1958/09/01 by H. R. Ellis Davidson · 11 citations
Arts and Humanities · #Medieval Literature and History #Medieval Philosophy and Theology #Renaissance and Early Modern Studies #History
paper · doi:10.1080/0015587x.1958.9717140
published in Folklore 69(3), 145-159 (Routledge)
openalex publication_date 1958/09/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
WHEN King Alfred was translating Boethius from Latin into Anglo-Saxon and reached the phrase 'the bones of the faithful Fabricius', his mind seems to have jumped from the hero's name to the Latin word faber, 'smith', and from there again to the name which for him stood for the most famous of smiths, Weland. Boethius had said that death levelled rich and poor alike, and Alfred here inserted a thought of his own: