What question did this study set out to answer?

To explore the grammatical structures and meanings within a specific passage of Old English poetry.

April 24, 2026

Chapter III: Old English Poetry

Key Points

To explore the grammatical structures and meanings within a specific passage of Old English poetry.
Examine the linguistic features of the Offa passage.
Analyze the syntax variations and their implications for understanding the text.
Scan lines for grammatical categorization.
Identified the absence of a verb in a specific line, allowing for different interpretations.
Revealed that certain adjectives can govern various cases depending on their usage.
Clarified the grammatical relationship between substantive and its accompanying elements.

Abstract

This is part of the Offa passage, which may not be quite as old as the original Widsiđ (see Chambers 202), though certainly not a very late interpolation. No verb is expressed in this sentence, and the five words of line 40 permit of certain variations in syntax. From the predication that has preceded, however, something like ‘achieved’, ‘won’ or ‘had’ is understood, thus : ‘No man of the same age won greater valor in single combat than he.‘ I scan line 40a as type C. The word efeneald, whenever it is used as a adjective, may also govern the dative, but it does not govern the dative when used as a substantive, which function it undoubtedly has here. Only the genitive accompanies the substantive in OE : his efeneald, etc., and him would be superfluous if taken with efeneald.

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