15 mid clǣnum līchaman. For ðon ðe ðū eart mīn Scieppend,
16 and mīn Alīesend, mīn Fultum, mīn Frōfor, mīn Trēownes,
[17] and mīn Tōhopa. [Sīe ðē lof] and wuldor nū and
[18] ā ā ā, tō worulde būtan ǣghwilcum ęnde. Amen.
[102.3-4.] Marian ... Michaeles. O.E. is inconsistent in the treatment of foreign names. They are sometimes naturalized, and sometimes retain in part their original inflections. Marian, an original accusative, is here used as a genitive; while Michaeles has the O.E. genitive ending.
[102.17.] Sīe ðē lof. See [§ 105], 1.
[ III. THE VOYAGES OF OHTHERE AND WULFSTAN.]
[Lauderdale and Cottonian MSS. These voyages are an original insertion by Alfred into his translation of Orosius’s Compendious History of the World.
“They consist,” says Ten Brink, “of a complete description of all the countries in which the Teutonic tongue prevailed at Alfred’s time, and a full narrative of the travels of two voyagers, which the king wrote down from their own lips. One of these, a Norwegian named Ohthere, had quite circumnavigated the coast of Scandinavia in his travels, and had even penetrated to the White Sea; the other, named Wulfstan, had sailed from Schleswig to Frische Haff. The geographical and ethnographical details of both accounts are exceedingly interesting, and their style is attractive, clear, and concrete.”
Ohthere made two voyages. Sailing first northward along the western coast of Norway, he rounded the North Cape, passed into the White Sea, and entered the Dwina River (ān micel ēa). On his second voyage he sailed southward along the western coast of Norway, entered the Skager Rack (wīdsǣ), passed through the Cattegat, and anchored at the Danish port of Haddeby (æt Hǣþum), modern Schleswig.