On Translating Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien

Author:J.R.R. Tolkien [Tolkien, J.R.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0100-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

5 It is a habit of many glossaries to Old English texts to record, in addition to a genuine translation, also

that modem word which is (or is supposed to be) derived from the Old English word, and even to print this

etymological intruder in special type so that it is impressed on the eye to the disadvantage of the correct

rendering. The habit is pernicious. It may amuse the glossators, but it wastes space upon what is in the

circumstances an irrelevance. It certainly does not assist the memory of students, who too often have to learn

that the etymological gloss is worse than useless. Students should handle such glossaries with suspicion. The

reading of Beowulf is an opportunity for learning the Old English language and mastering a form of poetic

expression. Lessons in the later history of English were better reserved for other occasions.

more than just indicating the general scope of their sense: for instance, contenting oneself with

'shield' alone to render Old English bord, lind, rand and scyld. The variation, the sound of different words, is a feature of the style that should to some degree be represented, even if the differences of

original meaning are neglected by the poet or no longer remembered-events which in early Old

English poetry probably occurred far less often than is sometimes supposed. But in cases where Old

English has built up a long list of synonyms, or partial equivalents, to denote things with which

Northern heroic verse was specially concerned - such as the sea, and ships, and swords, and

especially men (warriors and sailors), it will sometimes be found impossible to match its richness of

variation even with the most indiscriminate collection of words. For man in Beowulf there appear at least ten virtual synonyms: beorn, ceorl, freca, guma, hæleð and hæle, leod, mann and manna, rinc, secg, and wer. 6 This list can be extended to at least twenty-five items by the inclusion of words whose sense remained in varying degrees more specific, though in heroic verse they could as a rule

replace the simple mann: words implying noble birth such as æðeling and eorl; meaning youths or young men, such as cniht, hyse, maga, mecg; or denoting the various companions, followers, and servants of lords and kings, such as gædeling, geneat, gesið, scealc, ðegn, or explicitly signifying

'warrior', such as cempa, oretta, wiga, wigend. With this list not even a hotch-potch series such as man, warrior, soldier, mortal, brave, noble, boy, lad, bachelor, knight, esquire, fighter, churl, hero, fellow, cove, wight, champion, guy, individual, bloke, will compete: not even in length, certainly not

in fitness. In such a case (the most extreme) we have to be content with less variation - the total

effect is probably not much changed: our ears, unaccustomed to this kind of thing, may be as much

impressed by less. There is, however, no need to increase our poverty by avoiding words of

chivalry. In the matter of armour and weapons we cannot avoid them, since our only terms for such

things, now vanished, have come down through the Middle Ages, or have survived from them.

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