CADMON'S HYMN

CfrDMON'S HYMN

Northumbrian Version
(MS Cambridge University Library Kk, 5.

West Saxon Vers,ion

(MS Hattou, 43)

16)

Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard,

tr1u p9 sculan
metudes_

metudes maecti end his mod3idanc,

uerc uuldurfadur sue he uundra gihuaes,
eci dryctin, or astelide ;
he aerist scop aelda barnum
heben

til hrofe,

ece

(i) Gollancz (The Ced,mon Manuscripl, lxi) thinks that the opening word Nu might reflect the influence of some liturgy where the
word referred to the Hour; he also points out a tenth-century
Benedictine Liturgy where the Ofhce for each Hour began We
sculon God herian (E. Thompsot, Select Monuments of Doctrine and
lVorship of the Catholic Church in England., 1875, p.rr3); cf also
38

heofonrices peard,

spa he pundra 3ehpilc,

drihten, ord asteald.e;

he arest gesceop ylda bearnum

o- heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend,

hale3 scepen,

VeRreNr RreorNcs : Q) nu: DP nulue ; scylun : L scilun,

DP sciulun (pene A. S. C. Ross, scuilun Wuest) ; hergan : M her3en
with e dotted for deletion and a written above the line, L herga,
DP herga; hefaen: L hefen, DP hefun; ricaes: L ricas, P rinca
es ; uard,: DP pueard'.
(z) metudas: D rnetwd,a es, P metuwdaes; maecti: L mehti, DP
rnechti; end, : LDP and i -3idana: L -3ithanc, D gedeanc, P gedana.
(3) uerc: D puerc,P puere; uuldur- : D puldur, P omits ; fad.ur:
D fudur ; sue : DP suae ; he :D hae ; uwndra : DP pwndla ; gihuaes :
L 3ihues, DP gi-.
(4) drycli,n: M y made out of i and o out of n, D drichtin, P
drochtin, o being deleted and i written over i astelida : DP astalde.
$) aerist: L arist, D uerst with a o:r.et L.t, P raeitst ; scop : DP
scoop ; aelda : L alda, DP eord,u ; barnum: M barnil', D bearnum,
P pearnum.
(6) heben: L heJen, DP efen ; til. : LDP to ; hrofe : L hrofa ;
hale3: L halig, DP halig; scepen: LDP sceppend.

herian

pfhte 7 his modgepanc,

purc_puldorfader,

Bouterwek, Cailmon,s des ags, biblische Dichtungen,

ellipsis
9{ the _proooun .we, cf supra p.4, note r.

ccxxii.

On the

g) aelda:

cf Bede'sf tiis homiium i oii Op ,oido,

(6) scepen: the second half_Une is metrically cf sufua p. z.
impCrfect (cf
Sievers, ESt xliv. zg5) atd would nave
Ueen so,in tf,e-llginat
3l:.: s"!pe% is a mistake for- sceppemi wbic.o rpp""r. io-*i"otU",
MSS inctuding the ctosety related L. rt
i. poriiri" tn Jl)pprna
has been replaced by another word oE .urp,;r
awe;i'irioitno4,
yry.h Schticking (ESt xliv. r55) sees i" B;il. )"u"rry"ipr"irt*a"r"
d has been added
,by_a tat# scriue,lr J. ZupftzJ,, iiiit)prc o1

Beowutf, p.6) and i1 Kt

.sceppeniia.pi
the. verb sceppan; but tue
latter

ai";;-tl.i#*Ji."
",
t"
a Kt development of
-"v
sceppend, as beccen is for becgend,, wreiten
f;;;rh;;'i;f?rgu,
IF vi.
and in the

34r),
c"r" of nioi. uyppen it is u*iy to supthe omission of.
(corrected'dy in"l"t"i"."#ilui"*.
".
to
s^{ppose the analogical.fi,*l-.d.
addit-ion of. p in a ronn unrecorded outside
A formal para,el to Jocn a wora scepen i, foooa"'in"
9\:upr!.
0JJG scffin, scffin, F,is shappeno, uoitnu
meaning of such words,
' juryman ,, is far from thid ,"qrir"a
Uere (cf Si";;r;, ;.)'.
Ia
,scepen
view of the absence of anyindep'ena"oirpport
for
bp
(the. meaning of which would io .oy
"oin the cou_
be doubtfur
text) and the fact that alt otuer MSS
"r."
tr
cH
.S." J oi ,iiiprra,
better to regard scepen
Orrog only a scribal variant
it(sois3erhaps
F0rster, Lasebuch, 3)l
".
pose

C,DMON'S HYMN

C.zEDMON'S HYIVIN

tha middungeard moncynnes uard;

eci dryctin after tiade
g firum foldu, frea ailmectiS.
Primo cantauit Caedmon istud carmen'
from
Q) tha: D d,a,P dd.; middunSeard,: M the first d altereduard':
DP
-cynnas:
'c'i'nnes;
ruidd,umgeard,;
DP
rniddin3ard,,
n,L'
DP peard,.
eci,: D Cci,; d,ryctin: D d,rintinc,P-d,rihtim; efter: D efter,
(8i
'aifter;
tiad'a: M ti made out of d,, DP ti'ade',
e
Oi foia": M u added above the line, D onJold,u, L olfold'r't' ;
-mecti3: L -mehtig, DP -mechtig,
(ro) LDP omit.

in line 5 (cI Bede primo

0) tha is correlative to aeilst
eci
d,ryctin begins a new sentence
that
probable
It
is
deiinc . . .1.
which simply expands the preceding one and which is entirely
omitted by bedet Latin paiaphrase (supra P. r) : " the Eternal
Lord, the Lt*igfrty Ruler, afterwards adorned the earth for men "

middangearde mancynnes peard;

ece drihten after tida
firum
on foldum, trea almyhtig.
9
In that case,,nonncynnes.ctard, is in apposition to hale3 scefen,
vn,
is the object of scop and -parattel to hebit. it i, o.
^Fr.*pton
tikely that fotdu (tirre 9) is gen.ig.
(Mph xxii. 7, 5
suggests (cf.
".
p.
and
g rga).
p.
gS,
3
-supra*teogar?
(8) tiada from
(Forite;, Giivan' g432, note z). On th
etding -ada cf. supra p. 33, $ r5.
ruidd,un3eard,

(9) foldu

-u is a kiqd of shallow z added above the line.

Fdrste
note) interprets this superscribed a as an incomplet
abbreviation mark'- ind expands as -un, on r""o""t
oi-l.r*
like scylun, rnid,d,un-, where fiial _n is kept (cf also Archiv
cxxxv
z8+)' But the shallow superscribed u is uied'for z in r,vD (surtee
Soc. Facsimite, fot. 3ab) 1n the name biu.uutf, and in
CUlij tfr,
reading is fold,u (despite Miss Dobiache-Rojdesivensky,s
to foldun); on the early loss of final -n'cI supra p. "*"ialtio,
Sl, Sl+.
(Lesebu.ch..4,