The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son - читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги автора John Ronald Ruel Tolkien (ч. notes)

1

According to one estimate 6 foot 9 inches tall. This estimate was based on the length and size of his bones when examined, in his tomb at Ely, in a.d. 1769.

2

That Olaf Tryggvason was actually present at Maldon is now thought to be doubtful. But his name was known to Englishmen. He had been in Britain before, and was certainly here again in 994.

3

According to the views of E. D. Laborde, now generally accepted. The causeway or "hard" between Northey and the mainland is still there.

4

It was indeed plainly intended as a recitation for two persons, two shapes in "dim shadow", with the help of a few gleams of light and appropriate noises and a chant at the end. It has, of course, never been performed.

5

Cf. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2127-31.

6

To fela means in Old English idiom that no ground at all should have been conceded. And ofermod does not mean "overboldness", not even if we give full value to the ofer, remembering how strongly the taste and wisdom of the English (whatever their actions) rejected "excess". Whita scal geþyldig … ne næfre gielpes to georn, ær he geare cunne. Bur mod, though it may contain or imply courage, does not mean "boldness" any more than Middle English corage. It means "spirit", or when unqualified "high spirit", of which the most usual manifestation is pride. But in ofer-mod it is qualified, with disapproval: ofermod is in fact always a word of condemnation. In verse the noun occurs only twice, once applied to Beorhtnoth, and once to Lucifer.