Wæstm: Installment Number Seven!
Jonathan battling Baccide, from a French translation of Josephus History of the Jews, 1400s.
Eala and happy Monandæg, everyone! I hope that everyone’s holidays were very happy indeed, and that we are all feeling refreshed and ready for the approaching new year. I certainly have a lot of exciting Old English projects coming up in 2025 that I can’t wait to share with everyone, so please follow along both here and on my instagram so that you don’t miss anything!
This installment of Wæstm, despite being one of the shorter chapters in the collection, brings the narrative to a climactic head. It follows in the example of many typical battle scenes throughout epic poetry that make use of vivid imagery of darkness and light, such as Beowulf in the famous first fight scene with Grendel, as well as religious art, writing, and general troupes of the time period about good and evil. It is also a favorite of mine for the word clatrungwealca, which I compounded and made up myself, like many words in this story that weren’t easy to find in textbooks and dictionaries. I love playing around and experimenting with words and the Old English language; it’s one of my favorite parts of speaking and writing in my studies. One could argue that my imagined turns of phrase make the project less serious, and while I would disagree (I think that creativity and engagement with the material adds layers to both a project and your own comprehension of it), I also wouldn’t take offense. This story verges on unhinged at the best of times, at its core it is somewhat ridiculous, an origin story for an inanimate piece of fruit in a bible story. But in a discipline that, with every passing year, fails to attract less and less new scholars, where interest is waning and which puplic perception is castigating to the realm of the irrelevant, stuffy, or forgotten, don’t you think we could use a little more fun, a little more ridiculous right about now?
Chapter the Seventh: Anticipation and suspense unresolved (with deepest apologies)
Light shines in darkness
Leoht blyscð in þȳstre
Light shines around the apple
Leoht blyscð ymb þām wæstme
Majestic, spear ready
Þrymfaest, spere gearowe
Angels sing when he draws the weapon
Encgelu singað hwanne hē ge-brodeð þæt wæpen
The pear draws as well
Seo peru ge-brodeð eac
And then… (drumroll)
Ond þy-dæges… (clatrungwealca)
They fight!
Gecampiaþ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!