The Bent Bow- Blanche Sly 1921
The Bent Bow
by Blanche C. Sly
Modern Language Notes, Vol. 36, No. 8 (Dec., 1921), p. 507
The Bent Bow
O whan he came to broken briggs,
He bent his bow and swam.[1]
In the English and Scottish Popular Ballads, the phrase bent his bow has remained a puzzle. It is usually assumed that the "bonny boy" ran with bow in hand. Carrying a weapon, however, would retard the runner; and bending the bow would consume time and valuable energy for one who is to swim dangerous streams. I offer the following explanation.
The word "bow" meant "shoulder" or "upper arm" during the old and middle English periods.[2] The Old English form is bog or boh with the Old Norse cognate form bog-r. An example of the Old English form is found in the first o f the Riddles of the Exeter Book, in the line,
Donne me se beadcafa bogum bilegde.[3]
'Then the wairlike (one) covered me with his arms.'
In Morte Arthure there is listed among the delicacies served at the Round Table,
. . .bowves of wylde bores with the braune lechyde.[4]
'Shoulders of wild boars with, the brawn cut into slices.'
A related word baug is used in the same sense by the Norwegian is of today.[5]
In a version of the ballad, Lord Barnard and Little Musgrave, found in Nova Scotia under the name of Little Matha Grove, the
line in question reads,
And he bended his brest and he swum.[6]
Although this line does not convey a meaning identical with the one suggested, it is possible that rationalization of the usual form may have taken place. While in modern English bow is not used to mean " arm" or " shoulder" in speaking of a man or beast, it is customarily applied to the shoulder of a boat or ship.
BLANCNHE C. SLY.
The State University of Iowa.
1 Francis J. -Child,T he English and ScottishP oputlarB allads, Vol. II, p. 114. Substantially t he same lines occur in Vol. ii, pp. 117, 119, 121, 122, 129, 177, 212, 277, 287, 313, 379, 395; Vol. Iv, pp. 229, 398.
2. See New English Dictionary, s . v.
3. Riddles of the Exeter Book, ed. by Frederiek Tupper, J r., p. 11, 11.
4. Morte Arthure , ed. by Edmund B rock, E arly English Text Society, O riginal Series, No. 8, 1. 188.
5 J. Byrnildsen, Norsk-Engelsk Ordbog, Christiania, 1917.