Marks of length. The following vowels are the only ones marked long in the MS.:—
ût, 33; ân, 100; wât, 123; wôp, 128; wât, 210; bât, 211; bâd, 264 hâl, 300; bâd, 301; âr, 336; hâr, 357; hât, gân, 386; ân, 449; sǣ, 507; gâr, 537; sǣ, 564, 579; môt, 603; gâd, 660; nât, 681; sǣ, 690; bât, 742; stôd, 759; âbeag, 775; bân, 780; wîc, 821; sǣ, 895; hât, 897; sâr, 975; fâh, 1038; bân, dôn, 1116; blôd, 1121; sǣ, 1149; wîn, 1162; môd, 1167; âr, 1168; brûc, 1177; ǣr, 1187; rǣd, 1201; sǣ, 1223; wîn, 1233; wât, 1274; wîc, 1275; hâd, 1297; hâr, 1307; bâd, 1313; rûn, 1325; wât, 1331; ǣr, 1388; âris, 1390; gâ, 1394; hâm, 1407; bân, 1445; dôm, 1491, 1528; brûn, 1546; gôd, 1562; ǣr, 1587; sǣ, 1652; bâd, 1720; sǣ, 1850; lâc, wât, 1863; gôd, 1870; sǣ, 1882; râd, 1883; scîr, 1895; sǣ, 1896, 1924; scân, 1965; fûs, 1966; hwîl, 2002; lîe, 2080; rôf, 2084; dôn, 2090; côm, 2103; lîc, 2109; dôm, 2147; Hroðgâr, 2155; stôl, 2196; ân, 2210 (see note); fǣr, 2230 (see note); bâd, 2258;ân, 2280; wôc, 2287; bâd, 2302; fôr, 2308; gôd, 2342; wîd, 2346; dôm, 2376; sâr, 2468; mân, 2514; hârne stân, 2553; swât, 2558; swâf, 2559; bâd, 2568; wâc, 2577; swâc, 2584; gôd, 2586; wîc, 2607; Wiglâf, 2631; gâr, 2641; fâne, 2655; dôm, 2666; stôd, 2679; swâc, 2681; fŷr, 2689, 2701; wîs, 2716; bâd, 2736; lîf, 2743, 2751; stôd, 2769; dôm, 2820, 2858; râd, 2898; côm, 2944, 2992; âd, 3010; fûs, 3025; rôf, 3063; Wiglâf, 3076; bâd, 3116; fûs, 3119; hrôf, 3123; âd, 3138; rêc, 3144; bân-hûs, 3147.
Hyphens. It will have been seen that the MS. gives no help in one of the most difficult problems that beset the editor of O. E. poems, the question of the use of hyphens. Grein and Sweet discard them altogether. I cannot but question whether this is not to shirk one’s duty. At least it is a method that I have not been able at present to bring myself to adopt, tempting as it is. The difficulty of course is as to “where to draw the line”—where to use a hyphen or to write as one word, where to use a hyphen or write as two words. The former is the chief difficulty, and here as elsewhere I have endeavoured to find the path “of least resistance.” Prepositional prefixes in my text are not marked off by a hyphen from the following word;
