blisful adj.

  blisful 
 TR2.680 Ănd álsŏ blísfŭl Vénŭs, wél ărráyĕd,
 TR2.681 Sát ĭn hĭre sévĕnthe hóus ŏf hévenĕ thó,
 TR2.682 Dĭspósĕd wél, ănd wíth ăspéctĕs páyĕd,
 TR2.683 Tŏ hélpĕ sély̆ Tróilŭs óf hĭs wóo.
 TR2.684 Ănd sóth tŏ séyne, shĕ nás nŏt ál ă fóo
 TR2.685 Tŏ Tróĭlús ĭn hís nătívĭtée;
 TR2.686 Gŏd wóot thăt wél thĕ sónnĕr spéddĕ hé.

Line Information

  • Differences among the manuscripts and editions:
  • English translation (Windeatt: 1998): In addition, blessed Venus, auspiciously positioned, was then seated in her seventh house of the heavens, made propitious by aspects of other heavenly bodies and favourably inclined to help poor Troilus in his misery. And to tell the truth, she was not altogether an enemy to Troilus in the disposition of planets at the time of his birth. God knows that he succeeded all the sooner!
  • Japanese translation (Sasamoto: 2012): そして美しく装った幸せのウェヌスもまた、その時天の第七の宮に座り、好意的な気持ちになり、他の星相も星位もよろしく、哀れむべきトロイルスの求愛の手助けを喜んで行ったのである。実を言えば、ウェヌスはトロイルスが生まれた時も、まったくトロイルスの敵でなかったのである。だから、きっと、彼の運もより早く開けたのである。
  • Chinese translation (Fang: 1956): 还有那幸福的维娜丝正坐在第七天庭，位分适当，神仪慈祥，助成特罗勒斯脱离苦境。老实说，在他诞生的时候，维娜丝就没有敌视过他；所以他更可顺利进行了。

Word Information

  • Etymology: blis (OE) + ful
  • Addresser: Narrator
  • Addressee: N/A
  • Adjectives with which juxtaposed: N/A
  • Counterpart in its source (Fil): N/A
  • Noun(s) (NPs) modified: supernatural beings (Venus)
  • Attributive/ Predicative: attributive

Information in Previous Studies

  • OED: Not quoted
  • MED: Not quoted
  • Commented in other previous works:
  • Windeatt (2003: 79): blisful: beneficent
  • Fisher (1989): N/A
  • Benson (1987): N/A
  • Davis et al. (1979): (Quoted) beneficent (s.v. blis(s)ful, adj.)
  • Donaldson (1975): N/A
  • Baugh (1963): N/A

Possible Definitions

blessed; beneficent

Comments from the Editor

In her seventh house of the heavens, Venus gives a propitious sign of Troilus’s love. Windeatt (1998: 163–64) provides a better concept for the term ‘house’: ‘[A] ‘house’ is one of the twelve divisions of the celestial sphere, formed by great circles passing through the north and south points of the horizon; the seventh house (just above the western horizon) is especially associated with questions of love and marriage. As an evening star in the seventh house, with Jupiter and Mercury in her favourable aspect, Venus is here auspiciously placed, as she was also in Troilus’s horoscope at the time of his birth. (See also Root (1926: 446) for a more detailed explanation of this quotation.)