Lepeþ

According to the Old English Dictionary:

:-- Sum sceal wildne fugel átemian ... fédep on feterum ... lepeþ lyftswiftne lytlum gieflum óþ ðæt se wælisca his ǽtgiefan eáþmód weorþeþ, Exon. 88 b; Th. 332, 14-27; Vy. 85-91. Grein compares with

lepeþ

M. H. Ger. erlaffen languefacere, the passage would then mean that the hawk's fierceness and wildness were subdued by giving it little to eat. Might we however for lepeþ read léfeþ [cf. léf] or léweþ [cf. ge-léwan] = weakens, which would give very much the same meaning? lepeþ