“Hwæt” —the first word of the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, is to be spoken with great intensity. Wake up! Listen!
An attention-getter, it might be quite effective to speak such a word at the beginning of a class, or for that matter, during the middle of a lecture, to rein in the wandering minds.
Especially in spring, when the weather turned warm and the eyelids grew heavy, and I was seated in a room with many others and there was no escape. The droning voice only encouraged sleep and all my defenses were melting away. Had my teachers used this word, they could have saved a lot of souls. But no, salvation came when the school bell rang, and by that time all was lost.
Very nice piece, Clara. A couple of years ago, I was in a Chinese restaurant with some friends and I was talking about “Beowulf.” They asked me the meaning of “Hwaet.” I said, in a loud voice, HWAET!!! Everyone turned around. My friends stared at me. I explained: “That’s what it means.” The current version of the word is “wait,” but in its original sense, it didn’t mean putting off doing something. It meant to be watchful. (A “waiter” should be someone who watches you, not someone who “waits.”) Even now, if you really want attention in a restaurant, you might say, “HWAETer!”
They also serve who only stand and hwaet.