Can anyone translate this text from the Wessex Gospels of 1175, please?

I would be grateful if someone could translate the following text as I am doing some research on Luke 1:35 and the various historical readings of the text in English :

for þan þt halig þe of þe akenned byð; byð godes sune ge-nemned.

Luke 1:35 - The Wessex Gospels - 1175


EDIT : I am particularly interested in whether the Wessex translation contains the words 'of thee' after the words 'be born' or 'be begotten'. The Stephanus, Erasmus (1519) and Elzevir Greek texts do not have 'of thee' yet Beza does. I am uncertain what text the Wessex translates (it may be from the Vulgate) and this is part of my enquiry.


Here's my translation (something idiomatic in Modern English while being as faithful to the original as possible):

Also that holy one that is born of thee, will be called God's son.


To see why I translated it this way, let's start with a rough word by word translation, one for each half:

1.

for þan þt halig þe of þe akenned byð
forthe that holy one that of thee akenned be

2.

byð godes sune ge-nemned
be god's son called

Now I'll refine the translation word by word:

for þan: The first two "words", "for þan", should be considered one word, "forthe(n)" because this other OE version of the text writes it as a single word "forðam". According to the OED, the word means "even", but I think Wiktionary gives a more apt translation: "also".

þt: Quite clearly "that". This book makes me think it was written as one character, "ꝥ", which only ever refers to "that".

halig: Only a noun really makes sense here. The relevant OED definition of holy (noun) is: "That which is holy; a holy thing." It's interesting to note that several Bibles use "holy thing" instead of "holy one".

þe: I also translate this as "that", because it makes sense. (If you have a better suggestion, leave a comment).

At this point, it makes sense to move some words...

byð: This is by+ð, or the verb be plus the archaic third person singular ending (written at various points in time as -ð, -þ, -th). According to Wiktionary "the present tense is used for the future, with context determining which tense is meant", and context says we should use the future tense in the translation: "will be".

akenned: born.

of þe: I think this should be translated as "of thee". Nothing else makes much sense, and "of þe" is certainly translated as "of thee".


OK, second part now... I moved a word here too:

byð: As I said above, "will be" is the best translation.

ge-nemned: The verb here is "nemnen", which I translate as "called" because it matches the MED's definition 3. An explanation of the prefix ge- can be found at What we've gelost — why doesn't English use the prefix "ge-"?.

godes: This is a pretty clear cut possessive. While Old English didn't usually capitalize words mid-sentence, Modern English would definitely capitalize it: "God's".

sune: This is an old spelling of "son", used in OE and ME.


Almost all bible translations done pre 1611 has born 'of you', this includes most KJV bibles. Almost all of these are based off of the Textus Recepticus. The Wessex Gospels are based off of 'Royal MS 1 A XIV' which is written on parchment and is also known as the Codex Evangeliorum Anglice.