Notes on the Language of Beowulf

Abstract

THE language of Beowulf is, by no means, a pure West Saxon dialect. Though, as a whole, it may be described as West Saxon of the tenth century (the period to which the MS. points), a large number of nonW. S. forms are imbedded in the poem. These non-W. S. forms have been ingeniously used by Ten Brink in support of his hypotheses as to the Mercian and Kentish versions of the poem. Symons (Paul's Grundriss, III. p. 651), on the other hand, goes so far as to describe the results of the higher criticism as highly uncertain, maintaining that 'die Frage, welchem der anglischen Staimme die Ausbildung der Sage zufallt, ist kaum entscheidbar.' It is probable, however, that a scientific study of the material will ultimately throw light on these problems. The difficulty of distinguishing one non-W.S. dialect from another is, at present, the chief stumbling-block. In the following article nothing has been attempted beyond a partial survey of the materials-a complete analysis of the elements in Beowulf still remains to be undertaken.