[202]. anes bule hude: Madden suggests an or bules, but in the glossary treats bule as genitive: Mätzner thinks bule may represent a Scand. gen. bola; but bule-hude is a compound of which the first element is uninflected, yet genitive in essence, and so capable of association with an adjective in that case: the principle is the same as in ahnes, 74/207 note; the meaning is, the hide of one bull. Ælches weies, in every direction, but Mätzner explains, in any wise, any way, quoting ‘Ælches weies him wes wa,’ 18703, where the meaning appears to be, in both directions, on either side. in grene O, on a green, is a curious variant, and an early use of the noun in this sense.
[204]. hæne . . . riche; a frequent combination in L: it means the lowly . . . the exalted, the commons . . . the nobles, rather than, the poor . . . the rich.
[210]. þer . . . on, on which: see 1/3.
[213]. þe refers to hude. wunder ane strong: this combination of wunder ane with an adjective as here and at 106/219, 108/258, is frequent in the older text of L. So we find wunder ane brad, bliðe, cræftie, deop, fæir, laðe, lihte, monie, wod. It is also found with adverbs, as ‘Þa weop Vðer; wunder ane swiðe,’ L 18140, and once ‘bitter ane swiðe’ occurs, L 30302, where O has ‘biterliche swiþe.’ For wunder ane, O usually substitutes swiþe or wunderliche or rewrites or omits, but once for ‘wunder ane kene,’ 19935, it has kept ‘wonder one kene.’ Wunder is an adverb, as in ‘Þat feht wes wnder strong,’ L 1744; ‘mid wunder muchele strengðe,’ id. 25078, and ane is OE. ǣne, āne, adverbial derivative of ān, in an extended use, uniquely, exceptionally, so that the combination means, wonderfully strong beyond all comparison. The translation in Specimens, ‘a wonderfully strong one,’ does not take into account the form of ane, and anticipates the pronominal use of an. In ‘summe heo sæten stille; mucle ane stunde,’ L 25121, ane is the acc. of the article, the meaning being, for a long time.
[214]. cuðe a: on and of interchange with this verb elsewhere in L: so ‘And alle þe cuðe a boken,’ C 14431, ‘Ac al þat couþe of boke,’ O.
[218]. swulc, as it were: OE. swylce: O regularly substitutes ase.
[220]. ‘Une coroie en estendi | De coi grant tère avirona,’ W 7072. Similar tales are found in Virgil, Aeneid, i. 371; Saxo Grammaticus, ed. Holder, p. 143, of Ivar’s foundation of London: comp. Geoffrey of Monmouth, ed. San Marte, p. 313.
[223]. muchele ⁊ mare, great and glorious: B-T. quotes ‘Mære ⁊ miclu weorc drihtnes,’ Ps. Lamb., cx. 2.
[224]. scop . . . hire, shaped for it: OE. naman, or to naman scieppan, with dat. of person or thing named, as ‘scōp him Heor[o]t naman,’ Beowulf, 78; 179/107 note. L has a weak past also, ‘ah scupte him nome,’ 1951. ‘Cest non Vancastre li a mis, | El langage de son païs. | Vancastre cest nom del quir prent, | Sel puet l’on nomer altrement | Chastel de coroie en romans, | Kaer Kaerai en bretans. | Or l’apèlent pluisor Lancastre | Qui ne savoient l’aqoison | Dont Vancastre ot premier cest non,’ W 7075-84. The traditional site is Tong in Kent: ‘Tong Castle or rather Thong Castle, in Saxon Þwangceastre, in British Caer Kerry . . . both whiche woordes signifie a Thong of leather,’ Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent, ed. 1576, p. 195. But Camden in his Britannia, published in 1586, p. 306, places it in Lincolnshire, at Caster, six miles from Grimsby. L specializes in place-names; see his account of London, 7099, Hampton, 9376, Caen, 27923, Cernel, 29674. The formula in l. 227 occurs at 6062, 9380 &c.
[228]. gome is translated ‘adventure’ by Madden, rather, proceeding, tricky device.