Wulf and Eadwacer: a Note on Ungelic

The short Old English poem known as Wulf and Eadwacer is unusual in that
it contains a refrain in lines 2-3 and 7-8. I quote from Klinck's edition (92):

Willað hy hine apecgan gif he on preat cymeð.
Ungelic(e) is us

In both instances, the final half-line stands alone with no corresponding b-
verse, and the effect of this is to draw attention to the key term ungelic (line
3) or ungelice (line 8). I shall argue that the interpretation of this word is cru-
cial to an understanding of the poem.

The primary meaning of ungelic(e) is not in doubt. It occurs elsewhere in
Old English with the meaning "different, unlike"; being recorded forty-six
times in the adjectival form ungelic, and fifty-one times in the adverbial form
ungelice (Healey and Venezky). Kavros interprets the movement from adjec-
tive to adverb in Wulf and Eadwacer as a device aimed at heightening the
sense of oppression, but I would agree with Klinck (170) that the final e is
"probably a scribal variant without semantic significance." Lines 3 and 8 of
Wulf and Eadwacer are therefore usually translated, "It is different with us."
Interpretation of this phrase is problematic, and scholars disagree as to the
antecedents of "us" and the way in which they are different. Klinck (170-71)
provides a summary of the various readings that have been put forward, none
of which has gained universal acceptance.

However, the prefix un- in Old English -- particularly in poetry -- does not
always have a negative force. It may act as an intensifier, as in Beowulf, line
357, where Hrothgar is described as eald ond unhar ( Wrenn112). This can
only be taken to mean "old and very grey." Unhar is a nonce occurrence, and
so it is impossible to determine: whether or not it may have had an alternative
meaning in other contexts. Better scope for analysis is offered by the adjec-
tive unforht. This is recorded thirty-one times in the extant corpus of Old Eng-
lish, with eighteen occurrences of unforhte (Healey and Venezky). As with
ungelic(e), the prefix usually has a negative sense; and the primary meaning
of unforht is "unafraid." Nevertheless, there is an isolated occurrence where
the prefix must be understood as an intensifier. The Dream of the Rood, line
117, reads as follows ( Swanton95):

Ne Þearf ðr Þonne ænig unforht wesan
"There no-one need he very afraid"

-3-