Ships and Brunanburh

Cavill, Paul

Abstract

Work on ships in the Old English poem The Battle of Brunanburh has principally focused on the word cnear as a lexical item or as having some particular form or appearance. This article draws on this work with a view to elucidating what the poem tells us was happening in the aftermath of the battle of 937. It discusses the significance of the term cnear in relation to the manuscripts, its intelligibility and meaning, before analysing in detail the contexts in which it appears. A reconsideration of syntax and the semantics of on flot, gives rise to a modified interpretation of lines 32b–36. It is suggested, finally, that cnear and the passages in which it occurs might carry overtones of mockery at the expense of the escaping Norsemen.

Citation

Cavill, P. (2017). Ships and Brunanburh. English Studies, 8(8), 549-561. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2017.1322380

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 30, 2016
• Online Publication Date: May 17, 2017
• Publication Date: May 17, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 11, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 18, 2018
• Journal: English Studies
• Print ISSN: 0013-838X
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-4217
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 549-561
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2017.1322380
• Keywords: ships, launching ships, The Battle of Brunanburh, Old English poetry, Old English cnear, Scandinavian knǫrr, poetic compounds, Henry of Huntingdon
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/831124
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0013838X.2017.1322380
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article accepted for publication by Taylor & Francis in English Studies in 2017.
• Contract Date: Jan 11, 2017