[gothic-l] Beowulf and the Geats

[Steve Pollington]

It is interesting that the language of Beowulf is not standard literary Old
English, but shows that the poem was composed in an Anglian dialect. There
are some unique words in the poem which have parallels in other Gmc
languages including Gothic, for example the word 'hos' for 'young man,
adventurer' = 'hansa'. But the probability is that such words are part of
the poetic vocabulary, and had simply fallen out of everyday use. If it were
a Gothic word borrowed into Anglian it must have come in very early, as it
shows the change of -ans- to -os- which is a determining feature of
Anglo-Saxon dialects.

> 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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