Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetry-news/69208/new-research-opening-line-of-beowulf-is-not-what-weve-eternally-thunk

36•gsf_emergency_6•2d ago

Comments

larrik•1h ago

It's an interesting idea, but I'm thrown by "a count" in "should be taken into a count by future translations"

Jtsummers•1h ago

Not present in the original report at The Independent:

> “I’d like to say that the interpretation I have put forward should be taken into account by future translations,” he said.

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/new...

It's possible The Independent fixed it up in an edit after The Poetry Foundation made a copy of it.

jihadjihad•1h ago

Amusingly, the source article [0] linked to in TFA does not contain the same error:

  > “I’d like to say that the interpretation I have put forward should be taken into account by future translations,” he said.

0: https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/new...

pc86•2m ago

Is this the Beowulf translation field equivalent of incorrectly correcting someone's correct use of the their/there/they're homophones?

tracerbulletx•1h ago

Beowulf translation is a whole academic field, the translation has been debated ad nauseum for 100s of years, Tolkien had his own translation and opinion, which differed from others. One additional scholar adding his own interpretation doesn't necessarily overturn anything. There is not enough detail in this article to know how compelling the case is or what the counter arguments would be.

cvoss•2m ago

The article references a forthcoming publication that I can't find a draft of. Here's an older publication on the topic by the same author: http://walkden.space/Walkden_2013_hwaet.pdf

gadders•1h ago

You could always read the Maria Dahvana Headley translation that starts with "Bro!":

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/review/beowulf-bro

"Bro! Tell me we still know how to speak of kings!

In the old days, everyone knew what men were: brave, bold, glory-bound.

Only stories now, but I’ll sound the Spear-Danes’ song, hoarded for hungry times."

spchampion2•55m ago

I know it's unconventional, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading that translation. It felt so alive, and other translations have never engaged me in quite the same way.

Eric_WVGG•9m ago

beat me to it. another article: https://www.npr.org/2020/08/27/906423831/bro-this-is-not-the...

her adaptation, The Mere Wife, needs to get adapted to film or series yesterday https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mere_Wife

zahlman•1h ago

How about "Whoa!"? That seems to me like it preserves some of the ambiguous sense (calling for attention vs. remarking upon a discovery).

slwvx•38m ago

"What ho" as in British English seems like a descendant of this usage

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/77151/what-ho-of...

roywiggins•17m ago

(2013)

WWWWH•13m ago

I used to use this (still do really) as a technique when starting undergraduate lectures. They’re there, ready to listen, but chatting away and need a moment to focus their attention.

*SO* let me tell you further fun facts about carbonyl chemistry…

Works. Those Anglo-Saxons knew what they were about.

IanCal•3m ago

I’ll share another great version of Beowulf- Bea Wolf. Based on kids, with fantastic artwork and a great story/version. My kids absolutely love me reading this and I absolutely love reading it as a large passed down story of battles.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60316971-bea-wolf

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Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection

Comments

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