TR4.1135 Thĕ wófŭl téerĭs thát thĕy létĕn fállĕ TR4.1136 Ăs bíttrĕ wérĕn, óut ŏf térĭs kýndĕ, TR4.1137 Fŏr péyne, ăs ís lĭgne álŏés ŏr gállĕ -- TR4.1138 Sŏ bíttrĕ téerĭs wéep nŏught, ás Ĭ fýndĕ, TR4.1139 Thĕ wófŭl Mírră thŏrúgh thĕ bárk ănd rýndĕ -- TR4.1140 Thăt ín thĭs wórld thĕr nýs sŏ hárd ăn hértĕ TR4.1141 Thăt nólde hăn réwĕd ón hĭre péynĕs smértĕ.
Line Information
- Differences among the manuscripts and editions:
- English translation (Windeatt: 1998): Because of the pain, those sorrowful tears that they let fall were as bitter (quite beyond the nature of tears) as lign-aloes or gall — the woeful Myrrha did not weep forth such bitter tears through the bark, as I discover. There is not so hard a heart in this world that would not have pitied their keen sufferings!
- Japanese translation (Sasamoto: 2012): 彼らが流す悲しい涙は、苦痛のあまり、本来の涙と違って、アロエの木か胆汁と同じように、苦かった。私が本で見出す如く、これほどの苦い涙を悲しむミュラーさえミルラの樹皮から流さなかった。そのため彼らの激しい苦痛を気の毒に思わないような無情なひどい心の持ち主はこの世にいないだろう。
- Chinese translation (Fang: 1956): 他们流着心酸的泪，苦得不像是泪，简直和芦荟脂或胆汁一般。我没有尝过这样的苦味，除非是没药树的树皮里流出的苦液；世上任般铁石的心肠也不能不为他俩伤感。
Word Information
- Etymology: OE
- Addresser: Narrator
- Addressee: N/A
- Adjectives with which juxtaposed: woful (woeful)
- Counterpart in its source (Fil): amare (amaro) (4.115, 8)
- Noun(s) (NPs) modified: suffering, sorrow or grief (Troilus and Criseyde’s tears)
- Attributive/ Predicative: predicative
Information in Previous Studies
- OED: Not quoted
- MED: Not quoted
- Commented in other previous works:
- Windeatt (2003): N/A
- Fisher (1989): N/A
- Benson (1987): N/A
- Davis et al. (1979): Not quoted
- Donaldson (1975): N/A
- Baugh (1963): N/A
Possible Definitions
bitter (the opposite of ‘sweet’); grievous
Comments from the Editor
As Fisher (1989: 495) states, ‘The description of the tear is Chaucer’s; aloe and gall are proverbially bitter, the first being a nauseous bitter purgative, the latter, a secretion of the liver’. Besides, the story of Myrrha is told in the Metamorphoses of Ovid (10.298–502): for deceiving her father into an incestuous relationship, Myrrha was metamorphosed into a myrrh tree that weeps tears of gum through its bark.