freten by sowe

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:56 AM -0500 3/2/08, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 3/2/2008 10:08 AM, William Salmon wrote:
>
>>There's a horrifying line in The Knight's Tale about a pig eating a
>>child.
>>
>>The sowe freten the child right in the cradel...
>>
>
>I assume "freten" (fressen) rather than (?) "eten" (essen) to make
>it more horrifying?
>
Wouldn't (non-human) animals always engage in "freten"-ing behavior,
while "eten" would be what humans do (except metaphorically, when
they might "freten" too if they're really ravenous)?

LH

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