| The Ruthwell. | The West Saxon paraphrase. |
| ba ætgadre | butu ætgædre |
| Ik [wæs] miþ blodæ bistemid | Eall ic wæs mid blode bestemed |
| Bi-goten of .......... | begoten of þæs guman sidan |
| .................. | syððan he hæfde his gast onsended. |
| Krist wæs on rodi | Crist wæs on rode |
| Hweþræ þer fusæ | Hwæðere þær fuse |
| fearran cwomu | feorran cwomon |
| Æþþile til anum | to þam æþelinge |
| Ik þæt al biheald | Ic þæt eall beheold |
| Sare ik wæs | Sare ic wæs |
| Miþ sorgum gidrœfid | Mid sorgum gedrefed |
| Hnag ic [hweþræ] | Hnag ic hwæðre |
| .................. | þam secgum to handa |
| Miþ strelum giwundad | Eall ic wæs mid strælum forwundod |
| A-legdun hiæ hinæ lim-wœrignæ | Aledon hie ðær limwerigne |
| Gistoddun him æt his likæs heafdum | Gestodon him æt his lices heafdum |
| Bihealdun hiæ þer heafun .... | Beheoldon hieðær heofenedryhten. |
Translation of the Ruthwell.
| On-graithed him(self) | Out-gushed from [the hero's side, |
| God almighty | Since his ghost he had sent forth.] |
| When he would | Christ was on rood; |
| On the gallwos ascend, | Howbeit there hastily (fussily) |
| Strong-of-mood before | From-afar came |
| All men. | Noble ones to him alone (?) |
| Bow I dared not | I that all beheld. |
| .... | Sore I was |
| [A rood I was reared] | With sorrows oppressed; |
| Up-heaved I the rich king, | Inclined I yet |
| Heaven's lord. | [To the hauds of his servants.] |
| Lean I dared not! | With shafts wounded, |
| Men reviled us-two | Laid they him limb-weary; |
| Both together; | Stood (by) him at his lyke's head, |
| I [was] with blood bestained | Beheld they there heaven['s lord]. |
In the form walde for the southern wolde, we see the distinction between the northern wald, wad, and the southern wold, would. Bi-heald for beheold, and darstæ for dorste, are dialectical points of the same kind. The use of ea for eo, as heafun for heofon, heaven, fearran for feorran, and the use of æ for e, miþ for mid, and the prefixes gi- and bi- for ge- and be-, are well-known characteristics of the Northumbrian glosses of the tenth century. But the most interesting point to be noticed is the dropping of final n from the inflections of nouns and verbs (galgu, buga, hælda, bismærædu, kwomu), also noted in the glosses, in which the Old North Anglian agreed with the Scandinavian and Frisian, rather than the Saxon, and anticipated the early loss of the noun and verb inflections by the northern dialect, seen in comparing the southern thei loven to ben, we wolden gon, with the northern thai luf to be, we wald ga.
