A NOTE ON GENESIS A, LINE 22A.

The opening lines of the Old English poem "Genesis" deal with God's eternal glory. The angels participated in this blissful state and "performed naught in heaven save right and truth." That "aeroon" in line 22a introduces a temporal subclause is not in doubt. The individual words in lines 22-3a can be analysed without trouble, but the clause seems to lack a predicate. The form dwael might represent the preterite of a strong verb dwelan. The emendation is by no means trivial. For this very reason this change of the manuscript reading should be avoided. Whether dwael on gedwilde would be really meaningful seems doubtful.