Hi Haukur,
You impress me once more. I didn't know you knew so
much Old English! I've been looking at the Old English
example, and this is (part of) what I came up with
(see below):

Haukur wrote:

>>From: Haukur Thorgeirsson <haukurth@...>
>>I _think_ the sentence would go like:
>>"Hwæ_r is se wurma þone gé clipiað hláford?"

Bear wrote:

>I just remembered my friends father is an authority in old and middle
>English as well as Latin. If I can get in contact with him I am sure he
>will help. This may take some time so if anyone else can do it faster, feel
>free.

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Here is a "method" I'd like to suggest:
First write Robert's sentence in English:
"Where is the worm you call master?"
Then look up all 7 words in a modern English dictionary.
(I use Webster's collegiate dictionary, 1940 edition)
You will the find, under etymology, the Anglo-Saxon form
of all 7 words. (this is actually great: it opens up
new dimensions. Good old Webster's turns out to be a
treasure chest). Here are the 7 Anglo-Saxon words:

hwær beon se wyrm thæt ge ceallian heafodling.

Then, all one needs is an A-S grammar book. Well, I
don't have one; all I have is Beowulf - a good help actually.

After I got this far, I noted, Haukur, that you had not used
ceallian. And I think you must have done so for a reason,
since I found out that the English verb "to call" had actually
come to England with the Vikings, as an imported Old Norse
verb. That must then be the reason why I could not find it
in Beowulf!

Well, and then I reflected upon what other verb they might
have used instead. The Germans, for example use "nennen"
(Man nennt ihn Karl/=they call him Charles) and the French
use "appeller" (Il s'appelle roi/=he calls himself king).
It was then I hit upon the following piece in the Beowulf
translation:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
So lived the clansmen in cheer and revel
a winsome life, till one began
to fashion evils, that field of hell.
Grendel this monster grim was called,
march-riever mighty, in moorland living,
in fen and fastness; fief of the giants
the hapless wight a while had kept
since the Creator his exile doomed.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Grendel this monster grim was called", it says.
The corresponding OE text is:
"Wæs se grimma gæst Grendel haten, mære mearcstapa,
se þe moras heold, fen ond fæsten."
You will recognize the ON verb heita.
Below I'd like to explore possible uses of heita/hatan.
But of course, the verb clipian, that you found, may actually
be better. I just happened to land upon a hatan-track due
to the Grendel example in Beowulf. And the example made
me curious.


Here is an example that demonstrates the most common
usage of heita and kalla in a single sentence:
"Héðinn heiti eg," segir hann, "en sumir menn kalla mig
Skarphéðinn öllu nafni eða hvað vilt þú fleira til mín tala?"
{My name is Hedin -- but some call me Skarphedin.}

The difference in usage may be schematized:
Example 1: X heitir Y.
Example 2: Z kallar X Y.

In the Grendel example the usage of "hatan" is of type 1.
But in order to write Robert's sentence in OE, we'll
need a verb that works according to scheme 2.

In Norwegian the verb "heita" is however only used
according to example 1: "Eg heiter Heidin".
However, in the modern Icelandic dictionary, I find the
example: "hét Gisli hann Konráð eptir föður sínum",
which follows the pattern of example 2:
Z = Gisli (nominative case)
X = hann (accusative case)
Y = Konráð (accusative*] case)
*] Here I assume the nominative form Konráð or Konráður.
In any case, it seems the most logical that Konráð has
to agree with the case of "hann".
But the Æfisoga K.G. is a modern work, and I am not sure
if heita was used like this in ancient Norse.
In German a usage of "heißen" according to example 2, is,
however, attested: "Er hieß ihn einen Betrüger". That is
nom./acc./acc.


But I lack Old English texts I could search for further
examples, since the material offered by Beowulf alone
does not have sufficient volume. Does any one know what
the major Old English source texts are - beside Beowulf?
And does any one know what the most complete Old English
dictionary is?

Kveðja
Keth