14 Torr. of Port. 1691, This Giaunt him toke, a he be. Ibid. 2017, Byrdus and bestis, aye woo ye be. c. 1440 Generydes 915, he toke his leue, wherewith he w full woo. Ibid. 2371, Too se hym in that plight they we full woo. Ibid. 2578, Thanne was a noyse the Citee all alo that they were slayn, and woo thei were therfor Ibid. 3484, Of his fayling ther he was full woo. Ibid. 6652, So woo thei were thei wist not wh to do. 1425-'50 Two Hist. fr. Hell I 49, Ashm. MS. wo be po who-so euer they be. Seven Pen. Ps. 554, Ashm. MS. Bowe doun þin eer when I am whoo. c. 1450 Bev. of Hamt. MSS. C and M (MS. Auch. has th A constr. throughout) 297 C wo he was. Ibid. 541 M, Whan Iosyan it herd, she was fu wao. Ibid. 2002 M, For Arundel I am ful wo. Ibid. 2349 M, therfore he was ful wo. Ibid. 2911 M, He was so wo & so wode. 1481 Caxton, Reynard p. 44. he was so woo, he wist no what to doo. c. 1489 Robyn Hood 1183, And wo be thou, thou prou sheriff. I am unable to say when this idiom got into disuse; s much is certain, that up to about 1600 it was not obsolete since both Spenser and Shakespeare employ it. Faerie Queene IV 1 38, He was full wo, and gan his for mer griefe renew. Tempest V 139, I am woe for 't, Sir. Ant. & Cl. IV XII 133, Woe, woe are we sir. 62. At present the A construction belongs rather to the literary than to the spoken language and is only used in con nection with me, as; Dickens, Christm. Car. (Tauchn.) p. 27 "It is doomed to wander through the world - oh, woe is me And witness what it cannot share". This seems already to have been the case three centuries ago; in the Auth. Vers. there are 7 instances of woe is me, while there is one in the Apocrypha; otherwise we find the C construction, as: Jer. XXIII 1, Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture. Ezek. XXXIV 2, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Eccl. (Apocr.) II 12, Woe be to the fearful hearts, and faint hands. Ibid. XLI 8, Woe be to you ungodly who have forsaken law. It is noteworthy that the verb be is generally omitted. In Present English the C construction is still used in the spoken language, although perhaps oftener in fun than in earnest, -"Woe be to you if dare to touch it'; 'Woe be to him if he lets it out'. you 5. Rewen. 63. At first sight the M. E. representative of O. E. hreowan is a most puzzling verb. Hreowan is essentially a type A verb, while rewen enters into a variety of constructions and has several significations. In the poems from the Harl. MS. 2253 there are instances of three different constructions (see the glossary) which may be represented as follows. a. it reoweb me (A constr., as in O. E.); b. ich reowe hit (D construction); C. reowe pou [on] me (Imperative). It seems to me that in attempting to account for the syntactical history of this verb we must start from the last of these three constructions. In the Imperative we should expect pee, not pou; pee rewe must actually have existed, and is, indeed, met with in the Auchinleck MS, 15-20 years later than Harl. 2253, viz: Bev. of Hamt. 3658, i praie, on me be rewe, which means 'cause it thee sorrow, be thou sorry for me, have thou pity on me'. The preposition on, which had many meanings in M. E., signifies here 'with respect to, concerning;' as in so many other cases it is interchangeable with of. 'On me be rewe' must have been unique, for already O. E. it was very usual to intensify invocations by pur ver by Je. The following instances have been taken fro Godcunde Lar & Peowdom: p. 138, Ne læd pu us to wite in wean sorge. p. 165, Ne awyrp pu me, wuldres Ealdor; rece pu h swylce, þæt hi on worulde wynnum lifigen. p. 178, Đu min gebed, mære Drihten, gehyr. p. 125, Ne forwcorn pu me, wuldres Drihten. Nothing was therefore more natural than that he shou be replaced by pu, pou, and thus rewe pou on me became very usual form of invoking compassion, mercy etc., as th following passages representing all three dialects, will sho Northern dialect. Cursor Mundi 14173 C, Lauerd, of him pou reu; th other MSS. have on him. Ibid. 24564 C., For drighten luue, yee reu o me; oth MSS. similar. Ibid. 24571 C, Yee reu o me, for-]i; other MSS. sir Ibid. 245643, only in G, Leuedi, for þat suete io pu reu on me. Thomas of Erc. 87, Camb. MS., lovely lady! pou re on me. Midl. dialect. Ass. of Oure Lady 526, Camb. MS., now. y the pray on me pou rewe. Wright's Chaste Wife 186, Good dame, on me po rewe! Southern dialect. Poems Harl. MS. 2253 172/13, weylawei! whi seist po so? pou rewe on me, by man. Ibid. 204/165, Iesu, þin ore! pou rewe of me. Ibid. 206/19, moder, pou rewe al of pi bern. 64. Occasionally pou is omitted; such instances show tha rewe had begun to be taken for an ordinary Imperative. Thom. of Erc. 87, Thornton MS., lufly ladye! rew on mee. Henrysone, Robyn and Mak. (Percy) 4, O Robyn, rew on me. Bonaventura's Medit. 473, Penke man, now & rewe on hire syghyng. Chaucer, Cant. T. F 947, Madame, reweth upon my peynes smerte. Id. Troil. & Cris. IV 1176, O lord... Rewe eek on me! Poems Harl. MS. 2253 207/43, moder, rewe of moder care. 65. The D construction of rewen had established itself in English as early as the beginning of the 14th century. c. 1310 Poems Harl. MS. 2253 231/13, þat we han ydon, yrede we reowen sore. c. 1320 Cursor Mundi 9618 F, how shuldist pou rew on hym ought; T and Bedf. simil.; C & G have the A constr. Ibid. 15695 G, Of þaim redeles he reud sare; T simil.; C & F have the A constr. Ibid. 18419 C, I praid o me he suld reu; all the other MSS. similar. c. 1340 Hampole, Works I p. 61, When wil pou rew, on me? Ibid. I p. 147, I die for hunger, bot pou on me reu. c. 1386 Cant. T A 3362, I preye yow that ye wol rewe on me. 1393 Conf. Am. Prol. 1004, He may that werre sore rewe. Ibid. III 1610, ye rewe upon my tale. Ibid. V 5760, Of myn astat, ye wolde rewe. 1400-'50 Beves of Hamt. 178, Manch. MS., If thou hyr haue, thou shalt it rewe. c. 1420 Hoccleve, Minor Poems II 136, Thow oghtist reewe on it. Ibid. II 467. Come on, whan yow list, yee shul reewe it deere. Ibid. XXIII 490, thou shalt it nat reewe ne forthynke. Ibid. XXIV 652, he thoghte, reewe shee sholde. 66. The A construction kept its ground till about the end of the 15th century. Late instances are found in Wright's Chaste Wife 55. Blanchardyn 156/10; Robyn Hood 883 & 1031; Battle Otterb. (Percy) 44. 6. Longen. 67. As this verb originally governed an accusative, a construction could, of course, not develop from it. Moreove it does not appear to have been subject to any special infl ences, so that its syntactical history can be stated in a fe words. The earnest of the approaching change is found in a South ern production, viz. in the Passion of our Lord, from Jesu MS., date between 1244 and 1250, (O. E. Misc.): He wes swype of-longed to his fader blysse (line 14) The first real D constructions are: c. 1320 Cursor Mundi 10548 C, þan sal pou find pi husband þar, þat pou has langed efter sare; th other MSS. similar. Ibid. 20306, He wil noght lang þat i be her, th other MSS. similar. My next instance is one from a South Midland production 1300-'50 Castel off Loue 1340, porw his Godhede his soul eoade hidere for hise at hedden neode pa Jore hadden hem a-bide And sore longeden to gon him mide. Before the end of the 14th century the D construction hac become quite usual. 1369 Chaucer, Book of the Duch. 83, She longed so after the king That certes, hit were a pitous thing To telle. 1385-'6 Leg. of G. W. 2260, On a day she gan so sore longe To seen her suster. 1386-? Cant. T. A 12, Than longen folk to goon on pil grimages. 1393 Gower, Conf. Am. II 1424. He ne longeth al sc sore, To wite what him schal betide. Ibid. II 2393, I ne wolde longe er this Of other mannes love. 1435 Fire of Love 26/22, in hym-self he longis & ner hand he faylis for swetnes. |