongmedi alsyllablesinsimpl exesonly,andt hatwor dslikevantattuwerederivedatanot herleveloft hephonol ogy.Ont hi sanalysis,t heencl itics-at-and-tuwoul dhavet hesynchroni cst at usofsecondaryrat hert hanpr i mar yaffixesorinflections,assuggest edabove,p.17.I nasyst emat i ct r eat ment ,whi chIcannotunder t akehere,itwoul dbedesirablet oaccountfort hefactt hatl ongmedi alsyllablesoccasionallycountasunstressedi nBeowulf{OEM,3. 4).19BeowulfandOldGermanicmetreOldNorselostmostinfixesalongwithprefixes,iteliminatedmostSxscompoundscomparableto OEhandgeweorc'handiwork',withinfixed-ge-.ONbekkjunautr isoneof veryfewcompoundswithinfixed-//-, a reducedformof prefixalurn?* There are no Norse Sxxs compounds analogous to OEsibbe-ge-driht 'kindredband'.Norse words withshortstressedsyllableswilloccupyoneor anotherof thefootpatternslistedabove,depending onwhether resolutionoccurs.29WORDGROUPSWITHINTHEFOOTAstoryconsistingentirelyoftwo-wordphraseswouldbeimpossiblydifficultto compose.In Eddieverse,as in Beowulf,the footsometimescontainsa wordgroupthatmimicsthestructureof anindividualword.One of themostimportantchallengesfacingtheaudiencewas to seetheanalogybetweensucha wordgroupandthetypeof largerwordforwhichitsubstituted.Considerthe followingtwo verses:(1)snyz / iormungandr30(Vsp 50/3)(2)gengr / Odins sonr31(Vsp 56/3)Inword-footnotation,theslashrepresentstheboundarybetweenthetwofeetof theverse.Example(1) is a two-wordrealizationof thepattern x/Sxs,withaweaklystressed,non-alliteratingverbfollowedby anSxscompound.Example(2)hasthesamesyntax,but thenounphraseOdinssonr substitutesfor an Sxscompoundin the secondfoot.Itmusthavebeeneasytoassociatethisparticularphrasewithacorrespondingcompoundword.Manypropernounsin OldNorseconsistofthefather'snamein thegenitivecasefollowedby a compoundedformof sonr (e.g.Hat'aidsson,Sigurdarson).28See Kuhn,Fiillwort,p. 92.29MyreasonsforrepresentingjafnaftiasSxx ratherthanSsx willbegivenbelow(pp.114-16).Largecompoundsexcludedfromthelistare discussedinch.3.Spellingsinthe listfollowthe usualconventionsforNorsewordsmentionedinlinguisticanalysis,but citationsof Eddieversewilladheremorecloselytothe styleofthemanuscript.Thei ni t i al / -of jafnadi,for example,is printedas /- inNeckel - Kuhn.30' The greatwand(i.e., the MidgardSerpent)coiled..."31' O3inn' ssongoes20The footLABELLINGMISMATCHESInthe simplesttypeof foot,syllableswithprimarystressoccupyallSpositions,syllableswithsecondarystressoccupyallspositions, andsyllableswithzerostressoccupyall x positions.Syllablesdo not alwaysmatchmetricalpositionsin a footthatcontains a wordgroup,however.32InBeowulf,mismatchesbetweensyllablesandlabelledmetricalpositionsstay withinlimitsimposedbythefollowingdetailrules:Rl aAsyllablewithprimarystressnormallyoccupiesan Sposition.Whensucha syllableoccupiesan s position,theS positionof thesame footnormallycontainsan alliteratingsyllable.Ri bAsyllablewithzerostressmustoccupyan xpositionunlessitshares an arsis withthe shortstressedsyllableof a resolvedsequence.Adjacentunstressedvowelsmayshare a single x positionbyelision.Rl cA syllablewithsecondarystressmayoccupyan s positionor anSposition.Thealliterativeconstraintmentionedin Rl aoperatesas a categoricalruleinBeowulfbutappliesless strictlyin nativeEddiefornyrSislag.RuleRl cappliesto the secondaryconstituentsof compoundsand alsotowordswithan equivalentphrasalstress,primarilyclause-finalfiniteverbsandclause-finalfunctionwords.33Syllableswithreducedorunstable sec-ondarystressusuallyoccupyspositions,butarenotcategoricallyrestrictedbyRlac, andsometimesoccupyx positions.34BRACKETINGMISMATCHESKiparsky sanalysesof modernverseformsrepresentthe boundaries ofpoeticfeetasanalogoustotheboundariesoflinguisticconstituents,3 2Not et hedi st i nct i onbet weent he t ypeof syllablefromwhi cha gi venmet r i calposi t i onisderivedandt hesyllableoccupyi ngt hatposi t i onin a gi venverse.Sincet hesposi t i onisderivedfromasyllableof secondarystress,for exampl e,itisnor mal l yoccupi edbysucha syllable.Occupat i onofans posi t i onby a syllablewi t hpr i mar ystressconst i t ut esami s mat chandaddst o met ri calcompl exi t y.3 3Fordetail eddiscussionof Rl aandRl ci n Nor s emet r i calpract i ce,seebelow,ch. 7.3 4SeeOEM,9. 1- 9- 4.21Beowulf and Old Germanic metrenotablywords.35Suchboundariesareoftennotatedbybrackets.36Whenafootboundaryintheversepatterndoesnotcoincidewithawordboundaryinthelinguisticmaterial,abracketingmismatch occurs.Suchmismatchesare allowedratherfreelyinfamiliarmetreswithasinglefootpatternandasingleversepattern.37Inthemetresthatconcernushere,however,thelocationof footboundariesismuchmoredifficulttodeducefromthestresscontouroftheverse alone,andbracketingmismatchesarelikelytocontravenethefundamentalprincipleP2,whichrequiresfeettobe readilyidentifiable.Like theBeowulf pott,OldNorse poetsadheretoan especiallystrictsetofbracketing rules:R2aEveryfootboundarymustcoincidewithawordboundary.Note:theinternalboundariesofcompoundedformscountaswordboundariesforthe purposesof thisrule.R2bInverseswiththreeormorestressedwords,assignmentofstressedwordstofeetmustrespectsyntacticconstituency.Note:compoundscountas two wordsforthe purposesof thisrule.ThetreatmentofcompoundsinR2followsfromprovisionDi einthedefinitionof'word',whichallowsacompoundtocountastwowords.RuleR2aallowsforuseoflargecompoundsascompletetwo-footverses.RuleR2bwillnotallowthefootboundarytofallwithinacompoundwhenthe verse containsanotherstressedword,however.Three-wordversesof theformS/Sxs posespecialproblemsforintuitivescansion.AccordingtoP2,footpatternscorrespondingtounusualwordpatternsaddtothecomplexityofversesinwhichtheyappear.EveninOldEnglish,Sxscompoundshavearatherlowfrequency,andsuchcompoundsarestillrarerinOldNorseduetosyncopationandlossofinfixes.Confrontedwithathree-wordrealizationofS/Sxs,theaudiencemightwellbe temptedto groupthe wordsin a patternSsx/S (SieverstypeE),witha first footcorrespondingtothemorecommontypeoftrisyllabiccompound.Thelabellingandbracketingrulesmakeitpossibleto35See ' Rhyt hmi cSt ruct ure'and previousarticlesbyKiparskyin its listof workscited.36See, forexampl e,ChomskyandHal l e,SoundPattern.Ki parskysomet i mesempl oysanot at i onin whi chfootbracketsare replacedbybranchi ngfootnodes,but Ireservet hi sstylefor pat t ernsof compoundstressand alliteration(discussedin ch.6).37' Rhyt hmi cSt ruct ure' ,pp.2 0 1 - 1 1 .22Thefootinterpretsuchversesin astraightforwardway,however.Consider thefollowingS/Sxs variants:(3)Haraldr / hilditgnn38(HJl 28/1)(4)6c / Odins sonr39(Prk21/7)(5)brudr / or5 urn qvad40(Grt 24/2)Noproblemarisesin example(3), a directexpressionof theunderlyingtwo-wordpattern.In (4),thefootboundaryfallsat themajorsyntacticbreak,betweenpredicateandsubject,as requiredbybracketingruleR2b.Althoughthisversehas afullystressedwordonitssposition(asignificantlabellingmismatch),theleftwardboundaryof itssecondfootis clearlymarkedby analliteratingsyllable, as requiredbyruleRla.Suchalliterationgivesmetricalprominencetothefirstwordinthefoot,indicatingthatthesecondwordoccupies a lessprominentarsis.Metricalsubordinationofnon-alliteratingwordsis of courseexpectedin a metricalsystemwitha fundamentalprinciplelikeP3, whichlinksthealliterativepatternsof theverseandlineto linguisticsubordinationin compounds.In(5),the footboundaryfallsbetweensubjectand predicate.Thespositionof thesecondfootis occupiedby afiniteverb,whichundergoessubordinationwithinits phrase,as in ModernGerman.41Becausebothstressandsyntaxindicatethesubordinatestatusof theverse-finalword,the poetdoesnotneeda secondalliteratingsyllablein (5).LIGHTFEETInNorsepoetry,the xfootappearsmostofteninversesclassified bySievers as typeC:(6)ne /upphiminn[x/Ssx](7)oc / tolgor3o43[x/Ssx](Vsp3/6)(Vsp 7/8)3 8' Har al dWar - t oot h. . . " Thefirstwordint hi sverseoccupiesasi ngl eSposi t i onbyresol ut i on.3 9' Odi nn' ssondrove. . . 'TheS/Sxsscansionpresupposes,wi t hSieversandKuhn,t hat anal l i t er at i ngmai nverbalwaysoccupiesan arsis,t houghsomemet r i st swoul ddisagree.It akeup t hi sissuein ch. 9-4 0' t hewomanut t er edwords. . . '4 lSeeKi parsky,' Akzent ' ;OEM, 8. 2.4 2' norheavenabove. . . '4 3' andt heymadet ool s' .23Beowulf and Old Germanic metreTwo-wordverseslike(6)haveanespeciallyhighfrequencyinthe OldNorsecorpus,lendingsupportto the x/Ssxanalysis.44Sievers'sanalysis oftypeCasaniambfollowedbyatrochee,ontheotherhand,seemsparticularlyinappropriateforEddiemetre,sinceithasnotwo-wordmanifestations.In(7), the wordgrouptol gordoconformswelltothe Ssxfootpattern.As inexample(5), therootsyllableof thefiniteverbhas asubordinatephrasalstress thatprovides a goodmatchfor an s position.AlightxfootalsoappearsinthetypeBpatternx/Sxs.The BeowulfpoetobtainsmanySxs wordsforthesecondfootoftypeBbycoiningpoeticcompounds,butthistechniqueisnotemployedsystematicallyinfornyr3islag,andtherelativescarcityofSxscompoundsinOldNorsefurtherrestrictsrealizationof the Sxs footas a singleword.The practiceofskaldicpoetsmakesitclear,however,thatthe Sxs compoundwas stillperceivedas the idealoccupantof theSxs foot.Itis wellknownthatmosta-versesindrottkvaettmetreconsistofanembeddedfornyr3islagversefollowedbyatrochaicword.Kuhnclassifiessucha-versesaccordingtotheSieverstypeof the embeddedverse.Considerthe followingexamplesin whichthe fornyr9islagsegmentsprecedingthe doubleslashcorrespondtotype B verses:(8)lgtum / kenni-Val // kanna45(F39/3)46[xx/Sxs//Sx](9)via / goma sker // glymja47(Fl 1/3)[x/Sxs//Sx]Kuhnstatesthatthe mostcharacteristicrealizationof thetypeB segmentisasin(8),withanunstressedfunctionwordfollowedbyanSxscompound.48In(9), the Sxs footof the verseis occupiedby thegenitivephrase gomasker.Kuhnanalysesa phraseemployedinthisway as a wordgroupthatcorrespondstoaNominalkompositum(acompoundwithnominaloradjectivalconstituents).49Thisisexactlythecorrespondencepositedinthe word-footanalysisof typeB, whichconsistsof afunction44Thereare about100 of thesein Beowulf "andover200 in the smallerNorsecorpus.45'Let us cause the adventuroushorse(i.e.,the ship)toexplore4 6For thereader'sconvenience,IsupplyexamplesfromFrank,Old NorseCourtPoetry,whichprovidesfullglossingand commentary.The notation' F39/ 3'indicatesline3 ofFrank'sstanza 39-47' to resoundagainstthe skerriesof the gums(i.e., the teeth). . . '4 8Drdttkvattyp.141.4 9Ibid.24Thefootwordandacompoundinthesimplestcase.Drottkvaettisanotoriouslystrictmetre,imposingconstraintsondeviationfromunderlyingmetricalpatternsmuchmorenarrowthanthoseof fornyr3islag.Theskaldsgiveusvaluableinformationaboutunderlyingpatternswhentheyincorporatefornyr3islagversesassubconstituents.Thetechniqueofpoeticcom-pounding,thoughlittleusedinEddiepoetry,isextremelyproductiveindrottkvaett.ManyskaldicneologismsareSxscompoundsthatfillthecomplexSxsfootinthemostdesirableway.AlthoughtypeBverseshadbecomemoredifficulttoassociatewithunderlyingtwo-wordpatterns,theyclearlyremainedviable.ThepreferredrealizationofatypeCsegmentinskaldicversecorrespondstotwo-wordEddieverseslikeexample(6),withafunctionwordfollowedbyanSsxcompound.Evidenceisevenclearerforthispattern,nodoubtbecausecompoundsthatfilledtheSsxfootwerereadytohandandrequirednospecialneologisticefforts.AccordingtoKuhn,variantswithawordgroupintheSsxsegmentoccursorarelythattheymighthave beenregardedas lapses.50EXTRAMETRICALWORDSSieversassignssyllableswithzerostresstoanundifferentiatedthesis,whichmaycontaintwoormoresuchsyllables.Withinthetheoryproposedhere,ontheotherhand,eachunstressedsyllablenormallyoccupiesitsowndistinctxposition.TheonlyexceptionsareforcasesofelisionorresolutionsanctionedbylabellingruleRi b,whichallowstwosyllablestooccupyone metricalpositionunderspecialconditions.Ifthesespecialconditionsdonotobtain,anunstressedsyllableof astressedwordmustoccupyanxpositioninthemetricalpatternproper.Unstressedfunctionwords,however,mayoccupyextrametricalxpositionsasundefinedlinguisticmaterial,inaccordwiththedefinitionof'word'(provisionDid).Forourcomparativepurposes,thefollowingextrametri-calityrule willsuffice:50Ibid.,p.142.AnexampleofskaldictypeCwithanSsxwordgroupisHeyrIMimsvinarIImina(Fl 1/1),whichappearsinthesamestanzaasexample(9),thecomplexvariantofskaldictypeBwithanSxswordgroup.Toleranceforwordgroupswithinthefootevidentlyvariedfromoneskaldtoanother.Kuhn'sparadigmaticformofskaldictypeCis exemplifiedby atI forsnjallirII fellu(F7/5).25Beowulf and Old Germanic metreR3Unstressedwordsmayappearbeforeeitherfoot(asconsistentwithP2).TheparenthesizedphraseinR3isareminderthatfeetmustbereadilyidentifiable.Aswithotherdeviationsfromthenorm,employmentofextrametricalsyllablesmustnotmakeitimpossiblydifficulttorecovertheunderlyingtwo-wordpatternof theverse.Extrametricalwordsclearlystandbeforeratherthanafteranadjacentfoot,sincetheyoftenappearverse-initiallyandnever appearverse-finally.51Thefollowingexampleillustratesemploymentofanextrametricalwordin verse-medialposition:(10)Heidi / (hana) heto52(Vsp 22/1)[Sx/(xx)Sx]Heretheinflectional-/,aspartofthestressedwordHeidi, occupiesanxpositioninthefirstfoot.Theunstressedpronounhanastandsoutsidethefoot,however.NoSxxxfootpatterncanexistinEddiemetresbecausenoOldNorsewordshavethis pattern.Withhana excluded,the verse hasthecommontypeAlpatternSx/(xx)Sx,wheretheparenthesesencloseextrametricalpositionsbeforethesecondfoot(notethatparenthesesarealsousedtoenclosetheextrametricalwordinthemarked-upcitationofthecorrespondingverseabove). Theparenthesizedmaterialis placedaftertheslashtoindicatethatitstandsbeforethesecondfootofexample(10)ratherthanafterthefirstfoot.Aswehaveobserved,theforcefulprimarystressofOldNorsehadastronglysubordinatingeffectonunstressedfunctionwords,reducingprefixestorootonsetsandencliticformstosecondaryaffixesorinflec-tions.Metricalsubordinationofcomparablestrengthwouldbeexpectedtorestrictemploymentofextrametricalconstituentsinfornyr5islag.IfNorselinguisticstresspromotedincorporationofcliticsintowordslikevildo andvantattu,Eddiemetricalstressshouldpromoteincorporationofxpositionsintofeet.ThetersenessoftheEddieformisinfactoneofitsmostconspicuousstylisticfeatures.53Stringsof functionwordsemployedbytheBeowulfpoetaresignificantlylonger,onaverage,thanthoseemployedbytheNorsepoets.54Asweshallseeinch.4,Eddiepoets5 1Anyext ramet ri calwordsi nt hemi ddl eoft hel i newi l lobeyconst rai nt sont heb-verse.SeeOEM,2. 2.5 2' TheycalledherHeiSi. . . '5 3DGVyp .4 1 .5 4SeeAGM,43and82.26The footTable2.2 OldNorse verse patternsPatternx/Sxxx/Ssxx/Sxsxx/Sxxx/Ssxx/Sxxxx/Ssxxx/Sxsxxx/Sxxx/Sxxxx/SsS/SxxS/SsxS/SxsSx/SSx/SxSx/SsSx/SxxSx/SsxSs/SxSs/SsSxx/SSxx/SxSxx/SsSsx/SSteven typeCCBA3A3CCBnoneA3A3DaDaDbnoneAlA2DaxDaxA2A2noneAlA2EExampleoc /fnasa9i55oc / morcWarga56J)6tt /oscabyrr57verda /flestir58{)eir er /midgard59verQa /gflgari60mundo /einheriar61Bidiom /Heriafpdr62Piqvad>at /Porr63Ertattu / vglva64Kiosattu /Hiorvard65mpn /iafnadi66briotr /berg-Dana67Haraldr /hilditgnn68krasa /beztr69tangir / scopo70Sotti /Sigriin71bita / hvassara72fello /eitrdropar73hardradr /Hymir74vindgld, /vargpld75k9llo3o / Karl76vantattu/vfgi77svortver5a / solscin78gullhyrndar /kyr79(Prk13/2)(Vsp39/4)(HHII32/3)(Hdl 49/3)(Vsp 4/3)(HH7/51/5)(HH38/5)(Hdl2l\)(Prk17/1)(Bdr 13/5)(HHv3/1)(Prk 6/6)(Hym 17/7)(Hdl28/1)(^4/10)(Vsp 111)(HHII14/1)(Prk 251 A)(Vsp38/5)(Hym10/3)(Vsp 45/9)(Rp2l/3)(HHII 28/5)(V^4l/5)(HHv4/3)5 5' and she snort ed. . . '5 6' and mur der ouswret ches . . . "5 7' t hought he wi nd(follows). . . 'Parent hesi zedel ement swi l lbesuppl i edoccasionallyfromnei ghbour i ngversest o maket he t ransl at i onscompr ehensi bl e.5 8' mostof t hemare dest i ned. . . '5 9' t hosewho (made)t heeart h6 0' theybecomest ronger. . . '6 l' O9i nn' shostwoul dhave(fought )6 2' Let us ask O5i nn. . . "6 3' ThenPorrsaidt hefol l owi ng6 5' Do not chooseHiorvarQ . . . "6 7' destroyerof gi ant s6 9' bestof del icatefoods7 1' Si grunsought7 3' poi sondropsfell. . . '7 4' cruelHymi r7 6' t heynamedhi mKar l7 8' t he sun' sl i ghtwi l lbe di mme d. . . '6 4' Youare not asybil6 6' he t r i mmed(horses' )manes' .6 8' Haral dWar - t oot h . . . "7 0' theymadesmi t h' st ongs7 2' eat mor evoraciously' .7 5' an age of st or m,a wolf-age. . . '7 7' you coul dnot st opt hebat t l e7 9' gol d- hor nedcattl e27Beowulf and Old Germanic metreeliminatedanentirecategoryofextrametricalsyllables,theanacruses,atthe earliestopportunity.ALISTOFATTESTEDFOOTPAIRINGSTable2.2providesasimpleexampleforeachreliablyattestedversepatterninourOldNorsecorpus.Patternsarearrangedaccordingtolength(numberofmetricalpositions)andweight(numberofSandspositions),beginningwiththoseinwhichthefirstfootisrelativelylightandshort.ThefamiliarSieverstypeis providedforeachpatternroutinelyemployedbyOldEnglishas wellas OldNorse poets.Thenotation'none'indicatesthatthepatternfallsoutsidethefive-typessystemandisnotreliablyattestedinBeowulf.Notincludedinthetablearesomeextremelyrare shortpatterns(discussedinch.3) thatmayhavebeenacceptableonlyin Rigspula and Hyndloliod.283The verseTheBeowulf poethadtomaintainthesenseofatwo-wordversenormwhileemployingextrametricalwordsbeforethefootandwordgroupswithinthefoot.Thistaskwasparticularlychallengingbecauseversepatternsweresonumerousandbecausetheyoccurredatunpredictableintervals.1 Withno advance knowledgeof the poet'smetricalintentions,the audience had to recover the underlyingtwo-wordpatternin each casefromthelinguisticmaterialof the verse. OldEnglishpoets were willingtolimitthefrequencyofcomplexvariants,andtheydidexcludesomeverse patterns fromthe metrical system altogether (e.g. Sxs/S, Ssx/Sx, Sxx/S). Such constraints were imposedonly when there was a serious threattometricalcoherence,however.Thepoetsseemtohaveexploitedeveryviable two-word pattern available to them.Linguistic developmentscould affectthe way in which metrical varietywasreconciledwithacleartwo-footstructure.IfchangesinOldNorsemadea givenpatternmoredifficulttorecoverfromlinguisticmaterial,wewouldexpectthatpatterntobeusedlessoftenoreliminated.Iflinguisticobstaclestoscansionof a givenpatterndisappearedfromOldNorse,ontheotherhand,we wouldexpectthatpatterntobeexploitedfor metrical variety. OldNorse poets did employ verse patternsnotfoundinBeowulf,andtheydidminimizeorabandonuseofcertainpatternsattestedinOldEnglishpoems.Withintheword-footframework,thesedifferencesbetweenthetwotraditionscanbeseenasshrewdartisticresponses to divergentlinguistic histories.1See R.Lehmann,'BrokenCadences'.29Beowulf and Old Germanic metreSOMEIMPOSSIBLEVERSEPATTERNSEmploymentof procliticsinverse-finalpositionisblockedbyauniversalprincipleof syntacticintegrity:UlWhenidentificationofverseboundariesisproblematic,versescorrespondingtonaturalsyntacticunitsarepreferred.ThisprincipleappliesquitestrictlytoGermanicmetres,withtheirproblematicvarietyof footpatternsandverse patterns.Anyprocliticafterthelaststressedwordofaversebelongstothefollowingverse,andwillobeyallrulesapplyingtothatverse.ANorseversecanendwithanenclitic,butthiscountsaspartofthestressedwordtowhichitisattached.2Ifanencliticoccupiedanxfootinverse-finalposition,theverse-medialfootboundarywouldfailtocoincidewitha wordboundary,inviolationofbracketingruleR2a.BecauseUlexcludeslightfeetfromfinalpositionindependently,wedonotneedadditionalrulestoblockreversedtypeB andC patternssuchas Sxs/x andSsx/x.3SkaldicpracticeshowsthatreversedBandCpatternsdoarisewhenprocliticscanoccupyan x footinsecondposition:(1)Miklagards / fyr // bardi4(F4116)[Sxs/x//Sx](2)hardmuladr / es // Skuli5(F29/4)[Ssx/x//Sx]Thefornyrdislagsegmenttotheleftofthedoubleslashin(1)consistsofanSxs compoundfollowedbya preposition.Ifthissegmentappearedas acompleteverse, fyrwouldviolatetherequirementofsyntacticintegrity;butindrottkvaett,a prepositioninthe secondfootmaybe proclitictothetrochaicwordinthethirdfoot.Kuhnassociatesthefornyr3islagsegmentinexampleslike(1)withtypeA2(Sx/Ss),butthisseemsquiteunnatural.6Prepositionsarenormallyunstressedwhentheyappearimmediatelybeforethegovernednoun,andwouldnotbeexpectedtooccupys positions.Itseemsmostplausibletoscan(1)asSxs/x//Sx,withthefornyrSislagsegmentderivedbyreversalofthetypeBpatternx/Sxs.2See above, p.17.3A generaldiscussion of reversal willbe providedlater inthischapter.4'(Theroofs)of Constantinoplebeforethe prow5'(Duke)Skuliis hard-mouthed(i.e., callous). . .'6Drottkvcett, 59-30TheverseExample(2)seemstoscanmostplausiblyasSsx/x//Sx,withthefornyr3islagsegmentderivedbyreversalof the typeCpatternx/Ssx.AlthoughKuhnassociatesthefornyrQislagsegmentwithtypeE inexampleslike(2),assigningthe functionwordto aprimaryarsis, heobservesthatsuchsegmentsarereversalsof infelicitoustypeCsegments.7Analysisofthefornyr3islagsegmentasreversedtype C is thussupportedbystylisticevidence.Iknowof noindependentlinguisticevidencethatwouldjustifystressingesin (2).OVERLAP,HYPERMETRICALPATTERNS,ANDSHORTPATTERNSInOldEnglishpoetry,theverse patternSxx/S is eliminatedbyanoverlapconstraint,which I formulateas a universalprinciple:U2Avoidfeetthatresemble verses andversesthatresemblefeet.Whenevera poeticaudienceis requiredto countthenumberof feetperverse,violationof U2willobviouslybe perceivedas afalteringofthemetre. Considerthe following,forexample:(3)*fundode / secg8(cf. Beo1137b)t*Sxx/S](4)waes him / Beowulfessid9(Beo501b)[xx/Sxxs]Ifthe Beowulfpoetemployedverseslike(3),withthe patternSxx/S,manylongtypeB verseswouldlooklikeunmetricalstructuresof threefeet.Verse(4),forexample,mightthenbeinterpretedas*xx/Sxx/S.Becauseverseslike(3) donotoccur,however,theaudiencehas noprecedentfor athree-footanalysisof verseswithasecondfootoftheformSxxs.10Ingeneral,versepatternsare excludedfromthe metricalsystemiftheywouldlooktoo muchlikefootpatternsthatthepoetchoosestoemploy.Complexvariantsof acceptableversepatterns mayalsobe excludediftheyprovidefalseprecedentsforanalysisofmorehighlyvaluedvariants.7Drottkvatt,62.8'themanwaseagertogo . . . "9'tohimBeowulf'sjourneywas10ThesyntacticallyproblematicBeo6ais emendedin Klaeber,and I assumethatit isduetoscribalerror.31Beowulf and Old Germanic metreAlthoughithasarelativelylowfrequency,theversepatternSxx/Soccurs too ofteninour Eddiecorpustoignore.11Considerthefollowing:(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)k9llo3o / Karl12[Sxx/S]Latumat / okkr13[Sxx/S]Freyio at / qvaen14[Sxx/S]ne / nidia in heldr15sem / biorg e5a brim16urn / lpnd oc um lQg17(tf/21/3)(Wk Ang 29a)(Prk 8/8)(HH 12/3)(HH 28/5)(Hdl 24/7)Theparadigmaticexample(5) has a trisyllabicfiniteverbinthefirstfoot.Thefirstfootin(6)isoccupiedbythespecialNorsetypeofSxxword,afiniteverbwithincorporatedenclitics.18Verse(7)representsthevariantofSxx/Sthathasawordgroupinthefirstfoot.Withintheword-footframework,theappearanceof NorseSxx/S versesfollowspredictablyfromeliminationoftheSxxsfoot,whichnolongercorrespondstoaword.NorsepoetscanemployanSxx/S versetypebecausetheyhavenoneedtobeconcernedaboutprecedentsforinterpretationoflongtypeBvariants.The five putativeexamplesof longtypeB inourfornyr3islagcorpusseemquitedoubtful.Verse(8)reducestox/Sxs,sinceRi ballowstheadjacentunstressedvowelsofniSia andintooccupyasinglexposition.In(9),ascribeprobablysubstitutedbisyllabiceSa fortheearliermonosyllabicformedr.In(10) andtwosimilarexamples, a scribe mayhavereintroducedaprepositionthatthepoetfeltfreetoomit.19ItseemsreasonabletoconcludethattheSxxs foothadbeeneliminatedfromthissystem.11Withthe examples cited below cf.Vsp 20/3, 29/2; Hym 3/4,10/5, 34/4; Prk 11/8 (= 8/8), 22/6 (=8/8),18/3; HH2/1, 33/2, 50/2; HHv 33/1,33/12, 42/1; HH II32/1, 32/5,33/1,36/1, 36/3,50/1; Rp 4/8(repeatedonce), 6/1(repeatedtwice),26/4,27/1; Hdl14/1,20/5; andGrt 7/3. Since verses of thissortare repeatedinseveral poems,theirauthenticityiswellestablished.Fordiscussionofputativeexampleswithweaklystressed finite main verbs, see below, p. 134.12'they named himKarl. . . "13'Let us not allow (corpses to frighten)us . . .'14'Freyia as a wife.'15'nor kinsmen more quickly (get wergild). . .'16'as if the cliffs or the sea (were breaking)...'17'by land and by sea18Verses like (6) do nothappento occurinthe corpus proper. Thisexampleis suppliedfromThe Waking of Angantyr,as printedinGordonTaylor, p.143, wherethetextisset out in the long-line format employed by editors of Old English poems.19The other two putative examples of an Sxxs footare sd hon vitt oc um vitt (Vsp 29/5) and32The verseTheBeowulf pottcannotemployanxxxfootbecausenoOldEnglishfunctionwordshavethispattern.InOldNorse,however,xxxfunctionwordslikeertattu arisefromwordgroupsthroughenclisis, andanewxxxfootislicensed:(11)Ertattu / vglva20(Bdr 13/5)[xxx/Sx](12)Pi qvad t>at / I>6rr21(Prk 17/1)[xxx/S]In(11),thexxxfootisrealizedinthesimplestpossibleway,withanxxxword.In(12),thexxxfootisrealizedasawordgroup.Ifanxxfootreplacedthexxxfootin(11), anacceptabletypeA3patternwouldresult.Thexxxfootseemsindispensablein(12),however,sincethepatternxx/Sis otherwiseavoided.22Theoverlapconstraint(U2)representsanintuitiverejectionofversesthatlackacleartwo-footstructure.U2issatisfiedwheneverthepoetfinds a waytodistinguishfeetfromverses.IfU2is a poeticuniversal,wewouldexpectittoapplyinfullgenerality,andthisexpectationisconfirmedbywhatmaylookatfirstlikeoutrightviolations.The BeowulfpoetdoesnotordinarilyemployfeetoftheformSxsx,forexample,sincetheywouldoverlaphigh-frequencyAlversesoftheformSx/Sx.Oldoflopt oc um Igg (HH 21/3). In the latter example, o/andurn are simply variantspellingsofthesame preposition.Bothexceptionsmightbeexplainedas scribalrestorationofthe second preposition, which could have been deletedby the poet. The Heliand, whichmakes extensive use of type B, provides a good example of the deleted preposition: anoI uuif endikind 2871a.Heredeletionof thesecondanoreduceswhatwouldotherwisebe anSxxxs foottoSxxs, whichhas lexicalsupportinOldSaxon (see below, p.140).The deletedelement has evidentlybeen reintroducedby a scribe in Heliand 4483a, anoI uuig endianouuroht.Deletionofsyntacticallyparallelfunctionwordswasprobablymostcommonwhenconjoineditemswerefelttoconstituteanaturalunit(wifeandchild,landandsea) ortobe identical(war andstrife).Since OldNorselongB versesare extremelyrare if notforbidden,itwouldbe implausibleto posita patternx/Sxxxsfor a single verse in our corpus, oc kys ec, patz ec vil (HHv 2/7). This may originally havebeen somethinglike oc I kyzk patz vil, withthe first instance of the pronouncontractedand the second instance deleted.20'You are not a sybil. . . "21'Then Porr said thefollowing22Like (11) are HHv 42/5; Bdr 13/5; Grt 8/1,17/5 and20/7. Like (12) are Vsp33/1; Prk22/1,25/1, 30/1;HH16/5; HHII11/1, 19/5,33/5,33/7, 48/9,51/1;Rp 26/3; Hdl25/3; andGrt15/1. Possibleexamplesof xxx/SsareHHv3/1and10/1, butinbothcases the Ss word is a proper name that mightalso be analysed as Sx.33Beowulf and Old Germanic metreEnglishSxsxcompoundscancountastwowords(seeDie),andmayappearascompleteSx/Sxverses.Inhypermetricalclusters,however,thesametypeofcompoundconstitutesthesecondfootofverseswiththepatternSx/Sxsx.23ThisistolerablebecausethestrategyofclusteringisolatestheSxsx footfromtheSx/Sx verse,enablingtheaudiencetoshiftits metricalexpectationsappropriately.24NativeEddiefornyr3islagisa concise,lightmetre,withrelativelyfewlongorheavy verses.Poetswhousedthismetrelearnedhowtogeneralizetheoverlapconstraint,buttheyemployedsmall verses resemblingnormalfeetratherthanlargefeetresemblingnormalverses.WemightrefertotheshortNorseversesas hypometrical,capturingtheirsymmetricrelation-shiptohypermetricalverses;butitseemslessawkwardsimplytocallthemshort\likeGordon.Someshortpatternshavedoubtfulstatusduetoextremelylowfrequency,butonepatterninparticular,Sx/S,occurstoooftentoignore:(13)krasa / beztr23(Rp 4/10)[Sx/S](14)Dnell oc / Pit26(Rp 11/7)[Sx/S]Example(13)is a two-wordparadigm.In(14), a wordgroupoccupiesthefirstfoot.Gordonderivessuchshortpatternsfromnormalpatternsinearlierverses.27'Afterthesyncopeofunaccentedvowelsintheeighthcentury',hesays,'linesoriginallycontainingtheminimumnumberofsyllableswerereducedbelowthatminimum,andthereducedlinesthencametoberegardedaspermissiblevariantsandwereimitatedinlaterpoems.'Thistypeofreanalysismayaccountnotonlyfortheoriginofshortpatternsbutalsoforthelossofhypermetricalpatterns,whichprobablydidoccurinprehistoricNorsepoetry,sincetheyarerepresentedincognatetraditions.Overlapatbothendsofthescale wouldhavemade2 3AcharacteristicSx/SxsxverseisBeo2996a,mononImiddan-gearde' (any)manonmi ddl e- ear t h' .Cf.t henor malversemiddan-Igeardes' ofmi ddl eeart h'(Beo504band751b) .Ast r i ki ngl yl argepr opor t i onofSxsxcompoundsappearast hemai npar tofahypermet ri calverserat hert hanasacompl et enor malverse(OEM,6. 2) .Thi sisverymuchasexpected,sincecompoundwor dsareingeneralmostnat ural l yi nt er pr et edassinglefeet.Oncet hedangerofoverl apisremoved,alargecompoundispr edi ct edt obehavel ikeanyot hercompound.2 4OEM,ch.6.2 5' bestofdel icatefoods. . .'2 6' Pnel landPi r2 7Gor don- Tayl or ,178.34The verseitimpossiblydifficultto determinethenumberof feetinthe verse.Whensmallfoot-likeverseswereintroduced,large verse-likefeetwouldhavetobeabandoned.TheremainingproblemistoexplaintheacceptabilityoftheSx/Spattern,howeverderived.Traditionalonemightaccountforafewshortversesasarchaicsurvivals,butnopatterncouldbeusedsystematicallyinaword-footmetreunlessitstwo-footstructurewasemphasizedinsome way.Somepoetsinourfornyr3islagcorpusmaynothaveacceptedtheSx/Spattern.NoexamplesoccurinGrottasgngr. AsingleexampleinHy-misqvida(7/2)seems doubtful;andthethreeexamplesintheHelgipoemsmightalsobe questioned.28OnlyRigspula andHyndloliSS makegenuinelysystematicuseofSx/Sverses.Ifsuchversescreatedseriousproblemsofmetricalambiguity,theywouldcertainlydosoinRigspula,whichhastwenty-fiveexamples.29Here,ifanywhere,employmentofSx/SverseswouldwarrantinterpretationoftypeBversesasunmetricalsequencesoftheform*x/Sx/S. ThepoetdifferentiatestheSx/S verse carefullyfromtheSxsfootoftypeB,however,byimposingunusuallystrictconstraintsonlabellingmismatches:(15)Gecc / Rigr at t>at30(14/1)[x/Sxs](16)oc / hiorvi bra31(37/8)[x/Sxs](17)oc / keyra plog32(22/8)[x/Sxs](18)moetti / harm33(39/5)[Sx/S]Examples(15)and(16)showthepoet'scharacteristichandlingoftypeB.Theseversesendinafunctionwordorfiniteverbwithasubordinatestressappropriatetoa verse-finals position.MorethanhalfofthetypeB28ManuscriptA(CodexArnamagnaeanus758,4 ) has dag frdliga,an ordinarytype Davariant,ratherthandag pannframfor Hym7/2.HHv 111and43/ 2wouldscanasSxx/Sifthepronounswerecontracted.HH II33/11is emendedfromheflireigimattohefliramatin twoearlyeditions.TheemendationscansasSxx/SratherthanSx/S.SeeNeckel -Kuhn,pp.89and157.29Rp 4/ 2,4/ 10,7/4,8/4, 10/6,11/7,11/8,12/14,16/2,16/ 3,16/10,23/ 7,27/ 3,29/ 1,31/2,31/4,34/ 5,37/ 2,37/ 3,37/6,39/ 5, 41/ 4, 41/ 7,41/ 8and41/ 9.30' Rigrleftthen. . . "31'andbrandishedthesword. . . "32'andto plough' .33'hemet. . .'35Beowulf and Old Germanic metreverses inRigspula (12/22)endwiththephraseat pat,and five of theseareoutrightrepetitions.34Afterthefirstsuchversewasanalysed,theotherswouldbeeasy to interpret.OnlythreeothertypeB versesarelike(17),whichendswitha fullystressednoun.35ThepoetfillstheSx/Spatternquitedifferently.Intwenty-fourexamples,thereis astronglystressednounor adjectiveon theverse-finalS position,as in (13)and(14).Theonlyanomalyis (18),whichendswitha functionword,presenting theappearanceof an Sxs footratherthananSx/S verse. Theconspicuousefforttomitigateoverlapin Rigspula givesus a kindof insightintoGermanicversecraftnot availablefroma poetwhostayswellawayfromareas ofpotentialambiguity.Theauthorof Hyndloliod employstheSx/S patternwithsimilarcare. Infive examples, a stronglystressednounoradjectivefillsthesecondfoot.36Verse29/3,theoneputativeexampleendingin afiniteverb,is a site ofeditorialemendation,andthe similarBdr11/5is generallyregarded asinauthentic.37NeckelandKuhnrecordnoemendationsforthecharacter-istic varietyof Sx/Swith a stronglystressedwordoccupyingtheS foot.Thepriorityof Sx/Samongshortpatternswasobservedlongago byHeusler.38Thispatternhas astraightforwardexplanationwithin ourtheoreticalframework.As we haveobserved,syncopationand loss ofinfixeseliminatedmanySxs compoundsfromOld Norse.39Whenitbecamemoredifficultto associate wordgroupswiththemarginalSxsfootpattern,therewouldhavebeenanincreasingtendencytoregardsuchgroupsastwo-wordexpressionsofanSx/Sversepattern,especiallywhenthelastwordhad prominentstress.SHORTVERSEPATTERNSOFRESTRICTEDDISTRIBUTIONSomeshortpatternsmay havebeenacceptableonlyinRigspula andHyndloliod:34RP2/1is repeatedas 6/ 3,20/ 3and33/ 7. Rp 6/5is repeatedas 20/ 5and33/ 9. Theot herverseswi t hat patare Rp4/ 5, 9/ 1, 9/ 5,14/ 1and38/ 1.Theremai ni ngtype Bversesare Rfi24/ 3,31/ 8,37/ 4,37/ 8,39/ 4,45/ 6,47/ 2,48/ 1and 48/ 5.35Cf.24/ 3,31/ 8and 48/ 1.36Hdl6/ 8,7/ 9,17/ 3,22/ 1and25/ 9-37SeeNeckel - Kuhn,pp.279and293.Vsp31/ 8, t heoneput at i veSx/Sverseint hepoem,isextremelyprobl emat i c,sinceit consistsof anSxs compound.Theremai ni ngclearcasesofSx/Sinour corpushavea fullystressedwordont he Sfoot{Prk17/2and18/ 3;Bdr2/2 and13/4).38Versgescbichte,235.39See above, p.17, n.18, andp.20.36The verse(19)Breidr, / Bondi40(Rp 24/5)[S/Sx](20)sonr/huss41(RpU/4)[S/S](21)oc / Hiordis42(Hdl 26/3)[x/Ss](22)Rei5 / Konr ungr43(Rp 46/1)[x/Ss]Five exampleslike(19)appearinthetwo poemswiththelargestnumberofshortvariants.44Theseversesseemacceptabletotheeditors,butNeckelKuhnrecordsemendationsforfourofsixputativeexamplesinotherpoems.45Thehighfrequencyof Ssx compoundsgiveshighprioritytotheSsx footinfornyrc$islag,repressingemploymentoftheoverlappingS/Sxversepattern.Sscompoundsarealsomostnaturallyinterpretedasfeet,andemploymentofS/Sversesisaccordinglyrepressed.Theveryshort(20)isoneofjusttwoS/Sversesinthecorpus.Verse(21)isatwo-wordexpressionofthepatternx/Ss.Twootherx/Ssvariantslike(22)occurinR/gspula.46Shortpatternsthatraisedoubtsinfornyr5islagwouldnotdosoinIj63ahattr,whichcapitalizesonstanzaicstructuretofacilitatescansion.Thecharacteristichalf-stanzainthismetreisasetofthreeverseswithgraduallyincreasingsyllabiccount.Asthefirstmemberofsuchaset,ashortverseisisolatedaboutaseffectivelyas ahypermetricalOldEnglishverse inacluster.47DEVIATIONFROMTHENORMANDRELATIVEFREQUENCYThemostcommontypeof OldNorsewordhasa trochaicpattern,withalongrootsyllablefollowedbyanovertinflectionalending.Thiscorre-4 0'BreiSrand Bondi. . .'4 l' the son of the house. . .' See Rp8/9-42'andHiordis. . .'4 3' YoungKonrrode4 4Cf.RP 8/7; Hdl9/2,10/2 and29/ 7.45Cf.Vsp 16/8; HH21/5 and25/ 1; HHII3/7; Bdr4/4and 6/8.4 6Cf.28/2 and43/ 1.47ThefirsttenstanzasofHdvamdl,forexample,containsevenshortverses,eachplacedfirstinitshalf-stanza( 2/ 1,2/4,3/ 1,4/ 1,5/ 1,8/1and9/1).Snorri'sparadigmaticstanzainHdttatalregularizesthisarrangement,withthefirstverseofthehalf-stanzaalwaysshort,thesecondalwayslonger,andthethirdalwayslongest.SeeFaulkes,Hdttatal,p.39; Russom,' EddieMeters' .37Beowulf and Old Germanic metrespondstotheunmarkedorsimplestformoftheGermanicfoot,representedbyDresherandLahiriastheprivilegedpatternofword-levelphonology.48InnativeEddiefornyr3islag,Sxisaccordinglythe standardfoot.Inrelationtothisstandard,a footwithonemetricalpositionisshortanda footwiththreemetricalpositionsis long.AfootwithnoS positionislightinrelationtotheSx standard.AfootwithanS positionandanspositionisheavy.Thestandard verseiteratesthestandardfoottoproducethepatternSx/Sx,whichhasfourmetricalpositions(SieverstypeAl).Ashort verse hasfewerthanfourmetricalpositions; a long verse has morethanfour.DuetoeliminationofSxxsfromthefornyr3islagsystem,noNorsefoothas thelengthof a standardverse. InrelationtotheSx/Sx standard,aversewithonlyonearsisisultra-light.AversewithtwoS positionsandan s positionis heavy.TheSs/Ss patternis ultra-heavy.I referto verseswitha lightfootanda heavy footasbalanced.InOldEnglishpoetry,ashortfootalwayspairswithalongfoottoproduceaversepatternwithatleastfourmetricalpositions.49WemustallowforshortOldNorsepatterns,however,atleastinsome poems.Thefollowingdetailrulesarepresentedinageneralizedformapplicabletonative Eddiefornyr9islagas wellas Beowulf.R4aA shortfootis normallybalancedbya longfootandvice versa.R4bAlightfootis normallybalancedbya heavyfootandvice versa.R4cOnlyone footmaybelong.Aswehaveseen,NorsepoetsimposeespeciallystrictconstraintsonlabellingmismatchesinversesthatareabnormallyshortbythestandardofR4a.TYPEAThestandardpatternSx/Sxhasthehighestfrequency,comprisingabout32percentof theversesinBeowulf"and about33percentof theversesinourNorsecorpus.OftheSx/SxversesemployedinBeowulf,about45percentconsistoftwotrochaicwords,withnoextrametricalsyllables.ThecorrespondingfigurefortheNorsecorpusis51percent.Obviously,bothOldNorseandOldEnglishpoetsreturnedwithgreatfrequencytothemetricalcentre.Thetwotraditionsalsoshowsimilarfrequenciesforthe4 8See above, p.16.4 9OEM,2.5, rule13a.38The verseremainingpatternsclassifiedas A1orA2bySievers(Sxx/Sx,Ss/Sx, Sx/Ss,Ss/Ss,Sxx/Ss).50ThereisasignificantcontrastwithrespecttotypeA3.Thepatternxx/Sxhasafrequencyof5percentinBeowulf,butintheNorsecorpusitsfrequencyisdoubled,risingto10percent.TheA3subtype xx/Ssis notuncommoninfornyr3islag,witha frequencyof about2percent,whereasinBeowulf thefigureislessthanhalfofonepercent.Here fornyr9islagshowsits well-knownbias towardthelighterpatterns.TYPEBAsexpected,weaksupportfortheSxsfootintheNorselexicalinventoryhasproducedasharpdropinthefrequencyoftypeB.InBeowulfx/Sxsandxx/Sxspatternshaveacombinedfrequencyof13 percent,butabouthalfthat,7percent,intheNorsecorpus.InBeowulfthelongtypeBpatternsx/Sxxsandxx/Sxxshaveacombinedfrequencyof3percent,withabout170instances;infornyr3islag,completelackofsupportforthe Sxxs footinthelexicalinventoryhas reducedlongB to a fewdoubtfulexampleslike (9) and(10) above.Anindependentestimateofcomplexitycanbederivedfromtheproportionofa-versestob-verses,whichisaffectedbyaprincipleofclosure:U3Minimizecomplexitytowardthe endof theline.Thisseemsquiteclearlytobe a poeticuniversal.51Becauseof U3,a versepatternthatbecomesmorecomplexduetolanguagechangewillbemorelikelytoappearinthefirsthalfoftheline.InBeowulf28percentofthetypeBvariantsarea-verses(excludingvariantswithasecondfootoftheformSxxs,whichhavenoEddieequivalents).IntheNorsecorpus,thefigurejumpsquiteremarkably,to75percent.50TheSs/Sxpatternhas afrequencyofabout4percentinBeowulfandabout6percentinourNorsecorpus.Sx/Ss:Beowulf2percent,Norsecorpus1 percent.Sxx/Sx:1 percentinbothcorpora.Sxx/SsandSs/Ss:lessthan1 percentinbothcorpora.Inderivingthesestatistics,complexfeetoftheformxxandSxx arepositedonlywhereasimplerscansionwouldresult.Otherwise,thesequencesxxandSxxareanalysedasrelativelysimplefeetof theformx,S, orSx accompaniedbyextrametricalunstressedwords(seeOEM,5.5).Onlyaroughstatisticaloverviewofversetypeswillbeprovidedinthischapter,withfiguresroundedtothenearestpercentinmostcases.Formoredetailedtreatment,see chs. 6 and8.51See Hayes,'Grid-basedTheory' ,p.373; OEM, 5. 3.39Beowulf and Old Germanic metreTYPECInBeowulf,thetypeCpatternsx/Ssxandxx/Ssxhaveacombinedfrequencyof17percent.IntheNorsecorpus,theircombinedfrequencyrisesto23percent.ThesimplicityoftheSsxfootrelativetotheSxsfootisparticularlyevidentintheNorsecorpus.Theword-foottheorypositsadistinctultra-lighttypeCpatternwithasecondfootoftheformSxx.InBeowulf>72percentofthevariantswiththispatternarea-verses;intheNorsecorpus,about70percent.52Distributionofthemorecommonx/Ssxandxx/Ssxpatternsgoestheotherway.InBeowulf,about46percentofthesearea-verses;intheNorsecorpus,onlyabout32percent.Itseemsclearthatthepatternsx/Sxxandxx/Sxxweredistinguishedfromx/Ssxandxx/Ssx.Sincetheultra-lightpatternsdeviatefromstandardweight,theywouldnaturallytendtoappearmoreofteninthefirsthalfoftheline,thepreferredsiteforcomplexverses(see U3).TYPEDAlthoughtheyarelessconcernedthanOldEnglishpoetsaboutthesubstandardweightofverseswithalightfootandanormalfoot,OldNorse poetsadheremore scrupulouslytotheVice versa' provisionofR4b,whichpromotesemploymentof a lightfoottooffsettheextraweightof aheavyfoot.RecallthatthedeclineinthefrequencyoftypeB(x/Sxs, xx/Sxs)isaccompaniedbyariseinthefrequencyoftypeC(x/Ssx,xx/Ssx).Onthisanalogy,wemightexpectthefrequencyofS/SsxversestoriseifthereisadeclineinthefrequencyofS/Sxs verses.Thefrequencyof S/Sxs(typeDb)doesfallsignificantly.InBeowulf^thispatternoccurswithafrequencyof2percent;intheNorsecorpus,itsfrequencyisnomorethan1 percent.Thenumberof NorseDbverses genuinelycomparabletothoseinBeowulf \s verysmall.Mostputativeexamplescanbeanalysedas52The OldEnglishexamples are Beo96a,115a,144a, 480a,536a,630a,1363a,2177a,2766a,2933a,2985a,3159a,3178a; 292b, 560b,1819b, 2619b and3103b.Putativeadditions to this list are 898a, 3042a,1944a, 2253a and379b. The Old Norse a-versesare Prk11/1;HH23/7; HHv5/1; HH II 4/5,5/5,5/7,6/7,22/7,51/5; Rp 45/5; Hdl29/1,50/7; andGrt 6/5. OldNorseb-verses: Hym 30/6; Prk 1/2,1/4,10/2,13/2; andGrt9i'4. WithregardtoHHII5/5,5/7and6/7,whichhaveSxxwordgroups,seebelow,pp.134-5.AgeneraldiscussionoftheNorseSxxfootisprovidedbelowonpp.114-16.40The verseSxx/SorS/Sxxinstead.53The frequencyof S/Ssx(typeDa) doesnotrise,however.InBeowulf\thispatternaccountsfor6percentoftotalverses,butthefigureactuallyfallsslightlyintheNorsecorpus,to5 percent.ThemoresevererestrictiononthefrequencyoftheNorseSxsfootisaccompaniedby an independentrestrictionon heavyverses generally. Theword-foottheorypositsa distinctDa patternS/Sxx withstandardweight.Asexpected,thisisimmunetotheNorsebiasagainstheavyverses,holdingat slightlymore than2 per centin the Norsecorpus, as comparedwithslightlyless than2 per centin Beowulf.TYPEEAheavyfootusuallyfollowsthelightfootofaversewiththenormalnumberofstresses(seeR4b).HeavyfeetalsostandsecondintypeDpatterns,whichhaverestrictedfrequencydue totheirextraweight.TypeEpatternSsx/Sisheavy,liketypeD,andtheunexpectedpositionof itscompoundfootaddsadditionalcomplexity.Irefertopatternswithacompoundfootin first positionas reversed.About7 per centof totalversesin Beowulf havethe patternSsx/S. ItisdifficulttocomputetotalfiguresforNorsetypeEduetouncertaintyaboutthe stressof medialfiniteverbs.54Therelativelysevererestrictionsonthistypeshowupclearlyinthedistributionofunambiguoustwo-wordexamples,however:(23)sincfage / sel55(Beo167a)(24)gullhyrndar / kyr56(HHv 4/3)Two-wordE verseslike(23) accountfor about5 per centof totalversesinBeowulf.Analogousexampleslike(24)accountforonlyabout2percentoftotalversesinthefornyrSislagcorpus,whereSsx compoundsaremoreoftencombinedwitha lightfoottoformbalancedtypeCvariants.Theincreasedcomplexityof NorsetypeEinteractswiththe principleofclosure(U3). InBeowulfverseswiththestructureof(23) appearinthesecondhalfofthelineabouttwotimesoutofthree.OnlyhalfofthecomparableNorse verses appearin thislocation.As withNorsetype B, an53See below, p.134.54See below, pp.133-5.55'hallshiningwithtreasure. . .'56'gold-hornedcattle .41Beowulf and Old Germanic metreincreaseinmetricalcomplexityisaccompaniedbyadeclineinthefrequencyof b-versesrelativetoa-verses.57TheBeowulf poetalwaysaccompaniesa shortfootwitha longfoot,butaswehaveseen,someNorsepoetsemployashortpatternSx/S.Ontheotherhand,Norsepoetslessoftendisregardthe'viceversa'provisionofR4a,whichpromotesemploymentofashortfoottooffsettheabnormallengthofafootwiththreemetricalpositions.About2percentoftheversesinBeowulf havetheexpandedDapatternSx/SsxorSx/Sxx,withalongfootaccompaniedbyastandardfootratherthanashortfoot.IntheNorsecorpus,thefigurefallstolessthanone-halfofonepercent,withtenexamplesin all.58 AboutthirtyexpandedDbverses of theformSx/SxsappearinBeowulfTo Norsepoets,however,thespecialcomplexityoftheSxs footseemstohavebeenunacceptableinversesthatwere alsocomplexwithrespecttolengthandweight.59BothOldNorseandOldEnglishpoetsadheredtothefollowingconstraints:57Thehigherfrequencyofb-versesintypeE,ascomparedwithtypeDa,isduetoconstraintsonalliteration.AnytypeEvariantmaybeusedwi t hsinglealliterationintheb-verse,whereasmanyvariantsoftypeDarequiredoublealliterationandarerestrictedtothea-versefort hatreasonalone(OEM,8.2).Unl i ketypeDvariants,typeEvariantsoftenendwi t hfiniteverbs,whichare especiallyappropriateonaline-finalarsis(see below,p.126). Assignmentof typeE totheb-verseisthuspromot edbyfactorsindependentofmetricalcomplexity.Thecomparativeevidenceallowsusto seethattypeEdoesindeedrespondtotheprincipleofclosure(U3),t houghthisisnotobviousfrominspectionofonetradition.Wi t hi neac