60
Old English Hwæt
‘Then she went happily into the dark dungeon, as if she were invited to a
pleasant banquet, and committed her struggle to the benevolent Lord. What
then in the morning the wicked judge commanded Agatha to be brought into
his hateful presence’
c. Þa wearð geendod eall þæs mynstres weorc binnan eahte gearum, and eac
gehalgod mid healicum wurðmynte. Hwæt ða Florus gemunde hwæt he
gemynte æt fruman, and hwæt he gode behet þa ða he began þæt mynster,
(ÆLS [Maur] 214– 17)
‘Then all of the work on the monastery was ended within eight years and
hallowed with high solemnity. What then Florus remembered what he
had at fi rst intended and what he had promised God when he began the
monastery’
d. Þa het Fabianus mid fullum graman þæt hi man begen ofstunge þær ðær
hi on ge- bedum stodon ... Hwæt þa Fabianus mid facne gewregde þone
æðelan Sabstianum to ðam arleasan casere Dioclitiane þe on ðam dagum
wæs. (ÆLS [Sebastian] 404– 09)
‘Then Fabianus commanded, in exceeding fury, that they both should be
thrust through, where they stood in prayer ... What then Fabianus wickedly
accused the noble Sabastian to the impious emperor Diocletian, who ruled
in those days’
e. Ealle hi gehyrdon þæs Hælendes word and wurdon afyrhte, and forði
þurhwunodon buton slæpe oð dæg, heora Drihten mærsigende. Hwæt þa
Agricolaus on ærnemergen gegaderode his geborenan magas to his manful-
lan geþeahte, (ÆLS [Forty soldiers] 49– 53)
‘They all heard the Savior’s words and were frightened and therefore con-
tinued without sleep until day, magnifying their Lord. What then, Agricola
in the early morning gathered his born kinsmen to this wicked council’
f. Hwæt ða færlice wearð þæs fyrlenan leodscipes onræs into Gallias, (ÆLS
[Martin] 94– 95)
‘What then there suddenly took place an invasion of Gaul by a foreign nation’
Note that the examples in (13) and (14) do not lend themselves to a result
paraphrase, e.g., (14a) *”The result of Eugenia sending the two saints was that
Basilla received them with great joy.” Example (14f) begins the next section of
the text and thus cannot express direct result.
2.4.3 Comparison with So in Present- Day English
The PDE form that hwæt þa most closely approximates in function is the
pragmatic marker so. This is, of course, clear in cases such as those given in
(11) since the primary function of so is the expression of result (as shown in
15a).^23 However, another widely recognized use of so is what has been termed
23 In a brief discussion of the meaning of hwæt þa , Stanley (2000: 546) rejects Skeat’s transla-
tions of this form with “upon this,” “afterwards,” “whereupon,” and “lo” because these suggest a