Widsith
Widsith is an anonymous Old English poem, consisting for the most part of the eponymous narrator's boasts of his travels among the Germanic peoples of the Heroic Age. It is often dated to the 7th century, and may therefore be the oldest poem in the English language, or indeed any Germanic language.
The translations used here are by Michael Alexander, and are taken from his The Earliest English Poems (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975).
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- Fela ic monna gefrægn mægþum wealdan!
Sceal þeodna gehwylc þeawum lifgan,
eorl æfter oþrum eðle rædan,
se þe his þeodenstol geþeon wile.- Of the master-rulers the most part have been known to me
And I say that any leader, any lord whosoever,
Must live right, and rule his lands the same
If he wishes to come to a king's chair. - Line 10
- Of the master-rulers the most part have been known to me
- Ac Offa geslog ærest monna,
cnihtwesende, cynerica mæst.
Nænig efeneald him eorlscipe maran
on orette. Ane sweorde
merce gemærde wið Myrgingum
bi Fifeldore.