[435]. in rigte leue: see 89/28. mid fles ⁊ gast, in body and soul.
[437]. on lengðe, in the long run, at length: more commonly used of measure, ‘hit is on lengþe; four and twenti mundes,’ L MS. O, 21993.
[438]. festeð: comp. 1/23; ‘In him i hafe min hope al fest,’ CM 5288: ‘spem sibi ponit,’ T.
[439]. helle dim: comp. 186/341.
[440]. This article is mostly original. Sirene, genitive of sirena; the title in T. is ‘De Sirenis’; classical Latin has only siren, -is, fem. In T. they are female and birds in the nether half; his account is very brief and general, and it is followed closely by that of the onocentaur, which is ‘biformis’ like the siren; the ‘significacio’ is common to both. An earlier description is found in Layamon, 1322-1347, which is based on Wace, Brut, 733-771. The author of the Bestiary was acquainted with one or both of these. Comp. also Bozon, Contes Moralisés, p. 47.
[441]. selcuðes, marvels: the word is mostly adjective. ‘Item mare est animancium et monstrorum multiplicis forme productivum; mare enim longe producit monstra et mira quam facit ipsa terra,’ Bartholomeus Anglicus, lib. xiii.
[442]. mereman, mermaid: a better form is meremin, pl. merminnen, L 1322: merman is a much later masculine formed from mermaid. The first half of the line is short: perhaps muchel should be added after is.
[443]. oc—bunden, but in her resemblance to a maiden she is altogether limited to this extent of breast and body. This use of bind has perhaps been helped by Layamon’s ‘wifmen hit þunchet fuliwis; bi-neoðe þon gurdle hit þuncheð fisc.’
[444]. ‘Poisson sunt del nombril aval,’ Wace 737. For the second half line read, ge is noman ilik.
[445]. to fuliwis: see [32/40 note]. waxen: explained by Mätzner as furnished, in meaning of OE. beweaxan, which however is used only of extraneous growths, as ‘burgtunas brerum beweaxne,’ town-dwellings with briars o’ergrown, Cod. Exon. 443/16. Comp. ‘a win-tre | ðat adde waxen buges ðre,’ GE 59/2059.