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Ships and Brunanburh

Cavill, Paul

Authors

Paul Cavill



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 Mar 29, 2024
Journal English Studies
Print ISSN 0013-838X
Electronic ISSN 1744-4217
Publisher Routledge
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.

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