I'm pretty sure a few people here are acquainted with the Englisc (and even if I weren't, it's usually a safe bet that there will be at least a few at any sufficiently large gathering of Tolkien-lovers).
Anyway, I'm sure many of you are familiar with the lines from The Battle of Maldon that are taken as a succinct expression of the old heroic code:
Hige sceal þe heardra || heorte þe cenre mod sceal þe mare || þe ure mægen lytlað
I am thinking of doing something with these lines, but I want to make sure I understand all the words and their nuances properly first. The stock translation goes something like this:
Thought shall be harder, heart the keener, courage the greater, as our might lessens.
However, there is some disagreement, particularly with regard to the words "hige" and "mod". For example, in The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son, Tolkien translates the first line as "will shall be more resolved", "cenre" as "bolder" rather than "keener", and "mod" as "spirit" rather than "courage" (in a footnote about "ofermod" he states that the unmodified "mod" is often translated as "courage" but that "spirit" or "high spirit" is more accurate). In addition, it isn't clear to me whether "sceal" is an imperative or declarative "shall" (heart must be keener vs. heart will be keener). Can anyone help me understand this better? Many thanks in advance.