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Re unwearnum: A Digression 8. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour:     9. Whom resist, steadfast in the faith...... I Peter; V. [Epistle ordered for the 3rd Sunday after Trinity, Church of England Book of Common Prayer.]

 

1

WHY WAS HANDSHOE?

 

Summary

This paper examines the literary and dramatic function of the sleeping warrior who is consumed by Grendel at the monster's first appearance under Beowulf's eye, and the moral that the Beowulf poet may have intended should be drawn from the incident. (ll 736-745).

Abstract

The thought of presenting a short paper on this topic arises from an interpretation of The Seafarer which was started in early 1994. When well into this project an obdurate obstacle was encountered in the form of the word unwearnum, whose dictionary meaning "irresistibly" seemed impossible to reconcile with the sense of the passage containing it. After prolonged self-doubt it was concluded that unwearnum did not mean "irresistibly", in spite of its scholarly endorsement in that meaning for the last 100 years. The most accurate single Modern English equivalent of the word now seems to be "vulnerable". Unwearnum only appears twice in the corpus of Anglo-Saxon literature, in The Seafarer, and in Beowulf, where it occurs in the context of the passage involving Beowulf's Geatish comrade, who is torn apart and gobbled up by Grendel under the alertly watchful gaze of the hero (line 741). At line 2076 we learn that the victim's name was Hondsciô, ie "Glove", literally "Handshoe".

This paper investigates the significance of the incident culminating in Hondsciô's brutal end, in light of the probability of unwearnum meaning "vulnerable", while recognising that the nuances of its sense in this context may shift to "defenceless", "unprepared", "heedless", or "unaware". Although "irresistibly" is easily the most favoured translation of the word in the numerous versions of The Seafarer, translators have avoided this rendering in Beowulf. Those who have given the matter some consideration, and appreciated that "irresistibly" cannot be correct in this context, may have followed (at several removes) Benjamin Thorpe's gloss for the word in his 1842 translation of The Seafarer, and chosen "suddenly" in preference to "irresistibly". Others seem to have been misled by Klaeber's curious alternative glosses, "eagerly" or "greedily". "Suddenly" is the word used by Seamus Heaney in his best-selling translation. Although "suddenly" has some merit (though not much), and is perhaps more correct than "irresistibly", it still fails to realise the hidden implications of unwearnum. These are more strongly indicated by the context of the word as it occurs in The Seafarer, where its use and significance are, in my view, crucial to an understanding of the poem. The argument can be amplified by drawing on examples of the continuity of the Christian attitude to the powers of darkness, the Devil, and other inimical adversaries that may beset a hero of the true faith, as they occur both before and since the Beowulf poet composed his lay. While this examination will not lead to any firmer establishment of the identity of Hondsciô, it may help to elucidate the underlying purpose of his short-lived role on the epic's wider stage, help to explain why his death makes such a memorable impact, and why he is recalled by name so much later in the poem.

This table lists in sequence some of the translations of unwearnum, as it occurs in Beowulf:

Date

Source

Translation

disputed

Beowulf lines 740-741 (Klaeber)

ms text: ac he gefeng hraðe forman siðe slæpendne rinc slat unwearnum

1875

B.Thorpe (2nd Edition)

for he quickly seiz'd, at the first time, a sleeping warrior, tore him unawares,

1882 (1st ed) 1902

J.M.Garnett

But quickly he seized for the first time A sleeping warrior, him tore unresisting, [NB: "him tore unawares." Heyne 1879, 4th ed.]

1883

J.A.Harrison & R.Sharp (glossary)

un-wearnum, adv. instr. pl., unawares, suddenly; (unresistingly?)

1892

J.L.Hall

But on earliest occasion he quickly laid hold of A soldier asleep, suddenly tore him,

1902

C.B.Tinker

but suddenly, for his first move, he seized upon a sleeping thane, rent him in pieces unawares

1910

F.B.Gummere

Straightway he seized a sleeping warrior for the first, and tore him fiercely asunder,

1911

J.R.Clark Hall, revised by C.L.Wrenn 1949

but quickly seized a sleeping warrior as a beginning, rent him greedily

1913

E.J.B.Kirtlan

he quickly lay hold of a sleeping warrior, and tore him to pieces all unawares

1914

A.J.Wyatt, revised by R.W.Chambers (glossary)

un-wearnum adv, without hindrance

1921

C.K.Scott Moncrieff

But he seized swiftly / in his first swoop A sleeping man, / unawares he slit him,

1922 (1st ed.)

Fr.Klaeber; (glossary)

un-wearnum, † adv. (dp.), without hindrance, irresistibly; or: eagerly, greedily (Schuchardt L 6.14.2.14). See wearn.

1926

D.H.Crawford

nay, of a sudden he seized, for beginning, a warrior asleep, and without let tore him

1926

R.K.Gordon

but first he quickly seized a sleeping warrior, suddenly tore him asunder

1929

G.H.Gerould

but seized at once a sleeping warrior, in his forward rush, rent him unwary

1940

C.W.Kennedy

The demon delayed not, but quickly clutched A sleeping thane in his swift assault, Tore him in pieces,

1945

G.Bone

Short while the monster remains But took a dreaming man, rent him at will,

1954

B.Collinder (Sweden)

utan fattade fort,                           som första fång en sovande stridsman,                           slet sönder den värnlöse

1957

D.Wright

The fiend wasted no time, but for a start snatched up a sleeping man. He tore him apart in an instant

1963

B.Raffel

Grendel snatched at the first Geat He came to, ripped him apart, cut His body to bits with powerful jaws,

1966

E.T.Donaldson, edited by J.E.Tuso 1975

but, starting his work, he suddenly seized a sleeping man, tore at him ravenously,

1967

C.B.Hieatt

but swiftly grasped, in his first gesture, a sleeping warrior: he tore him up furiously,

1968

K.Crossley-Holland

but, for a start, he hungrily seized a sleeping warrior, greedily wrenched him

1973

M.Alexander

As a first step he set his hands on a sleeping soldier, savagely tore at him

1978

M.Swanton

but for a start he quickly seized a sleeping warrior, tore him apart without resistance

1982

S.A.J.Bradley

but as a start he hastily grabbed a sleeping soldier, tore him apart without any trouble,

1983

H.B.Björnsson (Iceland)

fljótur greip er fyrstan náði sofandi rekk, sem hann óvaran beit til beins

1983

M.Osborn

he snatched up the first of his quarry, a sleeping man, and slit him open,

1987

G.Roberts

But quickly seized in his first foray A sleeping warrior, tore him apart greedily,

1987

J.Glover (M.Alexander & E.Morgan)

As a first step he set his greedy hands on A sleeping soldier, savagely tore him,

1990

R.Oliver

So swift, Then, was the devil, that a horror Happened before the prince could help

1991

F.Rebsamen

snared a doomed one in terminal rest         tore frantically,

1994

G.Jack (glossary)

unwearnum --- unrestrainedly

1995

P.Grant

But swiftly seized upon the first: Slashed the sleeper unaware

1999

S.Heaney

Nor did the creature keep him waiting but struck suddenly and started in; he grabbed and mauled a man on his bench,

† The dagger, †, designates words (or meanings) found in poetry only..............                                                     [back to Klaeber]

 

In analysing these versions some complication arises because of the presence in the ms text of the word hraðe, which at its simplest is glossed "quickly" (Klaeber). The word survives in Modern English as "rather", with only an extremely tenuous sense-connection, and a more closely related cognate might well be German gerade (geradeswegs), meaning "straight" or "straightaway". In any case, the distinction between the meanings perceived in hraðe, glossed "quickly", and unwearnum, glossed "suddenly", becomes blurred, which possibly accounts for the mounting tendency of the later translators to inflate what I see as the spurious readings of "eagerly" or "greedily" for unwearnum. Thus, after 1910, we are offered "greedily" (Clark Hall/Wrenn; Crossley-Holland; Roberts), "fiercely" (Gummere), "ravenously" (Donaldson), "furiously" (Hieatt), "frantically" (Rebsamen), "savagely" (Alexander, Glover). Glover and Crossley-Holland merge haste with hunger and savagery. The exclusive sense of surprise is retained by Hall and Gordon ("suddenly"), Kennedy ("in his swift assault"), Wright ("in an instant"); and the idea of overcoming a barrier --- Wyatt and Klaeber's "without hindrance" --- by Garnett ("unresistingly"), Crawford ("without let"), Bone ("at will"), Swanton ("without resistance"), and Bradley ("without any trouble").

The virtually correct "unawares" (Thorpe, Garnett -- after Heyne's variation from Grein, -- Tinker, Kirtlan, Scott Moncrieff) was discarded after 1921 (except in the case of Gerould's "unwary", 1929), and the temptation to detect the magisterial authority of Klaeber's 1922 edition of Beowulf in this shift is irresistible. Does Klaeber himself defer to Schuchardt? All authority abides our question, however, for the price of truth is eternal vigilance, and it remained for a free-minded spirit, Paula Grant, in her 1995 maverick Aldfrith's Beowulf, to resuscitate "unawares". Heaney contrives to have it all ways, except the precisely right way, with "suddenly", "started", "grabbed" and "mauled"; but, as would be expected, the word translates neatly and naturally into Swedish (Collinder) and Icelandic (Björnsson).

The purpose of this nit-picking is not trivial. The epigraph heading this page had been knocking at my mind for some time, the result of having had it thoroughly drummed into me at Bradfield College chapel services on countless Sundays between 1950 and 1955. Chapter and verse once checked, a re-reading of Andrew Galloway's paper I Peter and The Seafarer, in English Language Notes, XXV, 4, June 1988, became essential. Although, if goaded, I might quibble with his article on certain counts, and must curb my inclination to muse at length on the position occupied by Peter in the history of the English church and people, I wholly agree with Galloway's premise that the influence of the claviger's epistle is perfectly discernible in The Seafarer. So, too, in Beowulf, especially in the Hondsciô incident.

Just as telling is the saint's enjoinder to: "Be sober". John Gardner makes this point in a glancing aside, "....a man like Beowulf who never gets drunk....", on page 84 of The Construction of Christian Poetry in Old English, (Southern Illinois UP, 1975). Earlier, on the eve of Grendel's descent on the mead-hall, Beowulf had been taunted by the drunken troublemaker, Unferth, very probably wlonc and wingal ------ "thy brother's killer", says Beowulf, and therefore akin to Cain. Unferth's slurs had been silenced by the hero's sobriety, just as Grendel, Cain's direct

Scan by Mark Harden            "Saturn" by Goya.

descendant, would be defeated by his vigilance and valour. Hondsciô, the slæpendne rinc, whose sleep would have been the deeper for drink, whose wit was dulled before death's sudden descent, thus exemplifies a type that Bunyan might have called Heedless. He was unwearn, where scoutlike Beowulf was loin-girt and prepared, ie wearn. No man, moreover, in any age, would be aware of his own mortality had he not seen, or at least known, that others die. The message was urged upon Anglo-Saxon society by stick as well as carrot, and the gospel was spread by OT fear as effectively as by NT love. God needed Grendel as sure as cops need robbers. Our bare, forked animal is congenitally bifurcate. But I digress, and someone else will have to explain the symbolism of Hondsciô's unusual name.

AND THAT'S THE END OF HONDSCIÔ'S SAGA