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Beowulf on Steorarume

Kaluza's Law and the Dating of Beowulf
[ , 2003]
updated on 30-November-2003

Old English literature is largely preserved in manuscripts of the late tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries, and Beowulf is no exception, surviving in a late 10th- or early 11th-c. codex. Based on external evidence such as historical references or authorship, some poetry, like Cædmon's Hymn, can be dated as early as the 7th-c., whilst other poems, like The Death of Edgar, can be dated as late as the mid-eleventh century. But the main body of Old English literature, including Beowulf, cannot be so easily dated, except roughly to sometime during a period of two or three hundred years or more. The importance of dating such literature is not only historical, for, in interpreting literature, knowledge of the setting in which a work was composed is of great importance. As Amos puts it, '[it] is as if we knew that Sir Philip Sidney wrote in the late sixteenth century and Wallace Stevens in the mid-twentieth century, but could not assign even relative dates within that period to the work of Dickens and Shakespeare' (pg 1).

One of the more interesting, and empirically-sound, clues to the date of composition of Beowulf lies in a consideration of certain aspects of the metre of the poem. Specifically, the conformity of the metre of Beowulf to 'Kaluza's Law' (governing the resolution of syllables into a single position) would be unexpected if the poem had been composed after 825 AD.  What follows attempts to present a straightforward synopsis of the relevant facts, largely based on R.D. Fulk's excellent work on the dating of Old English poems based on Kaluza's Law (see Fulk, A History of Old English Meter, §§ 170-183, §§406-421), which suggests that Beowulf was composed between 685 AD - 725 AD (though one should be aware that there are other valid arguments for a later date of composition, as well as some difficulties with the evidence provided by Kaluza's Law:-- see postscript below).

Contents
Basics of Old English Metre
Resolution: two syllables as one
Kaluza's Law & history of OE vowels
The Date of Beowulf
Postscript

Appendix A: Kaluza's law in Beowulf
Appendix B: Kaluza's law in OE poetry
Appendix C: Kaluza's original formulation (deutsch & English)
Appendix D: OE inflexion endings

Bibliography

note: clicking on the blue hyperlinked words in the text provides brief definitions/explanations

I. BASICS OF OLD ENGLISH METRE 

For a fuller intro to Old English metre see:
Syd Allan's Jagular Beowulf:
pronunciation of Old English

Metre can be roughly described as the rhythm used in recitation. More exactly, metre comprises the patterns of stressed (or emphasised) and unstressed syllables, which are inherent in spoken language, but take on a more regulated form in poetry. In English, both modern and ancient, stressed syllables are usually distinguished from unstressed syllables in being longer and/or having more amplitude (i.e. being 'louder').

Verses in Old English are bound together by alliteration, much as rhyme forms the linking structure for rhyming poetry. Alliteration is the repetition of the initial sounds of words (thus it is sometimes called 'head rhyme' or 'initial rhyme'), serving not only to link verses, but also to emphasise important words within the verse. In Old English (and Old Germanic in general), a vowels alliterates with any other vowel (more correctly, any onsetless syllable alliterates with any other onsetless syllable) -- otherwise strict identity is maintained. Usually nouns and adverbs are the alliterating words, and the on-verse has one or two alliterating words, but the off-verse only one.  

We may broadly classify the verse patterns used in Old English (and thus in Beowulf) into the following types (based largely on Sievers' classification):

Verse Type
Pattern
(Bliss)

Pattern
(Pope)

OE example
modern Eng. ex.
Type A [trochaic]
  / x | / x
lift, drop, lift, drop
121a grim ond graédig
grim and greedy
Type B [iambic]
  x / | x /
drop, lift, drop, lift
510a né léof né láð
not friend nor foe
Type C [clashing]
  x / | / x
drop, lift, lift, drop
4a oft Scyld Scéfing
oft Shield Shayfing
Type D1
  / | / \ x
lift, lift, half-lift, drop
1848a wís wordcwida
wise word-speaker
Type D4
  / | / x \
lift, lift, drop, half-lift
2885a eall éðelwyn
all native joy
Type E
  / \ x | /
lift, half-lift, drop, lift
131b þegnsorge dréah
thane-sorrow pain'd
Key
/ = primary stressed syllable
\ = secondary stressed syllable
x = unstressed ('weak') syllable
| = caesura(= division between metric feet )

Though a vast number of verses in Beowulf (and other Old English poems) do not conform exactly to any of these 'basic' types, we find that most verses are equivalent to one or other of the above types. One of the most common verse-forms in Beowulf is exemplified by wéox under wolcnum (8a) [ / x x / x ], in other words Type A with an 'extra' unstressed syllable in the first foot. In general one may observe that in all of the types we find four positions - in fact in the basic types, these four positions map perfectly onto four syllables. But not all verses have a direct equivalence between the four positions and four syllables : l. 8a above [ / x x / x ] shows an expansion of the first weak position (also called the first 'dip') into two syllables, some verses show an even greater expansion, like 1587b tó ðæs þe hé on ræste geseah [ x x x x x / | x x-/ ]. l. 1587b also shows another 'accomodation phenomenon' in the extrametricality of the prefix ge- of geseah : thus the notation x-/, which indicates that these two syllables are combined into one position (more specifically, the prefix is cliticised to the following stressed syllable). A phenomenon similar to extrametricality is anacrusis (called Auftakt by German metrists). Anacrusis consists of one or two extrametrical weak syllables preceding an initial falling foot in an on-verse (i.e. a- verse). An example of anacrusis (with two weak syllables: ne and ge- ) occurs in l. 109a ne gefeah hé þaére faéhðe [ x-x-/ x x x | / x ].

This brief discussion only grazes the surface of the complexities of Old English metre - for a fuller introduction, see Sievers ('Old Germanic Metrics'), Stockwell & Minkova and Bliss ( Introduction to Old English Metre) - the purpose herein being only to acquaint the reader with some basics of OE metre to make the following discussion more understandable.

II. METRICAL RESOLUTION & KALUZA'S LAW
The metrical 'accomodation phenomenon' of interest to us here is resolution (concept introducted into Germanic metrics by Eduard Sievers, 'Rhythmik', in 1885, as Auflösung) : by which two successive syllables are counted metrically as if they were a single syllable. We represent resolution notationally as [ /-x ] (resolution of a primary stress) or [ \-x ] (resolution of a secondary stress). For example, in brimclifu blícan (222a), the word clifu which has two syllables, is treated by the metre as though it were a single syllable, thus the pattern of 222a is [ / \-x | / x ]. Essentially, to occupy the ictus of a foot (i.e., to be stressed), either a heavy syllable, or a light syllable combined with the following syllable is required. A heavy syllable is a syllable containing a long vowel (e.g. ), a long diphthong (e.g. béo ) or a vowel plus one of more consonants in the same syllable (e.g. bat ); a light syllable is a syllable containing only a short vowel or short diphthong. There are some circumstances in which two such syllables do not resolve as described above, specifically: if the light stressed syllable is immediately preceded by another stressed syllable, and if the weak resolving syllable is heavy or--in the oldest OE poetry-- if the syllable was historically heavy, then resolution does not take place.

This last condition on non-resolution, i.e. a light resolving syllable which was historically heavy, is the crucial distinction which we shall exploit in the dating of Beowulf. In 1896 the German scholar Max Kaluza (in 'Zur Betonungs- und Verslehre des Altenglischen') published his crucial discovery that, in some metrical positions, resolution is governed in part by etymological considerations. Specifically, that resolution is blocked in certain cases not only if the resolving syllable is heavy but also if it is historically heavy. Historically heavy syllables in this case are those 'long' inflectional endings which end in a consonant (such as the masculine a- stem genitive singular ending -es) or once carried a 'circumflex' intonation ( Schleifton in German) in an earlier stage of the language (such as the ó- stem nominative plural ending -a from Proto-Germanic *-ô(z) from Proto-Indo-European *-âs ). The 'short' inflectional endings are the remainder (such as the masculine i-stem nominative singular -e from Proto-Germanic *-iz ) [see further Appendix D. below].

This condition on resolution is known as Kaluza's Law (see Appendix C. for Kaluza's own formulation). Additionally, the law is restricted to only such cases in which the resolvable syllables and the immediately preceding lift (=stressed syllable) stand in the same foot. This additonal condition rules out, for instance, verses of type 2C2 (e.g. on bearm scipes (35b)). Despite Kaluza's claims, his law does not apply regularly in Types B and E (see Fulk §172). Without going into fine detail, which does not concern our primary purpose of dating here, we may observe that in Beowulf Kaluza's Law applies regularly under secondary stress in Bliss's verse types 2A3a(ii), 2A4, 1D3 and 3E3 (see Bliss, Metre of Beowulf,  §§34-7 & Fulk, History, §§170-183) and verse-finally under primary stress in Bliss's verse types 2A1b, 2A3b, a1 (Hutcheson, 3.D). Appendix A. provides an exhausting listing and details about all verses in Beowulf to which Kaluza's law applies.

This section may be somewhat technical for some readers.  The essential points are (a) in Old English verse, under certain conditions, two syllables are treated as a single syllable by the metre ('resolution'); and (b) of one the conditions for resolution, in the oldest OE verse, is the etymological status of a syllable as 'heavy' or 'light'. We shall take up the implications of point (b) for the dating of Beowulf in the next section.

III. VOWEL LENGTH, METRE AND THE DATING OF BEOWULF
The importance of Kaluza's law with respect to determining the date of composition of Beowulf lies in the fact that the poem observes the metrical distinction between long and short vocalic endings. The phonological distinction between these two types of endings was subsequently lost, as may be observed from a survey of Old English poems.  Fulk (History, §§176-83) catalogued of the verses of Bliss types 2A3a(ii), 2A4 & 1D3 & 3E3 (those verses with in which Kaluza's law applies under secondary stress), both those which conform to Kaluza's law and those which violate it for the OE poems Genesis A, Daniel, Beowulf, Exodus, Elene, Fates of the Apostles, Juliana, Christ II, Andreas, Metrical Preface to the Pastoral Care, Metres of Boethius, Judith and Battle of Maldon - (Appendix A. lists all verses from Beowulf and Appendix B. offers a summary of the statistics for most of the poems in Fulk's test group) . He found that Beowulf contains 108 relevant verses, of which 106 conform to Kaluza's law (i.e. only 1.9% of the verses are exceptions to Kaluza's law), and one of these exceptions involves a consonantal ending and is thus not relevant to the distinction between long and short vocalic endings. On the other hand, unsurprisingly, poems known to be late such as those of Cynewulf show a much higher rate of violation of the law. In addition to the high rate of conformity to Kaluza's law by Beowulf is the fact that verses of the relevant types (i.e. the type to which Kaluza's law applies) are exceptionally frequent in contrast with comparable poems: 'For example, while there are 108 relevant verses in Beowulf, in Genesis A there are just 9, even though the latter poem is nearly three-quarters the length of the former, and is rich in poetic compounds. The difference is especially extreme in type I [resolution pre-caesura], where Beowulf furnishes 65 examples and Genesis A only 2' (Fulk, History, §179).

Hutcheson demonstrates that, in addition to applying under secondary stress in certain A & D types (see above), it also applies under primary stress at the end of a number of 'light' verse types (including 2A1b, 2A3b, a1) -- in that resolvable endings do not usually occur verse-finally in these types (Hutcheson, 3.D). This allows us to add another 71 verses to our list of relevant verses of which only 1 is an exception to Kaluza's law, thus providing us with a total of 179 relevant verses in Beowulf with but 3 exceptions to Kaluza's law (a study of these 'light' types also adds appreciably to the list of relevant verses for Genesis A - see Appendix B. below).     

Fulk concludes: 'In sum, Beowulf is the most conservative poem of the test group with regard to Kaluza's law. Cynewulf and the Andreas poet violate it with considerable frequency. Poems known or presumed to date to Alfred's reign or later, to the extent that they provide any evidence at all, contain few instances to offer any statistical significance, but they clearly do not conform to the law. Violations in Genesis A, Daniel, and Exodus are few, but so are the relevant instances, at least in verses of type I. The difference between Beowulf and the rest of the test group, in respect both to regularity of application and to overall incidence of relevant verse types, is so profound that it can hardly be dissociated from the elimination of the phonological distinction between long and short vocalic endings. Beowulf, at least, must have been composed before the shortening of the long endings' ( History, §182).

The crucial conclusion to be drawn from these facts is: 'Observance of Kaluza's law...depends upon the maintenance of the original distinctions in vowel quantities. The fidelity of Beowulf to the law demonstrates that the poem can only have been composed before the quantitative distinction [between short and long vocalic endings] was lost' (Fulk, History,  §183 [emphasis added]).

Before we turn to the question of when the distinction between short and long vocalic endings must have collapsed, let us first address two possible objections to the conclusion reached above. The first we may find in Bliss's The Metre of Beowulf, Appendix B(pp.118-21):-- Bliss proposes that the phonological distinction between the endings may have become part of the morphology of the poetic language.  That is to say that it would be learned in the same way as a modern English speaker learns that the plural of man is men and foot is feet and knife is knives, despite the 'regular' plural form in -s, e.g. books, swords, tables, etc. Specifically with regard to Kaluza's law, Bliss's proposal is that the poet would learn 'a very obvious analogy between morphological and metrical equivalences: [e.g.] nominative plural scipu and hus and genitive plural scipa and husa are equivalent both in grammar and in metre' ( Metre of Beowulf, pg. 120). What Bliss means is that despite the fact that scipu has two syllables and hús one, they are treated the same by the grammar (since they are both nominative plural) and by the metre, since scipu may be resolved and thus treated as a single syllable. This claim is untenable because the distribution of short and long endings is not systematic, and such analogies do not hold true in many instances: '[f]or example, in the feminine ó- stems the acc. sg. ceare is not metrically equivalent to laré , which in turn is metrically equivalent to dat. sg. ceare , which is not metrically equivalent to gen. sg. ceare , even though the appearance of none of these phonologically identical endings varies according to the weight of the root syllable [as in the case between scip and hús ]' (Fulk, History, §406). If the reader finds the present discussion obscure and perplexing, let him reflect upon the idea that the Anglo-Saxon poet (who surely composed what 'sounded right' to him and not by making reference to charts or tables) could have kept a distinction between these endings if they all sounded identical. Such a notion is clearly unbelievable.

The second objection to the claim that the poem must have been composed by someone who still spoke an early enough form of English which distinguished phonologically short and long vocalic endings is that the verses in question might be purely formulaic. In other words, that these verses, or close variants of the same, would have been part of a common oral poetic 'repository' and the poet would have simply memorised them without having to be aware of any phonological distinction between short and long endings. 'The formulaic nature of [these] verses...is apparent; for example, all fourteen of the "neuter wa-stem" verses that Bliss lists contain either -bealu or -searo, and all ten of the "masculine u- stem" verses contain -wudu . This strongly suggests that what must have originally been a phonological distinction is preserved in Beowulf by the formulaic tradition as well, or else there would be no way to explain why the law operates in A- and D-types, but not in C-types' (Hutcheson, pp.90-1). Hutcheson suggests that A- and D-type verses are an older part of Germanic metre than C-types and thus the older formulaic verses which preserve Kaluza's law are verse types A and D, but Fulk rightly objects that this claim is unlikely since type C is common to all early Germanic languages ( pg. 386n74). It is simpler to assume that in type C there are other metrical constraints which override the considerations of Kaluza's law, though the nature of these constraints may not be entirely clear to us at present (Suzuki, 'Preference Conditions', argues that Kaluza's law does indeed apply in C-types, but assumes a different criterion for distinguishing between 'long' and 'short' vocalic endings). To address the general suggestion that the appearance of these verses conforming to Kaluza's law in Beowulf is due to inherited formulaic phrases rather than preservation of a phonological distinction betweeen short and long vocalic endings, let us consider the results of Fulk's survey of OE poetry (see Appendix B. below). If the presence in Beowulf of the verses in question is due to a formulaic tradition, then why do not the other poems show a similar conformity to the law?  More tellingly even, is the fact that so few verses which are excepts to Kaluza's law exist in Beowulf. Even if we thought that the verses conforming to the law were simply memorised formulae, this does not explain the absence of verses violating the law. Furthermore, OE formulas are not syntactically frozen (see Russom, 'Artful Avoidance'), and thus the same formula may appear in different forms, some of which would be violations of Kaluza's law. Additionally, even if a phrase were to be frozen phonologically, since many of the inflexions are homophonous in later OE but often not equivalent in phonological length in earlier OE, even this would not guarantee conformity to Kaluza's law. For instance, the phrase módceare micel (l.1778a), which appears in the poem with -ceare as accusative singular, would violate Kaluza's law if a poet used -ceare in the genitive or dative singular, despite the fact that the phrase would be phonologically identical: módceare micel.  To put it another way, if these verses were just memorised, this still does not explain how did the poet would have known how to avoid verses violating Kaluza's law.

Thus the only reasonable conclusion regarding these verses must be the other stated above: that the poem must have been composed before the real, audible, phonological distinction between short and long vocalic endings was lost. 

IV. THE DATE OF BEOWULF
Having argued that Beowulf must have been composed whilst the distinction between short and long vocalic endings was still an audible, phonological feature of English, it remains to determine what the latest date is at which these distinctions could have existed.  For this we must examine the loss of phonological distinction in unstressed vowels in Old English overall. In general, there is a tendency in language to collapse various phonetic differences between vowels in unstressed syllables. This tendency is particularly prominent in English - in modern English in fact most unstressed vowels are reduced to a central vowel sound (known as schwa). In Old English there is a relatively early coalescence of unstressed and unstressed -i into -e (see Campbell, §369), e.g. the 1st-per. sg. pres. indic. form hafe shows up as hafæ and the adjective micel as micil in some early texts. The indications are that these changes occured sometime during the end of the seventh century and the middle of the eighth in the Midlands and the South, and in the middle of the ninth century in Northumbria (see Dahl, pp.194-6 & Fulk, History, §415-6). But before this change took place, long final vowels were shortened - relevantly, long final -aé shortened to (see Campbell, §355). After the change shortening long final vowels, the distinction between long and short vocalic inflexional endings would have been lost. Thus Beowulf would have had to be composed before the shortening of long final vowels, which change itself took place before the coalescence of unstressed  and -i. Based on studies of phonological change (see, for instance, Labov), the shortest period of time between the shortening of -aé to and the change of unstressed  to -e one could reasonably expect is a about generation of thirty years (see Fulk §417).

The upshot of these facts is that Beowulf would have been composed before ca. 825 if Northumbrian, or before ca. 725 if Mercian (or East Anglian, following Newton). On the balance, it seems most likely that the poem originated in either Mercia or East Anglia, considering the poet's use of nemne and other southern Anglian dialectal features (see Fulk, History, §361 & §420), as well as other linguistic, cultural and geographic factors (see Newton). Based on other linguistic considerations, Fulk concludes that the poem was most likely composed sometime after ca. 685 (see History, §400).

Thus on the strength of the evidence offered by Beowulf's conformity to Kaluza's law suggests it was most likely composed between ca. 685-825 AD, and probably before 725 AD. The reader should consider other arguments made for a later date as, for instance, in the volume The Dating of 'Beowulf' edited by Chase and in Kiernan's book Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript, though the evidence offered by Kaluza's Law (which is, admittedly, somewhat complicated) points to a composition of Beowulf in the late 7th- or early 8th-century.         

for more on the dating of Beowulf see:
Syd Allan Jagular Beowulf:
dating

Postscript: (November/December 2003)

There remain difficulties for an early date of Beowulf, at least based solely on the evidence offered by Kaluza's Law.

In the Dating of Beowulf volume, one of the most persuasive arguments for a late date is offered by Roberta Frank ('Skaldic Verse'), who points out some apparent 'Scandinavianisms' of Beowulf and the fact that the epithet 'Scylding' does not elsewhere appear to have come into use until the later Anglo-Saxon Period (esp. in connexion with the 'North Sea Empire' of King Cnut). We may say in response that the 'Scandinavianisms' may as also be representative of very early Old English verse (see below on the persistent conservatism of Old Norse), and 'Scylding' as an epithet may have come into use in some early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which had very early North Germanic influence:-- such as East Anglia which seemed to maintained some contact with Sweden, even if the epithet only appears elsewhere in A-S England at a later time (for more on the Scandinavian character of early East Anglia, see Newton (1993), esp. on the Sutton Hoo ship-burial).

Hutcheson ('Kaluza's Law') demonstrates that, due to the nature of the data, one cannot establish a statistically valid demonstration of significant difference between Beowulf and the other texts (there is a statistical difficulty called 'the short cell problem', which is actually caused by the scarcity of instances of verses violating Kaluza's law in Beowulf), with respect to conformity to Kaluza's law.

Kiernan (personal comm.) has suggested to me that North Germanic linguistic influence (i.e., the mixing of elements of the Old Norse dialects of the 'Vikings' (primarily Danes & Norwegians) into Old English) may also invalidate the evidence of Kaluza's law as attesting to such an early date. Indeed, Norse is in many ways more conservative than Old English; in particular, Norse preserved distinctions between vowels in unstressed positions longer than English did (see Townsend (2002)). The qualitative distinction between vowels in unstressed position is one the bases by which the evidence of Kaluza's law is used to establish an absolute dating (i.e., to a particular span of years), as opposed to a strictly relative chronology of OE verse-texts.

All of these factors require further study, I note them here primarily to point out the difficulty of firmly establishing a date for Beowulf, even with a test as rigorous as the one provided by Kaluza's law. But, whatever the date of composition of 'our' Beowulf may be, the poem contains a higher percentage of verses conformity to Kaluza's law than in the case for any other Old English poem. Verses which would have been metrically correct in the earliest (6th & 7th c.) Old English. Thus the style of Beowulf (whatever its period of origin) remains one of the most archaic of our Old English texts.
[Further notes to be added in future]


APPENDIX A. -
LISTING OF ALL VERSES OF BEOWULF AFFECTED BY KALUZA'S LAW

Conventions & Notes

underlining = resolution
bolding = no resolution
strike-through = syncope
** preceding line no.= exception to Kaluza's Law
?? preceding line no.= possible exception to Kaluza's law
V (verse) type I = relevant environment for resolution precedes (half-line) cæsura, & involves resolution of 2ndary stress
V II = environment follows cæsura & involves resolution of 2ndary stress

V III - primary stress at end of 'light' type-verse

notes:
1. all line nos. follow Klaeber's edition (and Bliss, Fulk, &c.), not Kiernan's numbering (i.e. as used in my online Heorot.dk edition)

2. accents (e.g. á) = long vowels ( not stress )

Beowulf - TYPE I (secondary stress, pre-caesura)

Verse type-pattern
Line no.
Verse
Gender / Stem / Case-No.
Bliss
Hutcheson
76a folcstede frætwan masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
136a morðbeala máre neu. wa ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
156a feorhbealu feorran neu. wa ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
193a nýdwracu níþgrim fem. o ; nom. sg. [short] 2A4
r2A [PsxPS]
208a sundwudu sóhte masc. u ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
215a gúðsearo geatolíc neu. wa ; acc. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
222a brimclifu blícan neu. a ; acc. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
226a saéwudu saéldon masc. u ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
232a fyrdsearu fúslicu neu. wa ; acc. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
236a mægenwudu mundum masc. u ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
328a gúðsearo gumena neu. wa ; nom. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
430a fréowine folca masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
485a drihtsele dréorfáh masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A4
r2A [PsxPS]
622a sincfato sealde neu. a ; acc. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
623b béaghroden cwén cons. end 3E3
1E2 [PsxP]
640a gilpcwide géates masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
715a goldsele gumena masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
753a mundgripe máran masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
767a dryhtsele dynede masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
783b norð-denum stód cons. end 3E3
1E2 [PsxP]
994a gestsele gyredon masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
1065a gomenwudu gréted masc. u ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1079a morþorbealo mága neu. wa ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1116a bánfatu bærnan neu. a ; acc. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1121a bengeato burston neu. a ; nom. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1122a láðbite líces masc. i ; nom. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1147a sweordbealo slíden neu. wa ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1171a goldwine gumena masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
1177a béahsele beorhta masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1239a bencþelu beredon neu. a ; acc. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
1243a bordwudu beorhtan masc. u ; acc. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1246a þrecwudu þrymlíc masc. u ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1284a wíggryre wífes masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1317b healwudu dynede masc. u ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
1343a hreþerbealo hearde neu. wa ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1369b holtwudu séce masc. u ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1463a folcstede fára masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1476a goldwine gumena masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
1516a faérgripe flódes masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1602a goldwine gumena masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
1619a wíghryre wráðra masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1676a aldorbealu eorlum neu. wa ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1722a léodbealo longsum neu. wa ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1738a ecghete éoweð masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1778a módceare micle fem. o ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
1906b sundwudu þunede masc. u ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
1940a cwealmbealu cýðan neu. wa ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2046a wígbealu weccean neu. wa ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2077a feorhbealu faégum neu. wa ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2108a gomenwudu grétte masc. u ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2120a wíghete wedra masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2250a feorhbealo frécne neu. wa ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2265a burhstede béateð masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2320a dryhtsele dyrnne masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2357a fréawine folca masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2419a goldwine géata masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2429a fréawine folca masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2456a wínsele wéstne masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2537a feorhbealu frécne neu. wa ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2584a goldwine géata masc. i ; nom. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2607a wícstede weligne masc. i ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1Ar [Psxpxx]
2618a fyrdsearo fúslíc neu. wa ; acc. pl. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2742a morðorbealo mága neu. wa ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]
2779b mundbora wæs masc. n ; nom. sg. [long] 3E3
1E2 [PsxP]
3149a módceare maéndon fem. o ; acc. sg. [short] 2A3a
r1A [PsxPx]

Beowulf - TYPE II (secondary stress, post-caesura)

Verse type-pattern
Line no.
Verse
Gender / Stem / Case-No.
Bliss
Hutcheson
31a léof landfruma masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
54a léof léodcyning cons. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
90a swutol sang scopes cons. (gen. sg.) 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
160a deorc déaþscua masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
288a scearp scyldwiga masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
322a heard hondlocen past part. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
376a heard hércumen past part. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
551a heard hondlocen past part. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
554a fáh féondscaða masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
692a eft eardlufan fem. n ; acc. sg. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
742a bát bánlocan masc. n ; acc. sg. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
764a fléon on fenhopu neu. a ; acc. pl. [short] 1A2a
1A1r [PxPsx]
868a guma gilphlæden past part. 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
936a wéa wídscofen past part. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
1069a hæleð healf-dena masc. i ; gen. pl. [long] 1D1
rD4b [pxPxx]
**1409a stéap stánhliðo neu. a ; acc. pl. [short] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
1554a gewéold wígsigor cons. 1D3
†D2 [xPPsx]
1622a oflét lífdagas masc. a ; acc. pl. 1D3
†D2 [xPPsx]
1641a frome fyrdhwate masc. adj. ; nom. pl. [long] 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
**1790a deorc ofer dryhtgumum cons. 1A2b
1A2r [PxxPsx]
1845a wís wordcwida masc. i ; gen. pl. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
1895a scaþan scírhame masc. adj. ; nom. pl. [long] 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
1948a gyfen goldhroden past part. 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
1954a híold héahlufan fem. n ; acc. sg. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
2025a geong goldhroden past part. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
2042a eald æscwiga masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
2090a díor daédfruma masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
2112a gomel gúðwiga masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
2118a gearo gyrnwræce fem. o ; gen. sg. [long] 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
2226a secg synbysig cons. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
2271a eald úhtsceaða masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
2273a nacod níðdraca masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
2315a láð lyftfloga masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
2368a earm ánhaga masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
2414a gearo gúðfreca masc. n ; nom sg. [long] 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
2455a gesyhð sorhcearig cons. 1D3
†D2 [xPPsx]
2462a wongas ond wícstede masc. i ; nom. pl. [short] 1A*2a
1A2r [PxxPsx]
2476a frome fyrdhwate masc. adj. ; nom. pl. [long] 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
2517a hwate helmberend cons. 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
2563a gód gúðcyning cons. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
2642a hwate helmberend cons. 1D3
rD2 [pxPsx]
2827a wyrm wóhbogen past part. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]
3152a (song) sorgcearig cons. 1D3
D2 [PPsx]

Beowulf  - TYPE III (primary stress at end of 'light' type-verse)

Verse type-pattern
Line no.
Verse
Gender / Stem / Case-No.
Bliss
Hutcheson
779a þæt hit á mid gemete masc. or neu. a ; dat. sg. [long] a1f (e1e)1
An5 [xxxxxpx]
120a wonsceaft wera masc. a ; gen. pl.  [long] 2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
1731b hléoburh wera masc. a ; gen. pl.  [long] 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2947a wælraés weora masc. a ; gen. pl.  [long] 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
3000a wælníð wera masc. a ; gen. pl.  [long] 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
1256a wídcúþ werum masc. a ; dat. pl.  [long] 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
657a ðrýðærn dena masc. i ; gen. pl.  [long] 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2035a dryhtbearn dena masc. i ; gen. pl.  [long] 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
629a wælréow wiga masc. n ; nom. sg.  [long] 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
973a féasceaft guma masc. n ; nom. sg.  [long] 2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
1457b hrunting nama masc. n ; nom. sg.  [long] 2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
1682a gromheort guma masc. n ; nom. sg.  [long] 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
1896b saégéap naca masc. n ; nom. sg.  [long] 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
1728a hwílum hé on lufan fem. n ; acc. sg. [long] a1d (e1d)1
An4 [xxxxpx]
881a éam his nefan 2 masc. n ; dat. sg.  [long] 2A1b (2E1a)2
An1 [Pxpx]
1034a ongéan gramum 3 masc. adj. a ; dat. pl.  [long] a1b (2C2a)3
An2 [xxpx]
67a magodriht micel masc. or neu. adj. ; cons. ending. 2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
69a medoærn micel masc. or neu. adj. ; cons. ending. 2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
776a medubenc monig masc. or neu. adj. ; cons. ending. 2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
817a syndolh sweotol masc. or neu. adj. ; cons. ending.   2A3b
1An [PSpx]
838b gúðrinc monig masc. or neu. adj. ; cons. ending.   2A3b
1An [PSpx]
1015a medoful manig masc. or neu. adj. ; cons. ending. 2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
1112b æþeling manig masc. or neu. adj. ; cons. ending. 2A1b
rAn1 [pxxpx]
1289b sídrand manig masc. or neu. adj. ; cons. ending. 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
1510b saédéor monig masc. or neu. adj. ; cons. ending. 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
262a wæs mín fæder various uninflec. cons. ending. a1b (e1b)1
An2 [xxpx]
459a geslóh þín fæder various uninflec. cons. ending. a1c (e1c)1
An3 [xxxpx]
619b sigeróf kyning various uninflec. cons. ending. 2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
1514a þaér him naénig wæter various uninflec. cons. ending. a1d (e1d)1
An4 [xxxxpx]
1925b bregoróf cyning various uninflec. cons. ending. 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2048a þone þín fæder various uninflec. cons. ending. a1c (e1c)1
An3 [xxxpx]
2110b rúmheort cyning various uninflec. cons. ending. 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2158b hiorogár cyning various uninflec. cons. ending.   2A1b
rAn1 [pxxpx]
2191a heaðoróf cyning various uninflec. cons. ending. 2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
2417b níðheard cyning various uninflec. cons. ending. 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2430b hréðel cyning various uninflec. cons. ending.   (2C2-)4
An1 [Pxpx]
64b herespéd gyfen past part., strong verb 2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
643a þrýðword sprecen past part., strong verb   2A3b
1An [PSpx]
1288b heardecg togen past part., strong verb 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
252a frumcyn witan infinitive 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
786a gryreléoð galan infinitive 2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
1432a gúðhorn galan infinitive 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
1672a sorhléas swefan infinitive 2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
1807b hrunting beran infinitive 2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
1964b saéwong tredan infinitive 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2754b hringnet beran infinitive 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2972b hondslyht giofan infinitive 2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
3019b elland tredan infinitive 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
3172a wordgyd wrecan infinitive 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
303b eoforlíc scionon pret. pl., strong verb 2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
994b goldfág scinon pret. pl., strong verb 2A3b
1An [PSpx]
1828b
hwílum dydon
pret., weak verb
2A1a
An1 [Pxpx]
284a
þréanýd þolað
pret. 2nd & 3rd, all verbs
2A3b
1An [PSpx]
1287b
andweard scireð
pret. 2nd & 3rd, all verbs
2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
2060b
blódfág swefeð
pret. 2nd & 3rd, all verbs
2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2256b
feormynd swefað
pret. 2nd & 3rd, all verbs
2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
2265b
bealocwealm hafað
pret. 2nd & 3rd, all verbs
2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
2457b
rídend swefað
pret. 2nd & 3rd, all verbs
2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
2460b
sorhléoð gæleð
pret. 2nd & 3rd, all verbs
2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2906b
wígláf siteð
pret. 2nd & 3rd, all verbs
2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
**1914b
hýðweard geara
masc. adj. wa; nom. sg. [short]
2A3b
1An [PSpx]
??1834b
gárholt bere5
pret. opt. sing., strong verb [??] 5
2A3b
1An [PSpx]
406a
searonet seowed
past part., weak verb [see below, n6 ]
2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
1310b
béowulf fetod
past part., weak verb [see below, n6 ]
2A1b
An1 [Pxpx]
2436b
morþorbed stred 7
past part., weak verb [see below, n6 ]
2A3a
1An [PSpx]
2007b
úhthlem þone
demon., masc. acc. sg. [see below, n8 ]
2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2334b
eorðweard ðone
demon., masc. acc. sg. [see below, n8 ]
2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2588a
grundwong þone
demon., masc. acc. sg. [see below, n8 ]
2A3b
1An [PSpx]
2959a
freoðowong þone
demon., masc. acc. sg. [see below, n8 ]
2A3b
1rAn [pxSpx]
2969b
wælhlem þone
demon., masc. acc. sg. [see below, n8 ]
2A3b
1An [PSpx]
3081b
goldweard þone
demon., masc. acc. sg. [see below, n8 ]
2A3b
1An [PSpx]

Notes
1 - We adopt Hutcheson's scansion here - see Hutcheson, pp.118-9 & III.A.4.iii. Bliss himself notes that, with a single exception in Beowulf (l.3027a 'þenden hé wið wulf'), his type e1 always ends in a resolved sequence [px], and says 'it is possible that...the sequence [px] is exceptionally equivalent to [Px]' (§67). Bliss's analysis given in Metre is shown in round brackets, the non-bracketed scansion is the equivalent scansion adopted here from Hutcheson.
2 -
Bliss's analysis given in Metre is shown in round brackets, the non-bracketed scansion is the equivalent scansion adopted here from Hutcheson. Hutcheson remarks '[t]his verse has been expanded to Pxxxpx by Bliss, evidently on the theory that Pxpx cannot occur unless the first two syllables belong to the same word (that is, Bliss restores the prehistoric form of the word, *éaham). Nevertheless, Pxxpx occurs only once with a similar syntactic pattern (at GenA 2781a, 'hálig on hige'), and Bliss type 2E1a, to which he assigns this verse, only occurs twice elsewhere in Beo in the on-verse, and never with this syntactic pattern (pg.84n59)
3 - Bliss's analysis given in Metre is shown in round brackets, the non-bracketed scansion is the equivalent scansion adopted here from Hutcheson: 'Bliss scans this verse as a C-type, but since ongéan is a preposition in its normal proclitic position preceding a noun, it can hardly be stressed; cf. Beo 779a, 'þæt hit á mid gemete', which he properly scans as his type e1' (Hutcheson, pg. 84n60).
4 - Bliss scans this verse as a three-position verse (type 2C2-), but as Fulk remarks, 'it is not apparent how regarding it as a three-position verse makes it less anomalous than supposing it shows substitution of a short lift (cyn-) for a long one, as Sievers does ('Zur Rhythmik', p.231). At any rate the verse type does appear in other poems, for example tempel godes (Exodus 391b) and bil(e)wit fæder (Genesis A 856a, Meters [of Boethius] 20.69b, 20.255b, 20.269b, etc.). So too, in Beowulf there are a few verses like Hiorogar cyning (2158b), which Bliss scans as type 2A1b--with a second second lift following a long, unstressed drop. But in fact if -gar is unstressed it must be short, since vowel length is neutralized in unstressed syllables (Campbell, p. 34 and n.4). To suppose that -gar may be long in final position is thus to concede that the syllable bears stress, and therefore, in Bliss's system, ought to bear ictus' (History, §207).
5 - Kaluza lists the pret. opt. sing. as an non-resolvable ending ('mit Nebenton' ('Zur Betonungs-', pg.130)), whilst Fulk gives it as a short ending (History, App. C). Fulk notes that 'optative endings are all uncertain', so perhaps it should be considered non-resolvable, but since it is in doubt we omit it from the total percentages of exceptions:relevant verses.
6 - Kaluza ('Zur Betonungs-', pg. 127) lists the past participles of weak verbs as resolvable ('ohne Nebenton'), but Fulk (History, App. C) correctly includes these forms as non-resolvable endings since they end in a consonant.
7 - Hutcheson remarks 'Here the verb is a past participle of the verb strégan (from *strawjan (Campbell §120.2)). But in the past participle, the /j/ was vocalic (Campbell §750): *strewid>stréd. As it stands, the verse is anomalous; restoring the disyllabic form of stréd gives the pattern PxSpx, also anomalous. If we [also] underdot the medial syllable of morþorbed..., however, the verse scans as PSpx, a well-attested type' (pg.44-5n19).
8 - Fulk lists the demonstrative as containing a 'short' vocalic ending (History, App. C, pg. 423) (though he also remarks '[y]et þone, at least, perhaps does not bear secondary stress, and so is not subject to Kaluza's law' (§275n4)). Kaluza ('Zur Betonungs-', pg. 127) lists the related interrogative hwone as a word with secondary accent. þone derives from Proto-Indo-European *tom with the addition of a particle (*-óm (Krahe & Meid (2: §42)) or * (Pokorny (281))), and as Hutcheson (pg. 88) says, 'it seems likely that the addition of the separate particle caused the word to behave in [Germanic] like a word with a 'long' vocalic ending' - see further Hutcheson pg.88n67. Since þone appears systematically here in a non-resolving position, and it would be the only exception to K's law, other than l.1914b, we should assume that even if Hutcheson/Kaluza's etymology is incorrect, that by the time of early OE it was treated as having a long ending.

APPENDIX B. - 
OBSERVANCE OF KALUZA'S LAW IN VARIOUS OE POEMS

Proportion of exceptions/relevant verse, types V-I & V-II (secondary stress)
Poem V-I [2ndary stress, pre-cæsura]
(exceptions/total relevant verses)
V-II [2ndary stress, post-cæsura]
(exceptions/total relevant verses)
Total for 2ndary stress
(exceptions/total relevant verses)
Genesis A 0/2 - 0% 0/7 - 0% 0/9 - 0.0%
Daniel 1/5 - 20% 1/6 - 16.7% 2/11 - 18.2%
Beowulf 0/65 - 0% 2/43 - 4.7% 2/108 - 1.9%
Exodus 1/6 - 16.7% 2/16 - 12.5% 3/22 - 13.6%
Elene 2/5 - 40% 3/12 - 25% 5/17 - 29.4%
 Juliana
 0/1 - 0%
 0/4 - 0%
 0/4 - 0%
Fate of the Apostles 1/1 - 100% 0/1 - 0% 1/2 - 50.0%
Christ II 2/6 - 33.3% 4/7 - 37.1% 6/13 - 46.2%
Andreas 2/8 - 25% 6/15 - 40% 8/23 - 34.8%
Metres of Boethius 1/3 - 33.3% 1/6 - 16.7% 2/9 - 22.2%
Judith 1/2 - 50% 0/2 - 0% 1/4 - 25.0%
Maldon 0/1 - 0% 2/4 - 50% 2/5 - 40.0%


Proportion of exceptions/relevant verse, types V-III (primary stress)
Poem V-III [primary stress, post-caesura]
(exceptions/total relevant verses)
Genesis A 3/56* - 5.4%
Beowulf 1/70* - 1.4%
Exodus 1/19 - 5.2%
Juliana 1/8 - 12.5%
Andreas 1/25 - 4.0%
Judith 0/2 - 0.0%
Maldon 0/2 - 0.0%
* - there are 2 inconclusive verses in GenesisA & 1 inconclusive verse in Beowulf [l.1834b-see above] which are not included here


Proportion of exceptions/relevant verse, all types (V-I, V-II, V-III)
Poem Total (VI, VII, VII)
(exceptions/total relevant verses)
Genesis A 3/65* - 4.6%
Beowulf 3/178* - 1.7%
Exodus 4/41 - 9.8%
Juliana 1/12 - 8.3%
Andreas 9/48 - 18.8%
Judith 1/6 - 16.7%
Maldon 2/7 - 28.6%
* - there are 2 inconclusive verses in GenesisA & 1 inconclusive verse in Beowulf [l.1834b-see above] which are not included here

Proportion of relevant verses to total number of verses

no. of verses relevant to K's law -- total % population of relevant verses
Poem
V-I & V-II (2ndary stress)
V-III (primary stress)
TOTAL (V-I, V-II, V-III)
Genesis A
9 -- 0.2%
61 -- 1.4%
70 -- 1.5%
Daniel
11 -- 0.7%
??
--
Beowulf
108 -- 1.7%
71 -- 1.1%
179 -- 2.8%
Exodus
23 -- 1.9%
19 -- 1.6%
42 -- 3.5%
Juliana
5 -- 0.3%
8 -- 0.5%
13 -- 0.9%
Andreas
23 -- 0.7%
25 -- 0.7%
48 -- 1.5%
Metrical Preface to the Pastoral Care
1 -- 3.1%
??
--
Metres of Boethius
9 -- 0.3%
??
--
Judith
4 -- 0.6%
2 -- 0.3%
6 -- 0.9%
Maldon
5 -- 0.8%
2 -- 0.3%
7 -- 1.1%


APPENDIX C. -
KALUZA'S FORMULATION

'Bei näherer Untersuchung ergibt es sich auch, dass in der älteren Dichtung, z.B. im Beowulf, überall da, wo ein derartiges Wort am Versschluss zwei Hebungen bezw. zwei Glieder des Verses in sich aufnehmen muss, die zweite Silbe in der Regel eine in älterer Zeit betonte oder lange Flexions- oder Ableitungssilbe war, die vielleicht noch etwas von ihrem alten Eigenton bewahrt hatte, wie z.B. scipes , selé D. Sg., dagum, frumá, cuman, cumen, stigon, micel, monig, fæder u.ä., während bei 'Auflösung' einer Hebung oder eines Gliedes am Ende der Typen B, D2 , E und ebenso bei Auflösung der Nebenhebung im ersten Fusse des gesteigerten Typus A 2 immer nur zwei sprachlich ganz kurze Silben stehen dürfen, wie z.B. Nom. oder Akk. von i- und u- Stämmen.'
(Kaluza, Englische Metrik, §52, pg. 58)

[On a closer examination we generally find that in older poetry, e.g. in Beowulf, where a word of this kind at the end of the verse must contain two beats or members of the verse, the second syllable is one which was stressed at a former period or was a long inflexional or derivative syllable, which perhaps still preserved something of its old characteristic sound, e.g. scipes, selé (dat. sg.), dagum, frumá, cuman, cumen, stigon, micel, monig, fæder; whereas where there is 'resolved stress' of the primary stress ( 'Hebung' ) at the end of Types B, D 2, E -- and likewise 'resolved stress' of the secondary stress ( 'Nebenhebung' ) in the first foot of the expanded Type A 2 -- there may by only two full short syllables, e.g. nom. or acc. of i- and u- stems.]


APPENDIX D. -
SHORT AND LONG INFLECTIONAL SYLLABLES
[adapted from Fulk, History, pp. 419-25]
[0] = null ending (= no ending)
Gmc. = Proto-Germanic
OE. = Old English

a-stem masc. nouns
singular
plural
nominative
Gmc. *-az >OE. [0]
Gmc. *-ôs> OE. -as (long)
accusative
Gmc. *-am > OE. [0]
Gmc. *-ôs (analogical) > OE. -as (long)
genitive
Gmc. *-as(a) > OE. -es (long)
Gmc. *-ôm > OE. -a (long)
dative
Gmc. *-ôi > OE. -e (long)
Gmc. *-omiz > OE. -um (long)

ó-stem fem. nouns
singular
plural
nominative
Gmc. *-ó >OE. -u/[0] (short)
Gmc. *-ôz> OE. -a (long)
accusative
Gmc. *-óm > OE. -e (short)
Gmc. *-ónz > OE. -e (short)
genitive
Gmc. *-ôz > OE. -e (long)
Gmc. *-ôm > OE. -a (long)
dative
Gmc. *-ôi > OE. -e (long)
Gmc. *-ómiz > OE. -um (long)

i-stem masc. nouns
singular
plural
nominative
Gmc. *-iz >OE. -e/[0] (short)
OE. -e (short)
accusative
Gmc. *-im > OE. -e/[0] (short)
Gmc. *-ins > OE. -e (short)
genitive
OE. -es (analogical, long)
Gmc. *-ijôm > OE. -(ig)a (long)
dative
OE. -e (short)
OE. -um (analogical, long)

u-stem masc. & fem. nouns
singular
plural
nominative
Gmc. *-uz >OE. -u/[0] (short)
Gmc. ?*-awiz > *-auz >OE. -a (long)
accusative
Gmc. *-um > OE. -u/[0] (short)
OE. -a (analogical, long)
genitive
Gmc. ?*-auz > OE. -a (long)
OE. -a (analogical, long)
dative
OE. -a (uncertain)
Gmc. *-umiz > OE. -um (long)

see Fulk, History, Appendix C for other paradigms & further discussion of long & short inflectional syllables


Selected References
[for a more complete list, see main site Bibliography ]

Amos, Ashley Crandell. Linguistic Means of Determining the Dates of Old English Literary Texts. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Medieval Academy of America, 1980.

Bennett, William H. 'Prosodic features in Proto-Germanic'.in Toward a Grammar of Proto-Germanic. Frans van Coetsem & Herbert L. Kufner, eds. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1972:99-116.

Bliss, Alan J. The Metre of Beowulf. Oxford: Blackwell, 1958.

Biddulph, Joseph. Old Danish of the Old Danelaw. [amplified edition] Pontypridd (Wales): Cyhoeddwr Joseph Biddulph Publisher, 2003.

Bliss, Alan J. An Introduction to Old English Metre. Oxford: Blackwell, 1962 (rev. ed.). [reprinted with an introduction by Daniel Donoghue, Binghamton: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York (=Old English Newsletter Subsidia 20), 1993.]

Cable, Thomas M. The Meter and Melody of Beowulf. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1974.
Cable, Thomas M. The English Alliterative Tradition. Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.


Campbell, Alistair. Old English Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon, 1959.

Chase, Colin, ed. The Dating of 'Beowulf'. Toronto Old English Series, 6. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981.

Creed, Robert Payson. 'Sutton Hoo and the Recording of Beowulf'. in Voyage to the Other World: the legacy of Sutton Hoo. Calvin B. Kendall & Peter S. Wells, eds. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992b.

Cronan, Dennis. Poetic words, conservatism and the dating of Old English poetry'. Anglo-Saxon England 33(2004).

Dahl, Ivar. Substantival Inflexion in Early Old English: vowel stems. Lund Studies in English, 7. Lund: Gleerup, 1938.

Dresher, B. Elan and Aditi Lahiri. 'The Germanic Foot: metrical coherence in Old English'. Linguistic Inquiry 22.2 (1991): 251-286.

Frank, Roberta. 'Skaldic Verse and the Date of Beowulf'. in The Dating of 'Beowulf'. Colin Chase, ed. Toronto Old English Series, 6. Toronto: Uni. of Toronto Press, 1981.

Evans, Stephen S. Lords of Battle: image and reality of the comitatus in dark-age Britain. Woodbridge (Suffolk, England): Boydell, 1997.

Fulk, Robert D. 'Review Article: Dating Beowulf to the Viking Age'. Philological Quarterly 61 (1982).
Fulk, Robert D. A History of Old English Meter. Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.

Getty, Michael. The Metre of Beowulf: a constraint-based approach. Topics in English Linguistics, 36. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2002.

Heusler, Andreas. Die altgermanische Dichtung. Potsdam: Athenaion, 1929 [2nd ed., 1941].

Hirt, Hermann. Handbuch des Urgermanischen. (1: Laut- u. Akzentlehre; 2: Stammbildungs- und Flexionslehre; 3: Abriss der Syntax). 3 vols. Heidelburg: Carl Winters Universitätsbuchhandlung, 1931-1934.

Hutcheson, Bellenden Rand. Old English Poetic Metre. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1995.
Hutcheson, Bellenden Rand. 'Kaluza's Law, the Dating of Beowulf, and the Old English Poetic Tradition'. Journal of English & Germanic Philology (to appear).

Kaluza, Max. Die altenglische Vers: eine metrische Untersuchung. Berlin: Emil Felber, 1894.
Kaluza, Max. 'Zur Betonungs- and Verslehre des Altenglischen'. in Festschrift zum siebzigsten Geburtstage Oskar Schade. Königsberg: Hartung, 1896.
Kaluza, Max. Englische Metrik in historischer Entwicklung. Normannia: Germanische-romanische Bücherei, 1. Berlin: Emil Felber, 1909. [trans. as A Short History of English Versification. A.C. Dunstan, trans. London: George Allen, 1911.]


Kiernan, Kevin. Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript. New Brunswick (New Jersey): Rutgers University Press, 1981 [2nd ed., Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996].

Krahe, Hans & Wolfgang Meid. Germanische Sprachwissenschaft. 3 vols. Berlin: Gruyter, 1967-69 (7th ed.).

Labov, William. Principles of Linguistic Change: internal factors. Language in Society, 20.1. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994.

Lane, George. 'Bimoric and Trimoric Vowels and Diphthongs: Laws of Germanic Finals Again'. Journal of English and Germanic Philology 62 (1963).

Lehmann, Winfred P. The Development of Germanic Verse Form. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1956.

McCully, C.B. 'The Phonology of Resolution in Old English Word-Stress and Metre'. in Evidence for Old English: material and theoretical bases for reconstruction. Fran Colman, ed. Edinburgh Studies in the English Language, 2. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, 1992.

Murray, Alexander Callander. 'Beowulf, the Danish Invasions, and Royal Genealogy'. in The Dating of Beowulf. Colin Chase, ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981 (2nd. ed., 1997).

Nootebboom, Sieb. 'The Prosody of Speech: Melody and Rhythm'. in The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences. William J. Hardcastle & John Laver, eds. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.

Newton, Sam. The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia. Woodbridge (Suffolk): The Boydell Press, 1993.

Page, Raymond Ian. 'The Audience of Beowulf and the Vikings'. in The Dating of Beowulf. Colin Chase, ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981 (2nd ed., 1997).

Pokorny, Julius. Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bern: Francke, 1959.

Olsen, Alexandra Hennessey. '"Þurs" and "Þyrs": Giants and the Date of Beowulf'. In Geardagum 6 (1984).

Pope, John C. The Rhythm of Beowulf: an interpretation of the normal and hypermetric verse-forms in Old English poetry. New Haven (Connecticut): Yale University Press, 1942 [2nd ed., 1966].

Prokosh, Eduard. A Comparative Germanic Grammar. William Dwight Whitney linguistic series. Philadelphia: Linguistic Society of America, 1939.

Russom, Geoffrey. 'Artful Avoidance of the Useful Phrase in Beowulf, The Battle of Maldon, and Fates of the Apostles'. Studies in Philology 75 (1978). [reprinted in Interpretations of Beowulf: a critical anthology. R.D. Fulk, ed. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1991.]
Russom, Geoffrey. Old English Metre and Linguistic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Russom, Geoffrey. Beowulf and Old Germanic Metre. Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England, 23. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Russom, Geoffrey. 'Dating Criteria for Old English Poems'. in Studies in the History of the English Language: A Millennial Perspective. D. Minkova & R. Stockwell, eds. Topics in English Linguistics, 39. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2002.

Sievers, Eduard. 'Zur Rhythmik des germanischen Alliterations-verses'. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 10 (1885).
Sievers, Eduard. Altergermanische Metrik. Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1893.
Sievers, Eduard.
'Old Germanic Metrics and Old English Metrics'. in Essential Articles for the study of Old English Poetry. ed. J.B. Bessinger, Jr. & S.J. Kahrl. Hamden (Connecticut): Archon Books, 1968. [trans. of article in Grundriss der Germanischen Philologie II.2 (1905)].

Suzuki, Seiichi. 'Preference conditions for resolution in the meter of Beowulf: Kaluza's law reconsidered'. Modern Philology 93 (1996).
Suzuki, Seiichi. The Metrical Organization of Beowulf: Prototype and Isomorphism. Trends in Linguistics - studies & monographs, 95. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1996.

Stockwell, Robert P. and Donka Minkova. 'Prosody'. in A Beowulf Handbook. R.E. Bjork & J.D. Niles, eds. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.

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Vickman, Jeffrey (with preface by R.D. Fulk). A Metrical Concordance to Beowulf. Binghamton: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1990.

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Whitman, F.H. A Comparative Study of Old English Metre. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.

Wimsatt, W.K., Jr. and Monroe C. Beardsley. 'The Concept of Meter: an exercise in abstraction'. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 74 (1959).

Woods, Anthony, Paul Fletcher & Arthur Hughes. Statistics in Language Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.