Heyne is the only one who translates the phrase in such a way as to make the words intelligible to a reader unacquainted with Old English. Finally, it should be noticed that the translation is quite as accurate as those which preceded it. Heyne certainly succeeded in his attempt to make the poem more intelligible to the general reader than it had ever been before. While not so serviceable to the scholar as Grein’s translation, it is undoubtedly the most enjoyable of the German versions.
[1.] There have been six—1863, 1868, 1873, 1879, 1888, 1898; the last two are by Dr. Adolf Socin.
[2.] Heyne is at present Professor in the University of Göttingen.
[4.] In Beowulfs Beorh. See also supra, [p. 22].