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Notes
1. See CitationHarris (15); Fulk & Harris; CitationFulk, “Etymology and Significance of Beowulf’s Name”; and Neidorf & Zhu. The theophoric analysis is credited by CitationOsborn (271, n. 2); CitationOrchard (121, n. 117); and CitationTolley, Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic (566–67). The text of Beowulf is cited throughout by line number from the edition of Fulk, Bjork, & Niles.
5. CitationSayers (3); for discussion of bædling and related terms, see CitationFulk, “Male Homoeroticism in the Old English Canons of Theodore.”
10. On the conversion of names from Old Norse into Old English, see CitationNeidorf & Pascual (314–16).
11. Although the theonym Bēow is homophonous with bēow (“barley”), it would not be reasonable to think that bēow (“barley”) rather than the theonym Bēow constitutes the prototheme of Beowulf’s name, since early Germanic dithematic names were not customarily formed with words comparable to bēow (“barley”), whereas it was customary to form dithematic names with theonyms as their first element. Some have indeed analyzed Bēowulf as “barley-wolf” – e.g., CitationMarkey (343) and CitationGrigsby (195) – but such analyses are not persuasive because they provide the protagonist with a dithematic name that is conceptually unparalleled in the early Germanic onomasticon.
14. For the Old English Ing- names, see CitationInsley et al. (133); CitationRedin (67, 127–28); and the relevant entries in PASE. For the continental Germanic names, see CitationFörstemann (959–67). For Scandinavian names, see CitationKrause (198–200). Opinion is divided on the etymology of the name Ingeld: many prefer to analyze the prototheme as the In intensifier, but see CitationBjörkman (77–80) for an argument that it is the Ing- theonym. Neither Óðinn nor any other reflex of *Wōðanaz appears to have been used in the formation of regular personal names. Þórr is attested exclusively in North Germanic names, as Gunter CitationMüller observes: “Nur nordgermanisch war Þórr als Element gebräuchlich. Seine Häufigkeit im nordischen Namenschatz ist aber sicher das Ergebnis einer Entwicklung, welche nicht in die gemeingermanische Periode zurückreicht” (§167).
15. The text is cited by line number from CitationDobbie (29–30); the translation is cited from CitationBjork (131). Bjork’s translation of heardingas as “warriors” is probably mistaken, as this word is actually the Old English cognate of Old Norse Haddingjar; see CitationLindow, Norse Mythology (157–58, 200); CitationNeidorf, “Etymology of Freawaru’s Name” (382); CitationTolley, “Beowulf’s Scyld Scefing Episode” (20); and CitationTurville-Petre, “Fertility of Beast and Soil in Old Norse Literature” (258–59).
20. CitationSimek queries the reality of the Vanir as a group of deities in pre-Christian Germanic religion, but see CitationTolley, “In Defence of the Vanir,” for a compelling defense of their existence. The distinction is likewise defended in CitationLindow, “Vanir and Æsir” (1047–50).
22. For discussion of the Beowulf passages and the genealogical evidence, see CitationNeidorf & Zhu (119–22), with further references therein.
23. See CitationFulk, “An Eddic Analogue to the Scyld Scefing Story,” who writes: “The story originally cannot have belonged either to Sceaf or to Scyld, but to Beow: this is what the Karelian analogue suggests, and it is corroborated by the eddic version. Moreover, the Karelian and eddic material make etymological sense, as the flour-bin, even when set adrift, is a natural place for milled barley, but not for a shield or a sheaf” (319). See also CitationTolley, “Beowulf’s Scyld Scefing Episode” (12–13).
29. For overviews of the Eddic evidence for the álfar, see CitationGunnell (1572–73); CitationHall (34–47); CitationLindow, “Vanir and Æsir” (1047); and CitationNygaard. It is worth noting that there is also evidence for a distinction between the álfar and the Vanir in certain passages of Eddic poetry (e.g., Sigrdrífumál st. 18, Skírnismál sts. 17–18).
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