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Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection (2013)

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Re: Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection (2013)

#31

Post by ErroneousBosh »

antognini wrote: post #22
WWWWH wrote: post #14

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.

I remember one of my friends in college pointing out before lecture that the professor would always start by saying "OK, So."

I have had to train myself out of doing that when recording videos. The best I've managed is that I can do it sometimes, and most of the rest of the time I leave a long enough pause after that I can cleanly edit it off.

Re: Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection (2013)

#34

Post by mc32 »

spyrja wrote: post #29

I agree with Dr. Walkden here. While it was used as an interjection at times (just as it is today when someone exclaims, "What?!") in the context of the opening line of Beowulf "hwæt" is more likely being used to reformulate a statement in order to convey a sense of emphasis. An example in modern English would be something like, rather than saying "That was a gorgeous sunset!", one says "What a gorgeous sunset that w…

People are saying that the interjection interpretation is influenced by its use as interjection in Shakespeare’s time. By that time what/hwæt was being used differently than the way it was when Beowulf was authored hundreds of years before.

Re: Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection (2013)

#35

Post by tsimionescu »

zahlman wrote: post #28
cvoss wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is really focused on the grammatical function of the word. The researcher is arguing that it's not ever used as an interjection, which "whoa" always is.

I would say the presence of an exclamation mark, in a context where exclamation marks are rare, is strong evidence of use as an interjection. Unless we're arguing that some other mark was mistaken for an exclamation, generally I would say rare typography is "marked" (noteworthy) rather than being likely mistaken. I think the researcher's position is not likely to hold much sway going forward.

The exclamation mark is added in transliterations of the manuscript because it is believed to be an interjection. If you look at the manuscript, there is no such mark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf#/media/File:Beowulf_Co...

Re: Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection (2013)

#36

Post by tsimionescu »

dizzy9 wrote: post #33

Graham Scheper has a recent video on this topic. He also believes that "Hwaet" is not an interjection, but more like Red Riding Hood's "What big eyes you have!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gZKCPk40WI

You seem to have linked the wrong video (yours is about the meaning of the name Beowolf), the right link about Hwaet is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMIfHNn9KGs

Re: Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection (2013)

#37

Post by Sharlin »

zahlman wrote: post #28
cvoss wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is really focused on the grammatical function of the word. The researcher is arguing that it's not ever used as an interjection, which "whoa" always is.

I would say the presence of an exclamation mark, in a context where exclamation marks are rare, is strong evidence of use as an interjection. Unless we're arguing that some other mark was mistaken for an exclamation, generally I would say rare typography is "marked" (noteworthy) rather than being likely mistaken. I think the researcher's position is not likely to hold much sway going forward.

Why would you assume the original had an exclamation mark? Indeed the whole symbol was not invented until the 1300s.

Re: Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection (2013)

#38

Post by [deleted] »

zahlman wrote: post #28
cvoss wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is really focused on the grammatical function of the word. The researcher is arguing that it's not ever used as an interjection, which "whoa" always is.

I would say the presence of an exclamation mark, in a context where exclamation marks are rare, is strong evidence of use as an interjection. Unless we're arguing that some other mark was mistaken for an exclamation, generally I would say rare typography is "marked" (noteworthy) rather than being likely mistaken. I think the researcher's position is not likely to hold much sway going forward.

[deleted]

Re: Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection (2013)

#40

Post by chuho »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #30
slwvx wrote: post #9

"What ho" as in British English seems like a descendant of this usage https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/77151/what-ho-of...

There was a more colloquial translation a few years ago that rendered it as "Bro!"

That's the 2021 translation by Maria Headley

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374110031/beowulfanewtran...

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