617 – Extra on Middle English
Physiologus (or Bestiary)
The Physiologus is also known by the name of The Bestiary and dates from 1300. It was probably
written at Norwich, and is preserved in the British Library under the name of Arundel 292, from
which Figure 1 is taken
(http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=7560). There
is a good edition by Wirtjes (1991) who I have used for the transcription in (), as well as Wright
(1960).
1
Text
Figure 1:
Physiologus or Bestiary
The transcription uses the ƿ (wyn) for the [w] sound and uses the barred ð. It but does not distinguish
between the i with and without a forward stroke, which became our dot on the i). This scribe only puts
strokes on the i when there are n, m, or u letters around to make it hard to read. See him in line 3. There
are some abbreviations, such as ....
Ðe leun stant on hille. 7 he man hunten Nat(ur)a leonis
The lion stands on a hill and (if) he hears a man
here. Oðer ðurg his nese smel. Smake ðat he negge. Bi
hunt or through through his sense of smell (may)
ƿilc ƿeie so he ƿile.To dele niðer ƿenden. Alle hise fet step
smell that he comes near by which way so he will
pes. After him he filleð. Drageð dust ƿið his stert . ðer he
to parts lower down turn. All his feet’s steps after
steppeð. Oðer dust oðer deu. ðat he ne cunne is finden. Dri
ueð dun to his den. ðar he him bergen ƿille.
him he fills. (He) drags dust with his tail there he
steps either dust or dew that he not can them find.
(He) drives down to his den there he himself hide
An oðer kinde he haueð. ƿanne he is ikindled Stille lið
ðe leun. ne stireð he nout of slepe. Til ðe sunne haueð
sinen ðries him abuten. ðanne reiseð his fader him.
mit te rem ðat he makeð.
Ðe ðridde lage haueð ðe leun. ðanne he lieð to slepen.
Sal he neure luken. ðe lides of hise egen. Significacio
wants.
Another characteristic he has when he is born the
lion lies still. (He) stirs not from sleep till the sun
has shone thrice about him. Then rouses his father
him with the cry that he makes. The third law
applies to the lion. Then he lies to sleep shall he
never lock the lids of his eyes.
Welle heg is tat hil. ðat is heuen riche. Vre prime nature.
Very high is that hill that is heaven’s kingdom. Our
louerd is te leun. ðe liueð ðer abuuen. ƿu ðo him like
lord is the lion that lives there above. How then he
te. to ligten her on erðe. Migte neure diuel ƿiten. ðog he
wanted to come down to earth might never the devil
be derne hunte. hu he dun come. Ne ƿu he dennede him
know. though he be craftily hunting. how he came
in ðat defte meiden. Marie bi name. ðe him bar to man
down not how he sheltered himself in that humble
ne frame. Ðo ure drigten ded was. 7 doluen also his
maiden, called Mary, which bore him to man’s
ƿille ƿas. In a ston stille he lai. til it kam ðe dridde dai.
advantage. Then our lord was dead and buried as his
will was in a stone still he lay till it came the third
His fader him filstnede sƿo. ðat he ros fro dede ðo. vs to
day (when)
lif holden. ƿakeð so his ƿille is So hirde for his folde. He
is hirde. ƿe ben sep. Silden he us ƿille. If ƿe heren to his
ƿord. ðat ƿe ne gon noƿor ƿille.
his father him helped that he rose from dead then (so
as to) hold us to life. (He) wakes so his will is, like
(a) shepherd for his flock. He is shepherd; we are
sheep. He will shield us if we listen to his words that
we don’t go anywhere astray.
Table 1:
2
Transcription and word-by-word translation
Analysis
The sentences in this excerpt are very loosely connected (paratactic) and I have added them
together so as not to make too many separate sentences. I have also given a more modern
translation beneath each sentence.
The passage starts with a description in (1) of six clauses each ending in a period. I could
have added two more. As for the word order, there is still some V-final order, as in man hunten
here and niðer wenden but, since the clauses mainly involve subjects and verbs, we can’t say a lot.
Some nouns have an article (Ðe leun) but some lack one (man). The verbal endings are a mix of
one present indicative (stant), several subjunctives emphasizing this is possible (here, smake,
negge, wile), and infinitives (hunten, wenden).
(1)
Ðe leun stant on hille. 7 he man hunten here. Oðer ðurg his nese smel. Smake ðat he
negge. Bi wilc weie so he wile.To dele niðer wenden.
‘The lion stands on a hill. If he hears a man hunt or, through his sense of smell, perceives
that he comes near, he will go to lower parts.’
In (2), there is a set of eight clauses that can easily be seen as one contemporary sentence. The
second and the third could be seen as coordinate and the fourth as a relative. The fifth is an
adverbial and so is the sixth. The last two are again coordinates. The word order is clearly SVO in
e.g. the third and the seventh clause; only in the last clause is the auxiliary wille last and the object
pronoun him is preverbal. I follow Wiltjes in considering steppes a noun but it could be a plural
form of the verb. The set of clauses in () is verb-‘heavy’ and the verbal endings are third person
singular indicative (filleð, drageð, steppeð, driueð), two modals (cunne, wille), and two infinitives
(finden, bergen). The form is after cunne could be the third person plural pronoun (Wirtjes 1991:
56).
(2)
Alle hise fet steppes. After him he filleð. Drageð dust wið his stert. ðer he steppeð. Oðer
dust oðer deu. ðat he ne cunne is finden. Driueð dun to his den. ðar he him bergen wille.
‘He fills all his footsteps behind him; drags dust with his tail where he steps either dust or
dew so that he cannot be found; and hastens down to his den where he wants to hide
himself.’
The next set of clauses is given in (3). The second clause shows a sign of embedding because it uses
a wh-word wanne. The word order shows topicalization of an oðer kinde in the first clause and
postposition of the subject ðe leun in the next clause. The verb appears after the negative in initial
position in the negative clause which shows negative concord. Then we have an adverbial clause
with SVO order and a V2 main clause that starts with ðanne. The last part of the sentence is a PP
adverbial that contains a relative clause. There are articles before leun, sunne, and rem and the
verbs show third person present indicative endings (haueð, is, lið, stireð, haueð, reiseð, makeð), a
participle (ikindled), and an infinitive (sinen.)
(3)
An oðer kinde he haueð. wanne he is ikindled Stille lið ðe leun. ne stireð he nout of slepe. Til
ðe sunne haueð sinen ðries him abuten. ðanne reiseð his fader him. mit te rem ðat he
makeð.
`The lion has another characteristic. When he is born, he lies still and doesn’t stir in his
sleep till the sun has shone thrice around him. Then his father wakes him with the noise
that he makes.’
I have grouped the next set of clauses as (4). The first clause is V-2 with the object ðe ðridde lage in
the first position and the verb haueð second. The second is an independent clause in terms of the
punctuation but dependent in meaning on the third. The last part, ðe lides of hise egen, is the
object of the verb luken. Again there are numerous articles and the verbal endings are also similar
to those we’ve seen before, namely the indicatives haueð and lieð, the modal sal, and the infinitive
luken.
(4)
Ðe ðridde lage haueð ðe leun. ðanne he lieð to slepen. Sal he neure luken. ðe lides of hise
egen.
‘The lion has a third characteristic. When he lies down to sleep, he never closes the lids of
his eyes.’
And then comes what the reader should get out of the description, i.e. the signification. The first
clause puts the adjective describing the subject first, the verb is in second position, and the subject
last. The subject is enriched by a relative clause. Then comes an independent clause modified by a
V2 relative clause. The use of demonstratives and articles before nouns is ‘modern’ and the verbal
endings show only indicative third person endings, three copula verbs (all of the form is) and one
intransitive (liueð).
(5)
Welle heg is tat hil. ðat is heuen riche. vre louerd is te leun. ðe liueð ðer abuuen.
‘Very high is that hill that is the heavenly kingdom. Our Lord is the lion that lives above.’
The next set combines seven clauses and a phrase, all set apart by periods. The first clause is
centered around the verb likete which in Old and Middle English means ‘be pleasing’ and the next
clause tells us what was pleasing, namely to come down to earth.The third clause is verb-initial and
has a transitive verb witen that is separated from its clausal object hu he dun come by an
interjection about the nature of the devil (ðog he be derne hunte). The next clause, which
continues the object of witen, is a negative marked and the last but one part delineated by
periods, Marie bi name, is appositive to meiden. The last clause is a relative, again modifying
meiden. The verbal forms are past (likete, dennede, bar), infinitive (to ligten, witen), modal (migte),
and subjunctive (come).
(6)
Wu ðo him likete. to ligten her on erðe. Migte neure diuel witen. ðog he be derne hunte. Hu
he dun come. Ne wu he dennede him in ðat defte meiden. Marie bi name. ðe him bar to
man ne frame.
‘How then he wanted to come down to earth. The devil might never l know, though he is a
crafty hunter, how he came down to earth and how he sheltered himself in that humble
maiden, called Mary, which bore him to man’s advantage’.
Then follow four clauses that can be rendered as one in Modern English. I take the first to be a
subordinate adverbial, clear from it being V-final. Doluen is coordinate to ded, and also his wille
was is adverbial to that. What I have made into the main clause in the translation has a PP in first
position, an adjective in second position, the subject in third, and the verb last. The final clause is
dependent and its verb is an existential where it does not refer to anything and ðe dridde dai is the
real subject. There are articles in expected places (a ston, ðe dridde dai) and the verbs are past
indicative (was twice, lai, kam).
(7)
Ðo ure drigten ded was. 7 doluen also his wille was. In a ston stille he lai. til it kam ðe
dridde dai.
‘When our lord was dead and buried, according to his will, he lay in a grave until the third
day arrived.’
The last part of this exerpt could have been divided further into three Modern English
sentences. Word order is still very much in flux. Pronouns still precede the verb in the first
clause, the second, dependent clause is V2; and the third is V-last. The fourth starts with a left
out subject and that adverbial that follows is SV. Then come two juxtaposed V2 clauses (He is
hirde. we ben sep) and a preposed infinitive with the auxiliary last. The last two clauses are as
they’d be in Modern English and are both V2. This fragment contains another multiple negative
in the last clause. Verbal endings are past indicative (filstnede, ros), infinitive (holden, silden),
present indicative (wakeð, is, ben), and modal (will). Wiltjes considers heren and gon as
subjunctives but they could also be indicative and ben could be a future.
(8)
His fader him filstnede swo. ðat he ros fro dede ðo. vs to lif holden. wakeð so his wille is
So hirde for his folde. He is hirde. we ben sep. Silden he us wille. If we heren to his word.
ðat we ne gon nowor wille.
‘His father helped him rise from dead to keep us alive. He wakes as his will is, like a
shepherd for his flock. He is the shepherd; we are sheep; he will shield us. If we listen to his
words, we won’t go astray’.
3
Status and dialect
As I mentioned above, the language is paratactic because sentence connections are through
juxtaposition rather than through embedding. The word order still shows traces of V-final,
especially with pronominal objects, and, expected for a text before 1400, there are V-2 orders
but this is not strict. A sign that we are dealing with a Middle and not Old English text is that
only ðe and ðat function as relatives. Negative concord is also more typical of a later text.
We can see that this is not a southern text because the verbal and nominal endings have
changed. Although the third person singular –eð is still frequent, the distinction between some
indicatives and subjunctives is hard to see, e.g, heren in (). Infinitival endings are always –en, an
indication of the early date (...). The –e endings on nouns no longer mark case. For instance, in
(), ston appears after a preposition, where Old English would have had stone because this noun
is masculine. Wirtjes (1991: xxii) lists a few “traces of a prepositional case” but not in this part
of the text. The use of til is more typical of a northern text and this is also compatible with the
East Midlands. The use of i- on past participles is typical in the south but occurs rarely in the
Physiologus as a whole, though once in our excerpt.