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TCG Letter #1629
From
J.R.R. Tolkien
To
Kenneth Sisam (for Oxford University Press)
Date
1 February 1924
Type
Manuscript/Proof Document
Transcript
Complete
Tolkien returns further proofs of the Clarendon Chaucer and thanks Sisam for his advice and for two copies of proofs of Sir Gawain whih he had recieved.
He includes a passage in Old English, "Wone the bale is aire hecst, thonne is the bote aire necst, quod Alfred".Peter Gulliver says that the "passage in Old English may be translated: 'When woe is greatest, relief is nearest, quoth Alfred.' Although many poverbs were popularly ascribed to King Alfred, this one is not one of them: Tolkien appears to have copied it from The Owl and the Nighting.[1]
He includes a passage in Old English, "Wone the bale is aire hecst, thonne is the bote aire necst, quod Alfred".Peter Gulliver says that the "passage in Old English may be translated: 'When woe is greatest, relief is nearest, quoth Alfred.' Although many poverbs were popularly ascribed to King Alfred, this one is not one of them: Tolkien appears to have copied it from The Owl and the Nighting.[1]
1 Peter Gulliver says that the "passage in Old English may be translated: 'When woe is greatest, relief is nearest, quoth Alfred.' Although many poverbs were popularly ascribed to King Alfred, this one is not one of them: Tolkien appears to have copied it from The Owl and the Nighting. ↩
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