So, back to my thought that Beowulf must have been composed before the |g| to |y| consonant
shift, but after the main establishment of the Christian faith in England (assuming that it was
composed in England!) and written down with a faithful rendering, probably by copying earlier
versions, of the |g| alliteration.
Makes some kind of sense that!
Roger
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robin Hamilton" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 8:14 PM
Subject: Re: Beowulf's Yogh
> <<
>
> I'll go on from this, if you consider the enormous investment in time
> and labour that pre-printing manuscripts involved can one really
> consider anything as representing a kind of unpremeditated untextual
> poetry?
>>>
>
> I don't think anyone is suggesting that the Beowulf MS represents "unpremeditated
> [unmediated?] untextual poetry", dave, simply that it has its origins in an earlier oral text.
>
> And, if we accept the evidence of the "g" alliteration, composed well before the 1010 date of
> the Beowulf MS itself, as I seem to remember you arguing for a consciously archaising 11th C
> scribe.
>
> He'd have had to be *bloody clever to retro-engineer the "g" alliteration for the purposes of
> a new composition. <g>
>
> Robin
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