136 NOTES AND QUERIES
the neuter. In Old English the form for nom./
acc. pl. of the neuter is used with reference to a
group consisting of a masculine and a feminine
noun.7 Reliable examples of this rule are found
in Genesis B in some passages that precisely
refer to Adam and Eve. In line 810b and wit her
baru standa clearly means and the two of us
stand here naked: baru can be viewed as the
nom. pl. of br in the neuter.8 Corresponding
endingless forms of adjectives with a long
root syllable include l
eof in heo wron leof gode
(line 244b) the two of them were dear to God
and furthermore l
a in t hie wurdon la
gode (line 452b) that the two of them should
become hateful to God, t hie la gode (line
630b) that the two of them (should become)
hateful to God, and y ls gyt la gode (line
576b) lest the two of you (should become)
hateful to God.
Originally these forms are likely to have
belonged to the paradigm of the dual, whose
marker for nominative and accusative was *-
o
in Indo-European thematic stems and fell
together with the ending *-
a found in nom./
acc. pl. of the neuters.9 The resulting Gmc. *-
o
(<IE *-
o and *-
a) yielded *-u
in West-
Germanic and was then shortened in final
position: -u remained in Old English after a
short syllable (baru), but after a long syllable
-u was lost by apocope (l
eof, l
a). Since in the
quoted examples baru, l
eof and l
a refer to
Adam and Eve, it seems indeed likely that the
forms should be viewed as belonging originally
to the dual paradigm.
The same morphological analysis may apply
to geworht. Therefore it can be suggested that
7 no Phoenix critic has failed to note the debt the
See R. Quirk and C. L. Wrenn, An Old English
Grammar (London, 1960), 124. B. Mitchell, Old English
Syntax, I, 38, is somewhat doubtful about the validity of
this rule.
8
The corresponding passage in the Vatican Genesis reads
as follows: uuit hier thus bara standat (Doane, The Saxon
Genesis, 234, line 20); bara is probably plural.
9
On the prehistory of the dual forms see Oswald
Szemerenyi, Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics
(Oxford, 1996), 186, and above all Warren Cowgill, PIE
*duwo 2 in Germanic and Celtic, and the nom.-acc. dual
of non-neuter o-stems, Munchener Studien zur
Sprachwissenschaft, xlvi (1985), 1328 (at 14). The ending
*-
a for nom./acc. pl. of the neuters is ultimately identical
with the ending *-
a in the nominative singular of feminines;
see further Michael-Meier Brugger, Indo-European
Linguistics. With contributions by Matthias Fritz and
Manfred Mayrhofer (Berlin, 2003), F3123.
June 2006
wislice geworht in line 456a means the two
of them wisely created (namely Adam and
Eve).10 It is particularly important to point out
that the past participle geworht also occurs in
Satans speech in which he contrasts Adam and
Eves glorious position with his own misery
in hell:
r geworht stonda
Adam and Eue on eorrice
mid welan bewunden, and we synd aworpene hider
on as deopan dalo
(Genesis B, lines 418b21a)11
In this passage the past participle aworpene
(line 420b) is plural in form because Satan
is referring to himself and his fellow devils.
In contrast to the plural found in aworpene,
the forms geworht (line 418b) and bewunden
(line 420a) are duals: they apply to Adam and
Eve, so that the use of the dual is fully justified.
ALFRED BAMMESBERGER
The Catholic University of Eichstaett
doi:10.1093/notesj/gjl001
The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press.
All rights reserved. For Permissions,
please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
10
Dual constructions like wit Scilling (Widsith, line 103a)
meaning the two of us, namely Scilling and I are discussed
by Mitchell, Old English Syntax, 257.
11
Thorpe translated the passage as follows: where stand
wrought Adam and Eve, on earths kingdom, with weal
encircled, and we are hither cast into this deep den
(Cdmons Metrical Paraphrase, 27).
LATIN SOURCES OF THE
OLD ENGLISH PHOENIX
SINCE J. J. Conybeare translation of
Lactantius 170-line Carmen de aue phoenice,
Anglo-Saxon poet owes to that Latin text.1
Compelling evidence now suggests that the
Phoenix-poet also used elements from three
other Latin poems: Blossius Aemilus
Dracontius De laudibus dei; Alcimus Ecdicius
Avitus De origine mundi; and Flauius
Cresconius Corippus In laudem Iustini
1
J. J. Conybeare, Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry
(London, 1826). M. C. Fitzpatrick argues for Lactantius as
the possible author of the Carmen, in Lactanti De Ave
Phoenice: With Introduction, Text, Translation, and
Commentary: A Thesis (Philadelphia, 1933), 3147. Most
follow Fitzpatrick in this attribution, including N. F. Blake
in The Phoenix (Liverpool, 1964), 17.
June 2006 NOTES AND QUERIES
Augusti minoris. Dracontius and Avitus
poems have clear connections with the opening
of The Phoenix because of their references to
Edens flowers, fragrance, and ever-hanging
fruit. Avitus description of Eden as closed to
sinners also prompts a reading of lines 3b6
that differs from Alfred Bammesbergers recent
interpretation.2 As well, Corippus description
of the crowning of Justin II has suggestive
parallels with the Anglo-Saxon poem. These
textual overlaps suggest that the Phoenix-poet
does not simply expand the Carmen de aue
phoenice; he carefully selects, translates, and
integrates lines from a number of Christian
Latin poems.
Scholars acknowledge that the Phoenix-
poets description of the elast londa
(noblest of lands) follows Christian conven-
tion, but they have not investigated specific
references to patristic accounts of Eden. Cook,
for example, says the Phoenix-poet is working
within a central tradition concerning the
Earthly Paradise.3 He quotes pseudo-Basil as
an example of this tradition: Here, then, God
planted Paradise, where there was neither
violence of winds, nor inclemency of the
seasons, nor hail, etc. But while his note on
The Phoenixs opening lines refers to Latin
poems with paradise imagery similar to the
Carmen, Cook makes no links between these
texts and The Phoenix.4 More recently,
Anderson asks why the Old English poet
amplifies nec tamen aestiuos hiemisue
propinquus ad ortus (Nor yet near the
summer or winter risings) into ten verses.
Anderson acknowledges N. F. Blakes note on
lines from the Odyssey: no snow is there, nor
heavy storm, nor ever rain.5 He points out
that the Phoenix-poet would not have known
the Odyssey, however, and concludes, We will
never be able to identify a specific literary
source [for these lines].6
2
A. Bammesberger, The Old English Phoenix, Lines
3b6, N&Q, ccxlix (2004), 225.
3 No weeping, nor vengeance, no signs of woe,
A. S. Cook, The Old English Elene, Phoenix, and
Physiologus (New Haven, 1919), 102; Cooks source is M.
Manitius, Geschichte der Christlich-Lateinischen Poesie
(Stuttgart, 1891), lii.
4 No struggle of poverty, no lack of riches,
Cook, 347.
5 No sorrow, no sleep, no sore disease,
The Phoenix, 13.
6
E. R. Anderson, Iconicity in Cdmons Hymn and
The Phoenix, in The Motivated Sign, ed. O. Fischer and
M. Nanny (Amsterdam, 2001), 123.
137
It is exactly the kind of expansion Anderson
notices in The Phoenix which motivates a
further search for Latin sources for the poems
detailed account of Eden. For example, in The
Phoenix 5062, many lexical elements overlap
with the Carmen 1525, but items are ordered
differently, omitted, or added. Mors (death)
comes before luctus (sorrow) in the Carmen,
whereas in The Phoenix, wop (weeping) comes
before dea (death). Similarly, morbi (sickness)
occurs at the very beginning of the ne-poly-
syndeton in the Carmen 1525, while leger
(illness) appears at the end of The Phoenix 50
62. Finally, in the Carmen, scelus (crime) and
cupido (greed) are paired in the same line, as the
following passage shows.7
[15] non huc exsangues morbi non aegra senectus
nec mors crudelis nec metus asper adest
nec scelus infandum nec opum uesana cupido
huc meat aut ardens caedis amore furor
luctus acerbus abest et egestas obsita pannis
[20] et curae insomnes et uiolenta fames
Not here comes wan disease, nor sick old age;
Nor cruel death, nor is sharp fear present,
Nor do monstrous crime nor wild greed
Pass here, neither burning with slaughter or frenzied love.
Harsh grief is absent, and poverty covered with rags,
And insomnias cares, and impetuous hunger.
In the corresponding passage in The Phoenix,
however, the poet chooses to omit such things
as hunger and lust. He also omits greed, and
pairs wdle gewin struggle of poverty with
welan onsyn lack of riches in line 55:8
[50] nis r on am londe lagenila
ne wop ne wracu weatacen nan
yldu ne yrmu ne se enga dea
ne lifes lyre ne laes cyme
ne synn ne sacu ne sarwracu
[55] ne wdle gewin ne welan onsyn
ne sorg ne slp ne swar leger
ne wintergeweorp ne wedra gebregd
hreoh under heofonum ne se hearda forst
caldum cylegicelum cnyse nigne
[60] r ne hgl ne hrim hreosa to foldan
ne windig wolcen ne r wter fealle
lyfte gebysgad ac r lagustreamas
Not there in that land are any enemies,
Old age nor sorrow, nor that narrow death,
No loss of life, no evils coming,
No sin, no strife, no misery,
7
Lactanti Carmen De Ave Phoenice, 40.
8
The Phoenix, 46.
138 NOTES AND QUERIES
No winter storms, no turbulent weather,
Rough under heavens, nor the hard frost,
With its cold icicles, bothers anyone.
There, no hail nor hoarfrost falls to earth,
No wind-driven clouds, not there does water fall
Troubled from the sky, but there streams . . .
Other critics take The Phoenix 1419 as an
expansion of the Carmen:
ne mg r ren ne snaw
ne forstes fnst ne fyres blst
ne hgles hryre ne hrimes dryre
ne sunnan htu ne sincaldu
ne wearm weder ne winterscur
wihte gewyrdan
Neither rain nor snow is there,
No frosts snap, no fires blast,
No dropping of hail, no falling of hoarfrost,
No suns heat, no perpetual cold,
No warm weather, no wintershower,
Does harm to that place.
Blake, Cook, Emerson, and Anderson judge
that the source for this passage is the Carmen
34: nec tamen aestiuos hiemisue propinquus
ad ortus/sed qua sol uerno fundit ab axe
diem.9 However, the Carmen 34 does not say
summers heat and winters cold are absent; it
describes the geographical location of paradise,
nor yet near to summer or winters source,
but where the sun scatters daylight from the
spring pole.10 Furthermore, in lines 1419 of
The Phoenix, summer and winter are not
mentioned. Another interpretation of lines
1419 is that they are a different paraphrase
of the Carmens lines 1525.11 However, there
are only three lexical elements common to the
Carmen 1525 and The Phoenix 1418: frost
(if we may equate frost with ice), hoarfrost,
and winter storms.
Another analogue to The Phoenix 1419 is a
passage in Dracontius De laudibus dei, whose
lines on Eden (I.180193) describe a fragrant,
9
The Phoenix, 26; O. F. Emerson, Originality in Old
English Poetry, RES, ii (1926), 1831; Cook, 103;
Anderson, 123.
10
The tenth-century Leidensis Vossianus Q.33 manu-
script of the Carmen has ad hortus, but Fitzpatrick glosses
the line as not near the summer or winter risings. Lactanti
Carmen De Ave Phoenice, 41.
11
J. Steen, Latin Rhetoric and Old English Style,
dissertation, Cambridge University, 2000, 55.
June 2006
blessed land from which is absent a number of
noxious things, namely, hail, ice, and storms.12
[180] est locus interea diffundens quattuor amnes
floribus ambrosiis gemmato caespite pictus
plenus odoriferis nunquam marcentibus herbis
hortus in orbe dei cunctis felicior hortis
fructus inest anni, cum tempora nesciat anni
[185] illic floret humus semper sub uere perenni
arboreus hinc inde comis uestitur amoene
frondibus intextis ramorum murus opacus
stringitur atque omni pendent ex arbore fructus
et passim per prata iacent non solis anheli
[190] flammatur radiis quatitur nec flatibus ullis
nec coniuratis furit illic turbo procellis
non glacies districta domat non grandinis ictus
uerberat, aut gelidis canescunt prata pruinis
There is a place meanwhile where four rivers pour out,
Bejewelled with divine flowers, a decorated turf,
Full of odours. At no time does the grass fail,
A garden in the sphere of God, more blessed than all
gardens
Fruits remain there all year round, ignoring the years
seasons.
There the ground flourishes always under perennial spring.
The trees there wear pleasant clothes of leaves;
A dark wall woven with branches of leaves
Is drawn tight, though fruits hang from all the trees,
And everywhere lie in the meadows. No blasting sun,
[No] rays set on fire, nor does any blowing wind shake;
Nor does that storm agitate, or with conspiring rage
No ice covers the earth, no hailstorm strikes,
Beats, nor does ice whiten the meadows with hoarfrost.
In concert with The Phoenix 1419, the
ne-polysyndeton in the De laudibus does not
list human ills such as hunger, rage, death, or
sickness. However, it does mention a felicior
hortis (more blessed garden, I.183) suggestive
of The Phoenix 7, Wlitig is se wong eall,
wynnum geblissad all this place is delightful,
blessed with joys. There is also an absence of
flammatur radiis flaming rays (I.190), which
is reminiscent of The Phoenix 1419, in which
there is ne sunnan htu no heat of the sun,
and ne fyres blst no blast of fire.13 We may
also compare the De laudibus I.184, fructus
inest anni fruits are present all year with
The Phoenix 3738, in which
wintres ond sumeres wudu bi gelice
bledum gehongen nfre brosnia
12
Blossius Aemilius Dracontius, De laudibus dei, in
C. Moussy and C. Camus (eds and trans), uvres,
Louanges de Dieu, Livres I-II, vol. I (Paris, 1985), 159160.
13
Blake (The Phoenix, 67) notes that there is no
corresponding phrase in the Carmen for fyres blst
[blast of fire].
June 2006 NOTES AND QUERIES
Winters and summers woods are alike
Hung with fruits which never wither
Scent also plays a part in the De laudibus and
The Phoenix, although it is missing from the
Carmen.14 Interestingly, Aldhelms seventh-
century Carmen de uirginitate use lines I.149
and I.580 from the De laudibus.15 These lines
from the De laudibus occur near its account of
Eden (I.180205) and of the phoenix (I.653).
Another patristic account of Eden which
bears comparison with The Phoenix is Avitus
De origine mundi (also referred to in Aldhelms
Carmen de uirginitate).16 Avitus begins his
passage on creation with the same est locus
phrase (I.193), as do Lactantius and
Dracontius. Like the wealdas grene (green
woods) of The Phoenix, Avitus Eden is a
perpetually green land which has leafy trees,
flowers, and fruit all year round:17
perpetuo uiret omne solum terraeque tepentis
[230] blanda nitet facies stant semper collibus herbae
arboribusque comae: quae cum se flore frequenti
diffundunt, celeri confortant germina suco
nam quidquid nobis toto nunc nascitur anno
menstrua maturo dant illic tempora fructu.
[235] lilia perlucent nullo flaccentia sole
nec tactus uiolat uiolas roseumque ruborem
seruans perpetuo suffundit gratia uultu
sic cum desit hiems nec torrida ferueat aestas
fructibus autumnus uer floribus occupat annum.
[240] hic quae donari mentitur fama sabaeis
cinnama nascuntur uiuax quae colligit ales
natali cum fine perit nidoque perusta
Perpetually green, all this unique land is warm;
Its charming face shines, grass stands ever upon the hills,
Foliage on trees; everything frequently flowers,
Pours out, and nurtures buds with fast-flowing sap.
For example, whatever blooms for us now in a year,
Matures in a months time, giving fruit there;
Lilies shine, unflagging, in the sun.
Nor does its touch violate violets, but rosily reddens
Watching over perpetually, bathes their face in grace.
Since winter is absent and nor does torrid summer burn,
Autumns crops, and springs blossoms live year-long
There, that which false tradition attributes to the Sabaeans,
Cinnamon, grows, which that long-lived bird gathers
14
N. Blake (Originality in The Phoenix, N&Q, ccvi
(September 1961), 3267) notes that scent is completely
absent from the Carmen, and Yun Lee Too (The Appeal to
the Senses in the Old English Phoenix, Neuphilologische
Mitteilungen, xci (1990), 236) suggests that the Phoenix-poet
refers to Ambrose and Gregory of Tours.
15
A. Orchard, The Poetic Art of Aldhelm (Cambridge,
1994), 21617.
16
Orchard, 216.
17
Alcimo Ecdicio Avito, De Spiritalis Historiae Gestis,
trans. Salvatore Costanza (Messina, 1971), 53.
139
Who is born, and dies in that burning nest.
Unlike the Carmen, but like The Phoenix 339,
the De origine I.237 depicts a land in which
desit hiems nec torrida ferueat aestas, winter
is absent and nor does torrid summer burn:18
[33] sunbearo lixe
wuduholt wynlic wstmas ne dreosa
beorhte blede ac a beamas a
grene stonda swa him god bibead
wintres ond sumeres wudu bi gelice
bledum gehongen nfre brosnia
leaf under lyfte
The sunny grove shines,
Pleasant wood. Fruits do not fall,
Bright fruit, but those trees
Stand green, just as God ordered them;
Winters and summers woods are alike,
Hung with fruits which never wither,
Leaf under sky.
Another suggestive parallel with the fruits,
flowers and grass of the De origine I.22841
occurs in lines 7486 of The Phoenix. Like the
De origine passage above, lines 7486 end with
the introduction of a phoenix.19
sindon a bearwas bledum gehongne
wlitigum wstmum r no wonia o
halge under heofonum holtes frtwe
ne fealla r on foldan fealwe blostman
[75] wudubeama wlite ac r wrtlice
on am treowum symle telgan gehladene,
ofett edniwe in ealle tid
on am grswonge grene stonda
gehroden hyhtlice haliges meahtum
beorhtast bearwa no gebrocen weore
holt on hiwe r se halga stenc
wuna geond wynlond t onwended ne bi
fre to ealdre ron endige
frod fyrngeweorc se hit on fryme gescop
one wudu wearda wundrum fger
fugel ferum strong se is fenix haten
Those orchards are hung with fruit,
Beautiful fruits which do not wane there
Holy under heaven, the fruits of the wood
Do not fall there to earth, always blooming,
Lovely wood-beams, but are lovely there
In those trees, always with laden boughs,
Renewed fruit, in all seasons
In that grassy place, stands green,
Gaily adorning the might of the holiest,
The brightest of groves. None are destroyed:
The grove in colour, where that holy fragrance
Remains throughout the blissful land; that is unchanged,
For ever in life, before the end:
Old ancient works, which were created in the beginning.
18
The Phoenix, 4546.
19
The Phoenix, 47.
140 NOTES AND QUERIES
These woods guard a wondrous bird
A bird strong of feathers, which is named phoenix.
Yet another intriguing connection between the
two poems is the De origines assertion that
Eden is closed to sinners (I.21115):20
ergo ubi transmissis mundi caput incipit indis
quo perhibent terram confinia iungere caelo
lucus inaccessa cunctis mortalibus arce
permanet aeterno conclusus limite postquam
decidit expulsus primaeui criminis auctor
atque reis digne felici ab sede reuulsis
caelestes haec sancta capit nunc terra ministros
And so, where the world begins, in India,
Where the earths connecting boundary joins the sky,
Is a grove inaccessible, kept away from all mortals,
An enduring eternal restricted boundary, after
He fell, was expelled, youthful author of sin,
And once appropriately expelled from that blessed seat,
Heavenly attendants occupied that sacred earth.
Here, the De origine is peculiarly similar to
The Phoenix 3b6:
nis se foldan sceat
ofer middangeard mongum gefere
folcagendra ac he afyrred is
urh meotudes meaht manfremmendum
Many readers have found these lines confus-
ing. Why, they ask, should the land be closed
to many, or all, men? Blake views the passage
as meaning that the land is closed to all
humans, though he notes that this reading
is without precedent. While he sees mongum
(many or all) as disputed, he opts to
translate Nis . . . mongum gefere as accessible
to no-one, since there is a similar expression
in The Phoenix 323: mongum monna
geond middangeard, all men on earth.21
Bammesberger, however, argues,22
If lines 3b5a really meant that the land of
the phoenix was accessible to no-one, then
the immediately following statement that
evil-doers had no access to it would be
pointless. . . . the poet wishes to say that the
paradisical land where the phoenix dwells is
not accessible to many of the leaders of the
people [ persons of high rank] in this
20
Avito, 53.
21
Blake (The Phoenix, 64) says, Schlotterose would
accept the former as paradise is barred only to the wicked,
and Emerson . . . thinks that there is a reference to the
Biblical conception of paradise as the home of the lowly.
22
Bammesberger, 225.
June 2006
world. . . . By no means was it completely
inaccessible to humans.
But a reading of 3b5a as a paraphrase of De
origine (I.21314) supports Blakes earlier
translation. The Phoenix-poet is simply follow-
ing Avitus in suggesting that man, author of
original sin, may never return to the holy land
of Eden. With an eye to Avitus, we may
translate lines 3b6 as:
This sheet of earth is not,
Over middle-earth, accessible to any
People, but is removed
Through the might of the Lord, by human sin.
While the Christian accounts of Eden by
Avitus and Dracontius suggest The Phoenixs
lines on Eden, Corippus In laudem Iustini
Augusti minoris (I.349368) bears comparison
with The Phoenixs accounts of Christian
rebirth. In the following passage at the end of
Book I, Corippus portrays the new Byzantine
emperor Justin II as a reborn Justinian, a
depiction which overlaps with two passages on
resurrection in The Phoenix:23
ales et exustos cum phoenix innouat artus
[350] a busto recidiua suo, concentus in unum
stans auium spectat solem solisque uolucrem
dum ueniat, regemque nouum clamore salutant
sic decus imperii sanctum sic iota resurgens
exortum est de fine suo, seniumque reponens
[355] nominis erecti iustino in principe uiuit
iustinianus apex domini sic uulgus amore
undique conueniens laetarum more uolucrum
to uincas iustine canunt ingensque tumultus
crescit et augusta luctus discessit ab aula
[360] laetitia ueniente noua uox excitat omnies
omnia iustino praebent elementa fauorem
omnia congaudent omnes clamore uocati
conueniunt proceres lux sacra palatia conplet
[365] ipsum quin etiam <exanimum> gaudere putares
corpus in angelicam mutatum morte figuram
signa dedit manifesta deus, seque ipse probauit
iustino claram regni inposuisse coronam
Like when the phoenix renews its burned limbs,
Reappearing from its ash, the choir together,
Of birds, standing, looks for the unique sun to appear.
When it comes, loud cries greet the new king.
So the glory of the supreme power is fulfilled; thus the I
reappears
Is come forth, from his end, old age laid aside,
In Justin, emperor of the upright name, lives again
[355] Justinian the greatest; so the people, in love for their
master,
23
Flavius Cresconius Corippus, In laudem Iustini Augusti
minoris: libri iv, ed. Avril Cameron (Athlone, 1976), 47.
June 2006 NOTES AND QUERIES
From every point come together, in the manner of happy
birds,
Singing May you conquer, Justin! A huge uproar
Arises, and grief departs the imperial court;
New happiness entering in. The cry excites everyone.
[360] All the elements supply applause to Justin,
All rejoicing with him; all are called by the clamour,
Princes come together: light fills the sacred palace,
As if to think the [dead one] himself were to rejoice,
The corpse itself, changed by death into an angelic form.
[365] God gave a clear sign and confirmed that He Himself
Upon Justin had set the shining crown of empire.
In The Phoenix, the birds fly in from distant
parts (siga sidwegum, line 337), just as
Justins crowd of supporters convenes from
every place, like happy birds (undique con-
veniens laetarum more volucrum, line 356).
In Corippus I.349, the crowd sings Justins
praises, just as, in The Phoenix 337, the birds
praise their leader in song. In fact, many of the
overlaps between Corippus and The Phoenix
are details which Emerson once remarked on
as evidence of the Phoenix-poets originality,
because they do not occur in the Carmen:24
the birds are said to come from all direc-
tions. They surround the Phoenix in a ring,
and sing praises with earnest voices until the
people are amazed at the honour shown by
the glad company of attendants. They exalt
the Phoenix as king. . .
The details noted by Emerson occur in the
following Phoenix passage:25
[335] frtwe flyhthwates onne fugla cynn
on healfa gehwone heapum ringa
siga sidwegum songe lofia
mra modigne meaglum reordum,
ond swa one halgan hringe betelda
[340] flyhte on lyfte fenix bi on middum
reatum birungen eoda wlita
wundrum wafia hu seo wilgedryht
wildne weoria worn fter orum
crftum cya ond for cyning mra
[345] leofne leodfruman lda mid wynnum
elne to earde ot se anhoga
ofleoge, ferum snel t him gefylgan ne mg Latin poems which feature Eden and the
drymendra gedryht onne dugua wyn
of isse eoran tyrf eel sece
Then the kin of the bird
On every side throng in a multitude
Fly in from distant parts, praise with song
In spirited glory with powerful voices
And so that holy ring surrounds,
24
O. F. Emerson, Originality in Old English Poetry,
RES, ii (1926), 22.
25
The Phoenix, 54.
141
Birds in the sky. The phoenix is in the middle
Surrounded by a troop. The people look on
Gaze with wonder, how this joyful retinue
Widely honours, multitude after multitude
Proclaims knowledge and glorifies the king,
Dear prince, who leads with joys,
Noble in the land, until that unique one
Flies away, speedy of feathers; they may not follow him,
The rejoicing troop, when the joyful host
From the soil of this earth seeks his land.
In addition to The Phoenix 33549, the above
In laudem passage also suggests The Phoenix
64451:26
he y riddan dge
[645] fter lices hryre lif eft onfeng
urh fder fultum swa fenix beacna
geong in geardum godbearnes meaht
onne he of ascan eft onwcne
in lifes lif leomum geungen
[650] swa se hlend us [h]elpe gefremede
urh his lices gedal lif butan ende
On the third day he
(After the destruction of his body) was taken,
Through the help of the father. So the phoenix signifies
New in his home, the might of Gods son,
When he was reborn again from ashes,
In life of life, girt with limbs.
So the Saviour helps us by bringing about,
Through the loss of his body, life without end.
Both the In laudem and The Phoenix 64451
suggest that the phoenix is a sign of Christ.
Corippus alludes to Justinians crowning as
Christ-like and phoenix-like: (1) cum
phoenix innouat artus . . . sic iota resurgens,
like when the phoenix renews limbs . . . so the
letter I is risen (I.34852); and (2) signa dedit
manifesta deus, God gave a clear sign (I.366).
Similarly, in The Phoenix 6467, the phoenix is
a symbol of Christ: So the phoenix signifies,
new in his home, the might of Gods son.
These documented overlaps between Avitus,
Dracontius, Corippus, Lactantius, and The
Phoenix uncover the traces of what was
undoubtedly a complex relationship between
phoenix. That the Phoenix-poet knew more
than one Latin text has been long known:
Gaebler pointed out, for example, that a
passage in The Phoenix draws on Ambroses
Hexameron V.197.1198.12.27 Thus when
26
The Phoenix, 62.
27
H. Gaebler, Ueber die Autorschaft des
angelsachsischen Gedichtes vom Phoenix, Anglia, iii
(1880), 516ff.
142 NOTES AND QUERIES
Blake found that the ninth-century Life of
Saint Eligius (uita Eligii) had borrowed lines
from the Carmen, he posited a medieval
tradition that interpreted the Lactantian
poem in a Christian way.28 Intriguingly, lines
4648 of the uita also draw from Corippus
II.1423.29 Did the Phoenix-poet work from
the In laudem as well as the Carmen, just as the
uita Eligiis author did? Certainly, the In
laudem was available to at least two other
Anglo-Saxon scholars. For example, the In
laudem II.14 is borrowed by Aldhelm in his
Carmen de uirginitate praefatio.30 As well,
Michael Lapidge has found evidence that
chapter XC of Assers De rebus gestis lfredi
begins with line III.139 of the In laudem,
Inuigilant animi, quibus est pia cura regendi,
The minds of those in whom there is conscious
concern for ruling are ever alert. Such
evidence suggests that the Phoenix-poet was
not the only Anglo-Saxon scholar to read and
refer to Corippus.
In accepting that the Phoenix-poet used
sources other than the Carmen, we must
subtly shift our definitions of his accomplish-
ment. Blake, for example, sees The Phoenix
1419 as a grandiloquent multiplication of
negatives inspired by line 3 of the Carmen.31
But the Phoenix-poets use of several Latin
poems suggests that what Blake sees as
verbosity is instead the integration of elements
from diverse sources, which adds to our
estimation of the Phoenix-poets craft and
learning. Such use of explicitly Christian
poems complicates our exegesis of The
Phoenix. A new analysis is called for: one
which takes into account the Phoenix-poets
use of the Christian Latin poems De laudibus
dei, by Dracontius, De origine mundi, by
28
N. F. Blake, Originality in The Phoenix, N&Q, ccvi
(1961), 327.
29
M. Lapidge, The Anglo-Saxon Library (Oxford, 2005),
11619; see also the Life of St. Eligius of Toledo, Bibliotheca
Hagiographica Latina, 278.
30
A. Orchard, The Poetic Art of Aldhelm (Cambridge,
1994), 21617.
31
The Phoenix, 26.
June 2006
Avitus, and In laudem Iustini Augusti minoris
by Corippus, as well as Lactantius Carmen de
aue phoenice.
E. K. C. GORST
University of Toronto
doi:10.1093/notesj/gjl002
The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press.
All rights reserved. For Permissions,
please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
THE CONDITION CALLED NEURISN
IN LEECHBOOK I
CHAPTER 59 of Leechbook I, one of three
Old English medical texts or leechbooks first
edited by O. Cockayne, begins by describing a
treatment for lyftadl or paralysis and then
offers two remedies for a condition called
neurisn.1 Surviving glossaries offer no Old
English or Latin equivalent of neurisn and the
compiler of Leechbook I gives no hint as to
how this condition differs from lyftadl, even
though he is careful to state in the chapters
heading that another Greek borrowing,
paralisin, means the same thing as lyftadl.2
Cockayne surmised that neurisn is possibly a
kind of paralysis, a conjecture consistent with
the terms occurrence in a chapter dealing with
paralysis as well with as its phonetic and
morphological similarity to Greek neuron.3
Subsequent scholarship has established that
neurisn is in fact a form of Greek aneurusma, a
swelling or tumour, and is related to modern
aneurysm.4 Still to be explained is why a
1
O. Cockayne (ed.), Leechdoms, Wortcunning and
Starcraft of Early England, Rolls Series 35, 3 vols.
(London, 18646; repr. Wiesbaden, 1965), II, 130. The
second volume also contains two other collections which
Cockayne designated Leechbooks II and III.
2
Cockayne, II, 12. Lyftadl is also equated with Greek
paralysis in T. Miller (ed.), The Old English Version of Bedes
Ecclesiastical History of the English People, EETS o.s. 96
(London, 1890; repr. 1959), 378.
3
Cockayne, II, 13 n.2.
4
O. Funke, Die gelehrten lateinischen Lehn- und
Fremdworter in der altenglischen Literatur (Halle, 1914),
109, 155, 159; A. H. Feulner, Die griechischen Lehnworter im
Altenglishen (Frankfurt am Main, 2000) 270. J. Bosworth
and T. N. Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, rev.
A. Campbell (Oxford, 1972), preserves Cockaynes inter-
pretation, but the meaning aneurism is given in J. R. Clark
Hall, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th edn with suppl.
by H. D. Merritt (Cambridge, 1960), see neurisn.