Ne soothlich is it easie for to read

Where now on earth, or how, he may be fownd.

ben. This destroys the sense, which requires something like to hem that, bi pacience of good work, seken glorie, and onour, and vncorrupcioun, euerlastynge lijf.'

2. II. anentis. Hex. with. The meaning, as in 2. 13, 4. 2, 9. 14, is 'with (figuratively), according to the way or manner of.' The fundamental form is anen, to which by 1200 a final -t or -d had been added. It was again extended by final -e or -es, by analogy with words like onbute (n) and onzeanes. In the 14th century, final -s became -st, resulting in the forms anentist, anentst, anenst. Modern dialect, chiefly Scottish, has anent, which has, in the last century, been often affected by English writers, in the sense 'respecting, concerning.' Cf. Scott, Rob Roy 22: 'I... came... to see what can be dune anent your affairs.' Cf. NED. and Mätzner, English Grammar, for conflicting views of the development of the word.

2. 12. without. But withouten later in the verse. 2. 14. kyndli. By kind; by nature.

such manere lawe. The same construction appears in AV, Rev. 18. 12, 'all manner vessels of ivory,' and is usually considered noteworthy because of the omission of the preposition of. The phrase should be approached from the other side, since it is the insertion of the preposition in the modern phrase which requires explanation. NED. says: 'After manner, kind, sort, etc. a, orig. the "indef. article," was taken as of. Orig. what manner was in the genitive relation, thus: what manner a man? cujusmodi homo ? what manner men? cujusmodi homines? By being taken as = of, a was first extended to the plural, as 'what manner a men'? then changed to of, as in the mod. 'what manner of men'? which no longer answers to cujusmodi homines? but to qui modus hominum? The dialects retain the original “kind a” as kinda, kinder.'

2. 15. bytwixe. So also 14. 5. This form, like betwixt, between, is OE., but there is a remarkable agreement with French entre in the general uses of this preposition. The

dual idea of the original has gradually been lost, and between is often used as equivalent to among. In both instances in Romans, the Latin has been followed so literally that the English is almost unintelligible.

2. 20. kunnyng. T that which ought to be knowen; C, G, AV knowledge; R science. Trench, loving to draw moral lessons from word-histories, says: 'The fact that so many words implying knowledge, art, skill, obtain in course of time a secondary meaning of crooked knowledge, art which has degenerated into artifice, skill used only to circumvent, which meanings partially or altogether put out of use their primary, is a mournful witness to the way in which intellectual gifts are too commonly misapplied.' The word is derived from OE. cunnan, but the substantive does not occur until the 14th century.

2. 22. maumetis. 'Mahomet,' 'idol.' Under the mistaken notion that Mahomet was worshiped as a god, his name became a synonym of 'false gods.' Thus ca. 1205, Layamon: 'per inne he hafde his maumet, pa he heold for his god'; 1647, Trapp, Commentary Acts 19. 25: 'Wealth is the worldlings god, which he prizeth as Micah did his mawmet.'

2. 23. wlatist. OE. wlatian, 'to loathe, abominate.' Chaucer uses the adjective wlatsom, in the Nonne Preestes Tale 233:

Mordre is so wlatsom and abhominable
To God, that is so iust and resonable,
That he ne wol nat suffre it heled be.

2. 26. arettid. T, C, G, AV counted; R reputed. Here arettid translates L. reputabitur, but in other cases it renders L. imputare (see Latin-English Glossarial Index). The word became obsolete in the 16th century. It was used by Spenser as an archaism, but he mistakenly employed it as meaning 'entrust, deliver' (F. Q. 2. 8. 8):

The charge, which God doth unto me arett,
Of his deare safety, I to thee commend.

2. 28, 29. in opene... in hid. T, C, G outwarde . . . hid (hyd) wythin; R in open shew... in secret; AV outwardly..

inwardly. The adverbial forms found in AV did not come into use until the 15th century. Secret, or its earlier form secree, was known in the 14th century, but does not seem to have been used by Wyclif. The present forms are overliteral renderings of the Latin, though in the same verse a second in manifesto is rendered by the adverb openli.

3. 2. myche bi al wise. T, C, G surely very moch(e) (much); R much by al meanes; AV much every way. The word modum illustrates very well the mechanical fashion in which the Latin is often translated in LV. The word occurs in the Vulgate some 80 times, in 68 of which it is rendered maner, in 5 mesure, and in the remaining instances by various words. Ultra modum and super modum are translated by ouer or aboue maner or mesure. Over measure was evidently a current phrase, being used by Chaucer, Parlement of Foules 300:

right so over mesure

She fairer was than any creature.

Above measure is still current in AV, 2 Cor. II. 23: 'in stripes above measure.' But it seems that aboue maner and ouer maner must have been as awkward and meaningless in Wyclif's day as in our own.

3. 2. spekyngis. T word; C, R words; G, AV oracles. L. eloquium is usually translated in the Wycliffite versions of the Bible by 'word' or 'speche.' The present is the sole instance of the use of spekyng in this sense. It is found once in Ayenbite of Inwyt, ca. 1340 (E.E.T.S. p. 50): 'ine zenne of kueade tonge, pet is ine fole spekinge.'

3. 3. auoided. T, C, G, AV make without (wythout) effect(e); R made frustrate. Avoid in the sense of 'make void or of no effect,' used first in Wyclif, Sermons, has been employed chiefly as a legal term, in which connection it is still found. It is found in Milton, Divorce, Introd.: 'Yet if the wisdom, the justice, the purity of God be to be cleared from foulest imputations, which are not yet avoided; then I dare affirm', etc. The sense 'keep away from' is expressed in W. by 'bowe awei from.' Cf. 16. 17.

3. 3. God forbede. So also 3. 6, 3. 31, 6. 2, etc. L. absit;

Gr. un révoito. Though used with an indirect object or a dependent clause from ca. 1225 (Ancren Riwle), the expression is first employed absolutely by W. Here EV has fer be it.

3.7. what. So also 5. 6, 9. 20, 14. 10. OE. hwæt; Hex. why. What is used in this sense by Chaucer, T. and C. 2. 292: 'What sholde I lenger proces of it make?' Shakespeare, J. C. 2. I. 123: 'What need we any spur but our own cause?' AV, Luke 22.71: 'What need we any further witness?' Milton, P. L. 2. 329: 'What sit we then projecting peace and war?'

3. 8. do we yuele thingis. Cf. 5. 1, 5. 21, 6. 4, 6. 12, etc. T, C, R, AV let vs (us) do (doe) evyll (euyll, evil); G why do we not euil. Modern usage has substituted for this construction the imperative of let with an object, followed by the significant verb in the infinitive. So far as appears, W. does not use the modern construction, which was, however, coming into use in his day. Chaucer, in the Man of Lawe's Tale 855, says: 'Lat us stynte of Custance but a throwe, And speke we of the Romayn Emperour.'

3. 9. schewid bi skile. T, C, G have already (all ready) proved (prouen); R haue argued; AV have before proved. Skill, in the sense of 'reason, argument,' became obsolete in the 15th century. This is the only known instance of its use in W.

3. 12. noon til to oon. 'Til is used to qualify to, into, unto. In Wyclif rendering L. usque (ad, in), even, as far as, on (to).' 'Even, intimating that the sentence expresses an extreme case of a more general proposition implied (Fr. même) seems not to have arisen before the 16th century (NED.),' though this use is suggested by an occasional earlier translation of usque ad as 'even to': 1546, Wyclif's Wycket 1 : 'In greate sufferance of persecution euen to the death.'

3. 24. azenbiyng. Hex. redemcion (redempcyon, redemption). Redemption and ransom were also used by W., but he seemed to prefer the English to the French term.

3. 25. for3yuer. EV helpere; T seat of mercy; C obtayner of mercy; G pacification; R, AV propitiation. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, Part 2, pp. 134 ff., considers C, G, R, AV imperfect renderings of Gr. ¿λaorýolov, but does

not suggest a better. The passage has been a theological battle-ground, but there seems to be no justification for EV and LV. The word forgiver was in use ca. 1225, Ancren Riwle. 4. 12. suen. T, C, G, AV walk(e) in; R folow. Sue, 'follow,' was common in the 14th century: Chaucer, Gentilesse: 'Vertu to sewe, and vyces for to flee.' In Shakespeare's time, the word had developed its modern sense 'plead or petition': Lear I. I. 30: 'I must love you, and sue to know you better.' Spenser uses it in the archaic meaning 'follow':

Great travail hath the gentle Calidore
And toil endured, sith I left him last
Suing the Blatant Beast.

4. 18. grauel. EV grauel, or sond. The clause (from as the sterris) is interpolated by both EV and LV, not being found in the Vulgate. C and R give part of it, and both use sand (sonde). Properly, the particles which constitute sand are smaller than those of gravel, but in literary use the works have been practically interchangeable: Shakespeare, T. Gent. of V. 4. 3. 33: 'Even from a heart As full of sorrows as the sea of sands'; K. Hen. VIII 1. 1. 155: 'Proofs as clear as founts in July when We see each grain of gravel.'

4. 20. was coumfortid. T, G was made stronge; C became strong; R was strengthened; AV was strong. Wright, in The Bible Word-Book, says: 'The idea of strengthening and supporting has been lost sight of in the modern usage of the word, which now signifies 'to console'; and the substantive 'comfort,' when employed in a material sense, does not convey the idea of needful support so much as of that which is merely accessory. In the 7th art. of the truce between England and Scotland in the reign of Rich. III, it was provided that neither of the kings "shall maintayne, fauour, ayde, or comfort any rebell or treytour" (Hall, Rich. III, fol. 19a).'

5. I.

haue we pees at God. T, C we are at peace with God; G, AV we have peace with God; R let vs haue peace toward God. Here at renders L. ad, but it is also used by LV to render L. apud in John I. I: 'the word was at God.' At, in the sense of 'proximity to, in the presence of,' was