[gothic-l] Beowulf and the Geats

[Philip Rusche]

I know this is not a Beowulf or Anglo-Saxon list, but both of these
statements should be corrected.  First, Beowulf is not the son of the King
of the Geats, but the nephew until he becomes king himself. Also, there is
no evidence that Beowulf was a real person, so that can hardly make the case
that the poem was originally written for Geats, not to mention Goths, since
most scholars do not treat the two as identical.  Although story lines in
the poem appear in other Germanic cultures, the poem itself gives no
evidence that it was translated from an earlier Gothic poem or from any
other language. (Compare this with the portion of the poetic Genesis that
was identified as a translation from Old Saxon from metrical evidence before
the Old Saxon original was even found).

As for when Beowulf was written down, few people today would make the
statement that it belongs to 8th-century Anglia.  Ever since around 1980,
the dating has been completely up in the air, with perhaps more people
favoring a later date, perhaps 10th century.  The manuscript itself was
copied around 1000 in Old English, not Old Saxon.

Philip Rusche

> Beowulf is presumed to have been written down in Anglia in the 8th
century.
> There were apparently close contacts between that area and Gotland in
those
> times.
> The only existing copy of Beowulf is dated to the 10th century and written
> in old Saxan language.
> Tore Gannholm
>
>
> > It is said that Beowulf is a Anglo-Saxon poem, but since in the poem
> >Beowulf is the son of the King of the Geats is it possible that this was
a
> >copy of a much earlier Gothic poem.
> >Le
> >
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