AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN
In fact there was only one place where a distinctly Saxon character might have come in, namely in the place of the W, which instead of the Runic Wên (?) is composed of two Roman V’s. There is no place for the Runic Thorn (t).
He had been pursuing an argument, of which the aim was to show that from the time of Alfred the characteristic features of Anglo-Saxon writing were less used, being superseded5 by Gallic or Italic forms. He attributes the change to the teachers which the king had drawn6 from Gaul. That such a change was taking place in Alfred’s time is quite manifest, but its12 beginnings were further back; the taste for Frankish fashions having been introduced by his grandfather Ecgberht, who had passed years of exile at the Court of Charlemagne. Doubtless the movement grew under the influence of Alfred, who not only had visited Rome, but in all probability had resided there for some years.
If now passing from the alphabetic7 characters we consider the syntax of this sentence, we shall find that it varies so widely from our habits of speech at the present time as to furnish something like a measure of the intervening period, and as it were to render some account of the lapse8 of a thousand years. Let us begin by translating the sentence verbally with the minimum of change, retaining the selfsame words in their modern guise9. On this plan the sentence will run thus: ‘Alfred me hight work;’ where the baldness of the diction exhibits roughly the gulf10 there is between this Epigraph and our present usage. Each word is English, but the sentence is far from being so. This great contrast is the result of a combination of causes, and it may be resolved into four chief13 movements which have slowly operated during the long interval11.
A change has taken place in the collocation of words in forming a sentence. The governed pronoun stands in a place where it is now inadmissible: the present habit of the language requires that the pronoun ‘me’ should come in after its governing verb. If we make this change, we shall see that the sentence will become a trifle more like English, thus: ‘Alfred hight work me.’
Another movement is that which in process of time takes place in the usage of words. There is a fashion in the choice of words for the clothing of our ideas, and that fashion changes sometimes capriciously and fitfully, but for the most part so slowly and gradually that it takes an era of time to make the change conspicuous12. Words are liable to this kind of alteration13 in various degrees, and this inequality of change is observable even in a sentence of four words. The verb heht, hight, has undergone so great a change of sense that to the general reader it is apt to be unintelligible[5]. 14 But while this verb has altered greatly, the verb ‘work’ has altered little. Still, it has altered, and it is no longer the right word for its place.
The remaining two words have in usage undergone no change at all. The pronoun mec has suffered alteration in form by dropping a consonant14, but it is absolutely unchanged in its application. Indeed, it may be stated as a general law, that pronouns as a class are among the slowest of words to admit semantic change.
Nevertheless there is a group of words which are still more unchangeable in signification, and these are the Proper Nouns. External changes of form they do admit, but not the internal change of sense. The name ?lfred is the form prevalent on the coinage of his reign15, but there are variations, thus: ?lfred, ?lbred, elfred, elfered; and there is the form alfred, which has become established in modern English in consequence of the fact that our earliest popular histories of the king were derived16 from Latin books, in which language his name was commonly spelt alfredus. But15 whatever changes may pass over the visible representation of the word, there is no alteration possible in the relation between this word and the memory of that royal person whose proper name it was.
If now we remove the words that have suffered a semantic change, and substitute those which at the present time seem most natural, the sentence will take this form: ‘Alfred ordered make me;’ and thus it approaches another step towards the present manner of our speech.
The third movement to be noticed is that from the flexional to the phrasal method of syntax. The word gewyrcan is a flexional verb, the last syllable17, -an, being the sign of the infinitive18 mood, and indicating the syntactical function of that word in the sentence. By slow degrees this method of syntax fell out of use, and another way came up of expressing the same function. Instead of the syllable -an at the end of the verb, a little word, ‘to,’ was set before the verb, with the same effect of expressing the infinitive mood. If now we add this change to the other modifications20 of our16 sentence, we shall bring it considerably21 nearer to current speech, thus: ‘Alfred ordered to make me.’ But still it wants something to reduce it into the shape which we can recognize as modern English.
The fourth and last change which we must note in the habits of our speech is the great extension of the passive verb, and particularly in the infinitive mood. Many infinitive phrases which were once cast in the Active have been changed to the Passive, and a lingering survival of the active formula may be observed to have a peculiar22 and exceptional air. We feel this in the phrase, ‘The reason is not far to seek.’ A more familiar example may be seen on the boards of the house agents. Some of these boards say ‘House to let,’ while others prefer ‘House to be let,’—the one is homely23 and native English, the other is modish24 and reminds us of the schoolmaster. The same authority will guide us to bring our Legend up to date, and stamp our version with the mint of the nineteenth century, thus: ‘Alfred ordered me to be made.’
In the above analysis it has been necessary17 to depart in some measure from the course of nature by exhibiting in succession a group of changes which are due to processes more or less simultaneous. This accumulation of gradual changes furnishes a measure, partly scientific, partly sentimental25, of the wide interval that separates us from the time when this Epigraph was curiously26 woven in golden filigree27 by the lucky artist who executed the design of the ingenious prince.
But the Epigraph has time-indications which are closer and more definite. There are features which, besides telling of the lapse of time, do also in some sense indicate the point of time; features in virtue28 of which this Legend may be said to suggest proximately its own date. The two words ‘mec heht’ are archaic29 forms, the one of which is never, and the other rarely, found in the prose of the tenth century; indeed they were both archaic in the ninth. Mec had given place to me, and (though less absolutely) heht to hêt; but the older forms were still at the service of the poet, and Epigraphy has some share in poetic30 privilege. Indeed it would seem that in the time of Alfred mec was consciously 18 used as an archaic curiosity. There is a gold ring which I take to be contemporaneous with our Jewel, and it bears an English inscription in which mec occurs twice. It will be described below[6].
It would be too much to say that the forms mec heht convey a definite date, but they certainly fit well with the time of Alfred, and (but for that vague licence of Epigraphy) they might even be said to suggest the ninth century as the latest probable date of a work with which they are identified.
It is worthy31 of notice that heht occurs in another piece of Alfred’s inditing32, which I will introduce here not only for the sake of the old reduplicative verb, but also because the passage is germane33 to the argument, and imports an illustration of a comprehensive kind. The king prefixed to his version of Gregory’s Pastoral Care a preface in prose and a prologue34 in verse. The prose preface was about the main purpose of his work; the poetical35 prologue dealt with literary matters, the authority of his text, the history of his copy, the19 manner of his own literary operation. It is this poetical and literary Prologue which I here quote:
Tis ?rendgewrit
This Epistle
Agustinus
Augustine
ofer sealtne s?
over salt sea
suan brohte
brought from the south
ieg-buendum,
to us island-dwellers,
just as it erst
adihtode
drihtnes cempa
Rome papa.
the pontiff of Rome.
Ryhtspell monig
Gregorius gleawm?d
did Gregory’s glowing wit
gind w?d
eurh sefan snyttro,
searoeonca hord.
Fore?m he monncynnes
Wherefore he of mankind
m?st gestriende
converted the most
rodra wearde:
to the Ruler of heaven:
Romwara betest,
he of Romans the best,
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monna m?dwelegost,
of men the most mind-rich,
m?reum gefr?gost.
and widest admired.
Sieean min on Englisc
At length into English
?lfred kyning
Alfred the king
awende worda gehwelc,
every word of me wended,
and me his writerum
and me to his writers
sende sue and nore;
south and north he did send;
heht him swelcra ma
more ordered of such
brengan bi e?re bisene,
by the copy to bring,
e?t he his biscepum
sendan meahte:
might be able to send:
fore?m hi his sume eorften,
for some of them needed it,
ea ee L?denspr?ce
such as of Latin
l?ste c?eon.
very little did know.
In the last six lines of this little poem a new attitude is taken up; the book itself becomes the speaker, and sets forth how ?lfred was the translator, how he ordered (heht) more copies of his translation to be made, and for what purpose. In mentioning purpose, the prologue communicates21 something beyond the Legend, which leaves the purpose and signification of the design shrouded43 in symbolism. But for the rest, if we analyze44 these six lines, we shall find the heart and core of them to be essentially45 identical with the Legend on the Jewel—
AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN
[4] ‘Saxonici ductus duas tantum literas habet, C et G.’ Thesaurus, vol. i, p. 142.
[6] Chapter x.
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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adverted
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| 引起注意（advert的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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alphabetic
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| adj.照字母次序的，字母的 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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consonant
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| n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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infinitive
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| n.不定词；adj.不定词的 | |
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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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modifications
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| n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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modish
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| adj.流行的，时髦的 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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filigree
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| n.金银丝做的工艺品；v.用金银细丝饰品装饰；用华而不实的饰品装饰；adj.金银细丝工艺的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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archaic
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| adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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inditing
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| v.写（文章，信等）创作，赋诗，创作( indite的现在分词 ) | |
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germane
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| adj.关系密切的，恰当的 | |
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prologue
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| n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕 | |
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poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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indited
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| v.写（文章，信等）创作，赋诗，创作( indite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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doughty
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| adj.勇猛的，坚强的 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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analyze
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| vt.分析，解析 (=analyse) | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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philology
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| n.语言学；语文学 | |
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