Ingeld (dat. Ingelde, 2065), son of Frōda, the Heaðobeard chief, who fell in a battle with the Danes, 2051 ff. in order to end the war, Ingeld is married to Frēawaru, daughter of the Danish king, Hrōðgār, 2025-30. Yet his love for his young wife can make him forget only for a short while his desire to avenge his father. He finally carries it out, excited thereto by the repeated admonitions of an old warrior, 2042-70 (Wīdsīð, 45-59).
Ing-wine (gen. Ingwina, 1045, 1320), friends of Ing, the first king of the East Danes. The Danes are so called, 1045, 1320.
Mere-wīoingas (gen. Mere-wīoinga, 2922), as name of the Franks, 2922.
Nægling, the name of Bēowulf's sword, 2681.
Offa (gen. Offan, 1950), king of the Angles (Wīdsīð, 35), the son of Gārmund, 1963; married (1950) to Þrȳðo (1932), a beautiful but cruel woman, of unfeminine spirit (1932 ff.), by whom he has a son, Ēomǣr, 1961.
Ōht-here (gen. Ōhtheres, 2929, 2933; Ōhteres, 2381, 2393, 2395, 2613), son of Ongenþēow, king of the Swedes, 2929. His sons are Ēanmund (2612) and Ēadgils, 2393.
Onela (gen. Onelan, 2933), Ōhthere's brother, 2617, 2933.
Ongen-þēow (nom. -þēow, 2487, -þīo, 2952; gen. -þēowes, 2476, -þīowes, 2388; dat. -þīo, 2987), of the dynasty of the Scylfings; king of the Swedes, 2384. His wife is, perhaps, Elan, daughter of the Danish king, Healfdene (62), and mother of two sons, Onela and Ōhthere, 2933. She is taken prisoner by Hæðcyn, king of the Gēatas, on an expedition into Sweden, which he undertakes on account of her sons' plundering raids into his country, 2480 ff. She is set free by Ongenþēow (2931), who kills Hæðcyn, 2925, and encloses the Gēatas, now deprived of their leader, in the Ravenswood (2937 ff.), till they are freed by Hygelāc, 2944. A battle then follows, which is unfavorable to Ongenþēow's army. Ongenþēow himself, attacked by the brothers, Wulf and Eofor, is slain by the latter, 2487 ff., 2962 ff.
Ōs-lāf, a warrior of Hnæf's, who avenges on Finn his leader's death, 1149 f.
Scede-land, 19. Sceden-īg (dat. Sceden-īgge, 1687), O.N., Scān-ey, the most southern portion of the Scandinavian peninsula, belonging to the Danish kingdom, and, in the above-mentioned passages of our poem, a designation of the whole Danish kingdom.
Scēf or Scēaf. See Note.
Scēfing, the son (?) of Scēf, or Scēaf, reputed father of Scyld, 4. See Note.
Scyld (gen. Scyldes, 19), a Scēfing. 4. His son is Bēowulf, 18, 53: his grandson, Healfdene, 57; his great-grandson, Hrōðgār, who had two brothers and a sister, 59 ff.--Scyld dies, 26; his body, upon a decorated ship, is given over to the sea (32 ff.), just as he, when a child, drifted alone, upon a ship, to the land of the Danes, 43 ff. After him his descendants bear his name.
Scyldingas (Scyldungas, 2053; gen. Scyldinga, 53, etc., Scyldunga, 2102, 2160; dat. Scyldingum, 274, etc.), a name which is extended also to the Danes, who are ruled by the Scyldings, 53, etc. They are also called Ār-Scyldingas, 464; Sige-Scyldingas, 598, 2005; Þēod-Scyldingas, 1020; Here-Scyldingas, 1109.
Scylfingas, a Swedish royal family, whose relationship seems to extend to the Gēatas, since Wīglāf, the son of Wīhstān, who in another place, as a kinsman of Bēowulf, is called a Wǣgmunding (2815), is also called lēod Scylfinga, 2604. The family connections are perhaps as follows:--
Scylf. | ------------------------ Wǣgmund. ....... | | ------------------ ---------- Ecgþēow. Wēohstān. Ongenþēow. | | | -------- -------- --------------- Bēowulf. Wīglāf. Onela. Ōhthere. | ----------------- Ēaumund. Ēadgils.
The Scylfings are also called Heaðo-Scilfingas, 63, Gūð-Scylfingas, 2928.
Sige-mund (dat. -munde, 876, 885), the son of Wæls, 878, 898. His (son and ) nephew is Fitela, 880, 882. His fight with the drake, 887 ff.
Swerting (gen. Swertinges, 1204), Hygelāc's grandfather, and Hrēðel's father, 1204.
Swēon (gen. Swēona, 2473, 2947, 3002), also Swēo-þēod, 2923. The dynasty of the Scylfings rules over them, 2382, 2925. Their realm is called Swīorice, 2384, 2496.
Þrȳðo, consort of the Angle king, Offa, 1932, 1950. Mother of Ēomǣr, 1961, notorious on account of her cruel, unfeminine character, 1932 ff. She is mentioned as the opposite to the mild, dignified Hygd, the queen of the Gēatas.
Wæls (gen. Wælses, 898), father of Sigemund, 878, 898.
Wǣg-mundingas (gen. Wǣgmundinga, 2608, 2815). The Wǣgmundings are on one side, Wīhstān and his son Wīglāf; on the other side, Ecgþēow and his son Bēowulf (2608, 2815). See under Scylfingas.
Wederas (gen. Wedera, 225, 423, 498, etc.), or Weder-gēatas. See Gēatas.
Wēland (gen. Wēlandes, 455), the maker of Bēowulf's coat of mail, 455.
Wendlas (gen. Wendla, 348): their chief is Wulfgār. See Wulfgār. The Wendlas are, according to Grundtvig and Bugge, the inhabitants of Vendill, the most northern part of Jutland, between Limfjord and the sea.
Wealh-þēow (613, Wealh-þēo, 665, 1163), the consort of King Hrōðgār, of the stock of the Helmings, 621. Her sons are Hrēðrīc and Hrōðmund, 1190; her daughter, Frēawaru, 2023.
Wēoh-stān (gen. Wēox-stānes, 2603, Wēoh-stānes, 2863, Wih-stānes, 2753, 2908, etc.), a Wǣgmunding (2608), father of Wīglāf, 2603. In what relationship to him Ælfhere, mentioned 2605, stands, is not clear.--Wēohstān is the slayer of Ēanmund (2612), in that, as it seems, he takes revenge for his murdered king, Heardrēd. See Ēanmund.
Wīg-lāf, Wēohstān's son, 2603, etc., a Wǣgmunding, 2815, and so also a Scylfing, 2604; a kinsman of Ælfhere, 2605. For his relationship to Bēowulf, see the genealogical table under Scylfingas.--He supports Bēowulf in his fight with the drake, 2605 ff., 2662 ff. The hero gives him, before his death, his ring, his helm, and his coat of mail, 2810 ff.
Won-rēd (gen. Wonrēdes, 2972), father of Wulf and Eofor, 2966, 2979.
Wulf (dat. Wulfe, 2994), one of the Gēatas, Wonrēd's son. He fights in the battle between the armies of Hygelāc and Ongenþēow with Ongenþēow himself, and gives him a wound (2966), whereupon Ongenþēow, by a stroke of his sword, disables him, 2975. Eofor avenges his brother's fall by dealing Ongenþēow a mortal blow, 2978 ff.
Wulf-gār, chief of the Wendlas, 348, lives at Hrōðgār's court, and is his "ār and ombiht," 335.
Wylfingas (dat. Wylfingum, 461). Ecgþēow has slain Heoðolāf, a warrior of this tribe, 460.
Yrmen-lāf, younger brother of Æschere, 1325.
ABBREVIATIONS.
B.: Bugge. Br.: S.A. Brooke, Hist. of Early Eng. Lit. C.: Cosijn. E.: Earle, Deeds of Beowulf in Prose. G.: Garnett, Translation of Beowulf Gr.: Grein. H.: Heyne. Ha.: Hall, Translation of Beowulf. H.-So.: Heyne-Socin, 5th ed. Ho.: Holder. K.: Kemble. Kl.: Kluge. Müllenh.: Müllenhoff. R.: Rieger. S.: Sievers. Sw.: Sweet, Anglo-Saxon Reader, 6th ed. Ten Br.: Ten Brink. Th.: Thorpe. Z.: Zupitza.
PERIODICALS.
Ang.: Anglia. Beit.: Paul und Branne's Beiträge. Eng. Stud.: Englische Studien. Germ.: Germania. Haupts Zeitschr.: Haupts Zeitschrift, etc. Mod. Lang. Notes: Modern Language Notes. Tidskr.: Tidskrift for Philologi. Zachers Zeitschr.: Zachers Zeitschrift, etc.
NOTES.
l. 1. hwæt: for this interjectional formula opening a poem, cf. _Andreas, Daniel, Juliana, Exodus, Fata Apost., Dream of the Rood_, and the "Listenith lordinges!" of mediaeval lays.--E. Cf. Chaucer, Prologue, ed. Morris, l. 853:
"Sin I shal beginne the game, _What_, welcome be the cut, a Goddes name!"
wē ... gefrūnon is a variant on the usual epic formulǣ ic gefrægn (l. 74) and mīne gefrǣge (l. 777). _Exodus, Daniel, Phoenix_, etc., open with the same formula.
l. 1. "Gār was the javelin, armed with two of which the warrior went into battle, and which he threw over the 'shield-wall.' It was barbed."--Br. 124. Cf. _Maldon_, l. 296; _Judith_, l. 224; _Gnom. Verses_, l. 22; etc.
l. 4. "Scild of the Sheaf, not 'Scyld the son of Scaf'; for it is too inconsistent, even in myth, to give a patronymic to a foundling. According to the original form of the story, Scēaf was the foundling; he had come ashore with a sheaf of corn, and from that was named. This form of the story is preserved in Ethelwerd and in William of Malmesbury. But here the foundling is Scyld, and we must suppose he was picked up with the sheaf, and hence his cognomen."--E., p. 105. Cf. the accounts of Romulus and Remus, of Moses, of Cyrus, etc.
l. 6. egsian is also used in an active sense (not in the Gloss.), = _to terrify_.
l. 15. S. suggests þā (_which_) for þæt, as object of drēogan; and for aldor-lēase, Gr. suggested aldor-ceare.--_Beit_. ix. 136.
S. translates: "For God had seen the dire need which the rulerless ones before endured."
l. 18. "Beowulf (that is, Beaw of the Anglo-Saxon genealogists, not our Beowulf, who was a Geat, not a Dane), 'the son of Scyld in Scedeland.' This is our ancestral myth,--the story of the first culture-hero of the North; 'the patriarch,' as Rydberg calls him, 'of the royal families of Sweden, Denmark, Angeln, Saxland, and England.'"--Br., p. 78. Cf. _A.-S. Chron._ an. 855.