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For a Swarm of Bees

{{Short description|Anglo-Saxon metrical charm}}

"For a Swarm of Bees" is an Anglo-Saxon metrical charm that was intended for use in keeping honey bees from swarming. The text was discovered by John Mitchell Kemble in the 19th century.{{sfnp|Kemble|1876|pp=403-404}} The charm is named for its opening words, "{{lang|ang|wiþ ymbe}}", meaning "against (or towards) a swarm of bees".{{sfnp|Bosworth|Toller|1889–1921}}

In the most often studied portion, towards the end of the text where the charm itself is located, the bees are referred to as {{lang|ang|sigewif}}, "victory-women". The word has been associated by Kemble,{{sfnp|Kemble|1876|pp=403-404}} Jacob Grimm, and other scholars with the notion of valkyries (Old English {{lang|ang|wælcyrian}}), and "shield maidens", hosts of female beings attested in Old Norse and, to a lesser extent, Old English sources, similar to or identical with the Idise of the Merseburg Incantations.{{sfnp|Davidson|1990|p=63}} Some scholars have theorized the compound to be a simple metaphor for the "victorious sword" (the stinging) of the bees.{{sfnp|Greenfield|Calder|1996|p=256}}

File:Lorscher Bienensegen.jpg

In 1909, the scholar Felix Grendon recorded what he saw as similarities between the charm and the Lorsch Bee Blessing, a manuscript portion of the Lorsch Codex, from the monastery in Lorsch, Germany. Grendon suggested that the two could possibly have a common origin in pre-Christian Germanic culture.{{sfnp|Grendon|1909}}

Charm text

{{lang|ang|Sitte ge, sīgewīf,   sīgað tō eorðan, {{efn|Sige is a homonym for both victory in war and sunset{{sfnp|Bosworth|Toller|1889–1921}} and it is related to the Sigel (Sowilo) rune.}}


næfre ge wilde   tō wuda fleogan, {{efn|Jacob Grimm proposed wille instead of wilde for grammatical or poetic reasons but it does not fundamentally alter his translation.{{sfnp|Grimm|1854|p=402}} Wilde means wildly, whereas wille means willfully, as well as a literal or figurative stream.{{sfnp|Bosworth|Toller|1889–1921}}}}


beō ge swā gemindige,   mīnes gōdes, {{efn|Beo may mean both "bee" and "be thou".{{sfnp|Bosworth|Toller|1889–1921}}}}


swā bið manna gehwilc,   metes and ēðeles.{{efn|Eðel may be both the name of the Odal rune as well as having all of its variant implications ranging from home, property, inheritance, country, fatherland, to nobility.{{sfnp|Bosworth|Toller|1889–1921}}}}}}


Settle down, victory-women, sink to earth,


never be wild and fly to the woods.


Be as mindful of my welfare,


as is each man of border and of home.{{sfnp|Greenfield|Calder|1996|p=256}}

Notes

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References

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Editions

  • Foys, Martin et al. [https://oepoetryfacsimile.org/ Old English Poetry in Facsimile Project] (Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019-); digital facsimile edition and Modern English translation

Sources

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  • {{cite book|last=Kemble |first=John Mitchell |author-link=John Mitchell Kemble |title=The Saxons in England, A History of The English Commonwealth, Till The Period of The Norman Conquest|volume=1|publisher=B. Quaritch|location=London|year=1876 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kpnAAAAMAAJ}}
  • {{cite book|last=Grendon |first=Felix|year=1909|title=The Anglo-Saxon Charms|publisher=The Journal of American Folklore |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-534353}}
  • {{cite book|last=Grimm |first=Jacob|author-link=Jacob Grimm|year=1854|publisher=Dieterische Bechhandlung|location=Göttingen|title=Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology) |url=https://archive.org/details/deutschemytholo01grimgoog}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Bosworth |first1=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Bosworth |last2=Toller |first2=T. Northcote |title=An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary with Supplements and Corrections by T. Northcote Toller|year=1889–1921}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Greenfield |first1=Stanley B. |author1-link= Stanley B. Greenfield |last2=Calder |first2=Daniel Gillmore |year=1996|title=A New Critical History of Old English Literature|location=New York|publisher=New York University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kreGLK6VbqwC&q=a+new+critical+history+of+old+english+literature|isbn=0-8147-3088-4}}
  • {{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Hilda Ellis |author-link=Hilda Ellis Davidson |title=Gods and Myths of Northern Europe|publisher=Penguin|year=1990|isbn=0-14-013627-4}}

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{{Anglo-Saxon Metrical Charms}}

{{Old English poetry|state=autocollapse}}

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Category:Anglo-Saxon metrical charms

Category:Beekeeping