l. 1862. "The gannet is a great diver, plunging down into the sea from a considerable height, such as forty feet."—E.
l. 1863. Kl. suggests heafu, = seas.
l. 1865. B. proposes geþôhte, = with firm thought, for geworhte; cf. [l. 611].
l. 1876. geseón = see again (Kl., Beit. ix. 190). S. and B. insert nâ to modify geseón and explain Hrôðgâr's tears. Ha. and G. follow Heyne's text. Cf. [l. 567].
l. 1881. Is beorn here = bearn (be-arn?) of [l. 67]? or more likely = born, barn, = burned?—S., Th.
l. 1887. orleahtre is a ἃπαξ λεγόμενον. E. compares Tennyson's "blameless" king. Cf. also [ll. 2015], [2145]; and the gôd cyning of [l. 11].
l. 1896. scaðan = warriors (cf. [l. 1804]) has been proposed by C.; but cf. [l. 253].
l. 1897. The boat had been left, at [ll. 294-302], in the keeping of Hrôðgâr's men; at [l. 1901] the bât-weard is specially honored by Beowulf with a sword and becomes a "sworded squire."—E. This circumstance appears to weld the poem together. Cf. also the speed of the journey home with ymb ân-tîd ôþres dôgores of [l. 219], and the similarity of language in both passages (fâmig-heals, clifu, nässas, sælde, brim, etc.).—The nautical terms in Beowulf would form an interesting study.
l. 1904. R. proposes, gewât him on naca, = the vessel set out, on alliterating as at [l. 2524] (Zachers Zeitschr. iii. 402). B. reads on nacan, but inserts irrelevant matter (Beit. xii. 97).
l. 1913. Cf. the same use of ceól, = ship, in the A.-S. Chron., ed. Earle-Plummer; Gnomic Verses, etc.