[gothic-l] Beowolf--the Goth?

[sig]

Thank you Frank,

 I notice that none of these suggestions involve any Gothic
leadership,
which in a way is surprising, given the fact that this southern
outpost of Frisian territory was surrounded by Franks but, most of
all, no farther away than Normandy were the Visigoths in their
kingdom (or was it Svagrius?).

Anyway, the troops were Danes, agreed, and Beowolf had reason to
get there with his kin to avenge the killing of Hygelac (and took
a brave swim home with a backpack of some dozen chainmail if I
remember this right..) so I understand why this Gaetic leadership
seems far flung to interprete as Gothic.

 I brought this up after having found an Internet page questioning
any Scandinavian ties whatsoever with Beowulf. One thing was
interesting; The same people found support for this from their
failure to find any Scandinavian name like Beowulf. However, it
didn't take me long to find the name Baulf on a rune stone
inscription. Ba- does sound very like Beo- and -ulf is -wulf
undoubtedly (compare Ulfila--Wulfila e. g.).

I'd love to have anything more on this, i. e. your other
"possibility.."

Best,

Sig

Frank Kermes wrote:
>
> Hey,
>
> Ah, a subject I know well.  First, who was Hygelac?
>
> In Beowulf, he's the Geatish king.  The Geatas in Beowulf seem quite clearly
> associated with Scandinavia.  Their wars with the Swedish Scylfing dynasty
> are mentioned regularly.
>
> Also, their name is mentioned in conjunction with "Weder," either as a
> compound or as another name, ie. "Weder-Geatas," or "Wederas."  Many
> translations (Crossley-Holland, Raffel,) gloss this as an epithet- the
> "Weather Geats," the "Storm-Loving Geats."  Chickering, however, leaves it
> as it is, and Chambers I think (a century ago!) suggested that this was the
> lake in South Sweden, the Wetter.
>
> The Scylfingas, the Geats' Swedish opponents, correspond roughly to the
> Ynglingas in the later "Ynglingasaga," "Hrolfssaga Kraka," and _Gesta
> Danorum_.  Eadgils corresponds to Adhisl, Onela to Ali, etc.  All of these
> kings are linked to Uppsala in these sources.
>
> Gregory of Tours calls Hygelac a Dane.  That has been explained as a generic
> term for all Scandinavians.  Now, that is true, in Anglo-Saxon sources
> nearly a half-millenium later, but I have been unable to find any uses
> contemporary to Gregory.  The Frankish sources of the same period as the AS
> use the term "Normanni," the Northmen.
>
> I'll post more later, if there's interest--to explain another possibility
> for Greg's usage...
>
> Cheers,
> Frank
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