361-62.įitela nephew of Sigemund, possibly his bastard son.įlagon a vessel for holding mead or other alcoholic liquids, usually made of metal or pottery and featuring a spout as well as a handle.įrankish pertaining to the Franks, a Germanic tribe in the Rhine region.įranks and Frisians Germanic tribes united in opposition to the Geats.įrisia Hygelac was killed in an apparently ill-conceived battle with the western Frisians (allies of the Franks), not by King Finn's people of the Finnsburh episode. For a chronology of the Geats' feuds, see Chickering, pp. Eadgils, supplied by Beowulf, later killed Onela.Įddy a current running contrary to the main current, sometimes producing whirlpools.Įofor and Wulf fought Swedes' King Ongentheow to his death.

They had a feud with their uncle, Onela, and were temporarily sheltered by Heardred. The bold Scylding the poet associates Beowulf with the Scyldings, perhaps out of respect for his loyal service, even though the champion is a Geat.īright-Danes another name for the Scyldings, the reference to shining light.Ĭhant-wood a kenning for the scop's harp, with which he accompanied himself as he sang or chanted a story-song.ĭaeghrefn a Frisian warrior, champion of the Hugas, whose beating heart Beowulf, as a young man, crushed with his bare hands.ĭawn-scorcher, flame-snake, the worm epithets for the dragon.Įadgils and Eanmund Ohthere's sons, Swedes. The Geats have a long feud with the Scylfings.īattle-talon another reference to Grendel's claw.īody-warden a kenning for a chain-mail shirt.

Abysm of time a reference to the hellish chaos, the unfathomable chasm that spawned Grendel's mother and other descendants of Cain.Īelfhere some scholars think that this is a reference to Beowulf, indicating that Wiglaf is related, perhaps a cousin.īattle-Scylfings Swedes.

Beowulf morpurgo