[54]. wise may mean, song.
[56]. loki—bare, guard myself against the open, i.e. keep in my thicket, as at l. 59, 155/106. Other adjectives used as nouns are blete, l. 57, unsheltered place; woȝe ll. 120, 154, crooked conduct; harde, ON 459, 527, bitter weather, 703, difficulty; toȝte 703, puzzling situation. loki wit appears to be without parallel, but wiþ is common in conjunction with similar verbs, see [48/299 note]; from is usual, 149/77 as with schilde, 153/62, 157/119.
[63]. tukest: the usual construction of this verb in OE. and ME. is seen in, ‘þa halgan . . . to ealre yrmðe tucode,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 494/106 (afflicted the Saints with every kind of misery); ‘ha tukeð ure godes to balewe ⁊ to bismere,’ SK 551. Whether to is to be inserted, or wroþe (which is a noun, ON 944) and vuele are to be regarded as adverbs, in any case the verb must have a direct object; over is probably a misreading of the common original MS. for oþer; comp. ON 1524 where J has correctly oþer and C over. The mistake would lead to the omission of to before wroþe. The sense then is, thou dost harass with evil and harm other small birds wherever thou canst. fugele as pl. acc. in rhyme can be supported by bridde : amidde, ON 123; wrenche : atprenche, id. 813.
[67]. bischricheþ, screech at; apparently only here. Comp. 160/215.
[68]. narewe, strictly, harshly; comp. 74/203 note. biledet, treat, like L. afficere; comp. ‘He iseyh hw ihesu crist. wes vuele biled,’ OEM 45/278; ‘And luþre heom biledeþ | Mid pykes and myd eaule,’ id. 83/329. The word appears to descend as to form from OE. belǣdan, to lead (astray), and as to meaning from OE. belecgan, to treat (ill), afflict, through the intermediary of their common pp. belēd. The expression is somewhat like ‘mettre à l’estroict, to put vnto the pinch,’ Cotgrave.
[70]. Hire þonkes, gladly; see [10/167 note].
[72]. in monie volde, lit., in many folds, that is, in many respects. The phrase seems to be a mistaken resolution of some such adverbial expression as *on manigfealdum; in ME. on manyfolde, bi manifold are found, as well as many a folde. A natural extension is seen in, ‘ne uint he red in one (none J) uolde,’ ON 696.
[76]. Riȝt swo, just as if; comp. 155/98, 163/222.
[78]. cliure, claw: six times in ON, only once again in ME., see ES xxxi. 7, 17. ‘clifra, ungularum,’ OE. Glosses, ed. Napier, 135/5341, 148/458.
[80]. owel: see [58/67 note].