The Waning Sword E DWARD P ETTIT Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf THE WANING SWORD The Waning Sword Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf by Edward Pettit https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2020 Edward Pettit This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Edward Pettit, The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2020, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0190 In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https://doi. org/10.11647/OBP.0190#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://doi. org/10.11647/OBP.0190#resources Some of the images have been reproduced at 72 dpi in the digital editions of this book due to copyright restrictions. Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78374-827-3 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-78374-828-0 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-78374-829-7 ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 978-1-78374-830-3 ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 978-1-78374-831-0 ISBN Digital (XML): 978-1-78374-832-7 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0190 Cover image: Freyr, adapted from an illustration by Johannes Gehrts (1855-1921). Wikimedia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freyr_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg Cover design by Anna Gatti. Very bright was that sword when it was made whole again; the light of the sun shone redly in it, and the light of the moon shone cold, and its edge was hard and keen. And Aragorn gave it a new name and called it Andúril, Flame of the West. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Grendel by Russell Marks. © Russell Marks. All rights reserved. Grendel’s mother by Russell Marks. © Russell Marks. All rights reserved. In memoriam Alan Paul Pettit 24 January 1918–15 May 1995 Hazell Macdonald Pettit 4 October 1923–16 March 2016 Robert Charles Pettit 20 June 1955–10 March 2011 ic him æfter sceal Contents Acknowledgements xvii Signs and Abbreviations xix 1. Introduction: Beowulf , an Early Anglo-Saxon Epic 1 Part I. Ice, Candle and Cross: Images of the Giant Sword in Beowulf 33 2. The Giant Sword and the Ice 35 Prior Views on the Melting of the Giant Sword 37 Old Norse Ice-Swords 42 3. The Giant Sword and the Candle 47 Vargeisa’s Candle-Sword 51 Grýla’s Icicle-Candle 65 The Giant Sword as Solar Candle 71 Sörli and Sigrljómi ‘Victory-Light’ 79 The Giant Sword as Paschal Candle 84 4. The Giant Sword and the Cross 93 The Cross in the Lake 94 Three Old English Heavenly Candle-Crosses 98 Sword-Hilts, Sword-Blades and Crosses 100 Beowulf and Christ as Bearers of the Sword-Cross 112 The Battle-Standard and the Cross 113 Wiglaf as Sword-Bearer and Cross-Bearer 118 xii The Waning Sword Part II. Sun-Swords and Moon-Monsters: On the Theft and Recovery of Sunlight in Beowulf and Other Early Northern Texts 121 5. Whose Sword Is it, Anyway? 123 Giant-Forged and Giant-Stolen? 124 The Giant Sword and the Theft of M jǫ llnir 129 The Cup-Thief, Grendel’s Glove and Grendel’s ‘Un-Sword’: Aspects of Recurrent Thievery in Beowulf 131 The Basis for Detecting Germanic Myth in Beowulf 137 6. Ing, Ingvi-Freyr and Hroðgar 143 The Ingwin e ‘Ing-Friends’ and Ing, Son of Man 143 Ing and Ingi-/Yngvi-Freyr 145 Freyr, the Friendly God 147 Worship of Ing in England? 147 Ing in the Old English Rune Poem 148 The Ing e-Peoples and the Sun-God of Psalm 112 156 Hroðgar and Danish Worship of an Unnamed Devil 158 Hroðgar, Healfdene’s ‘Firebrand’ and the Incgelaf 159 Ingunar-Freyr and Freyr’s Sword 166 Hroðgar a s Frea 167 Wealhþeo’s Brosinga Men e and Freyja’s Brísingamen 168 Freawaru 169 The Danes and the ‘Life-Lord’ 169 7. Freyr, Skírnir and Gerðr 171 Fǫ r Skírni s and Beowulf ’s Mere-Episode 172 Lokasenna , Gylfaginnin g and the Gifted Sword 184 Gymir and Gerðr as Sea-Giants 185 Hjálmþér, Ýma and Margerðr 188 The Burning Candle and the Barley Isle 194 8. Lævateinn and the Maelstrom-Giantess 197 Svipdagr’s Quest for Meng lǫ ð 197 Loki’s Taking of the Twig 206 More About Lævateinn and Mistilteinn 210 Saxo’s Hotherus, Balderus and the Sword of Mimingus 212 xiii Contents Lævateinn in the Lúðr 216 The Maelstrom-Giantess in Sagas of Hjálmþér, Grettir and Samson 219 Grendel’s Mother as Maelstrom-Giantess 222 9. Freyr’s Solar Power and the Purifying Sword 225 Solar Aspects of Freyr in th e Eddas 225 Skírnir as Purifier 227 Beowulf and the Giant Sword as Purifiers 230 Freyr as Thawer 232 10. Freyr, Heorot and the Hunt for the Solar Stag 235 Freyr, Beli and the Hart’s Horn 235 Heorot, the Hart-Hall 236 The ‘Hunted Hart’ Passage in Beowulf 238 The Solar Stag in Early Europe 244 The Hunt for the Sun 251 The ‘Battle-Thief/Wolf of the Sky-Shield’ 252 S k ǫ ll and Hati 252 The Old One, the Pitchforker and Mánagarmr 255 Wolf-Snake versus Sun-Stag: Norse Myth on the Gosforth Cross 261 Hunted Stags on Other Anglo-Saxon Crosses 279 The Ovingham Stone 281 One Man (in the Moon) and His Dog 282 11. A Tale of Two Creatures: The Theft and Recovery of Sunlight in Riddle 29 287 The Lunar Thief and Grendel 289 The Solar Repossessor and Beowulf 291 12. Another Tale of Two Creatures: The Loss and Recovery of the Solar Draught-Beast in Wið Dweorh 293 An Old English Dwarf-Horse-Deer? 298 A Headache(?)-Causing Dwarf from Denmark 304 Another Headache-Causing Dwarf and a Radiant Sword 305 The Sun as Healer, Especially in Old English Remedies 308 The Dwarf and Grendel as ‘In-Going’ Fever-Demons 309 xiv The Waning Sword 13. The Solar Antler in Sólarljóð 315 The Buried Antler and Christian Legends, Especially of the Cross 317 The Solar Antler, the Dwarf-Horse-Stag(?) and a Solar Sword 321 Svafrlami and Dvalinn 324 Dvalinn and the Deaths of Alvíss and Hrímgerðr 328 Runes of Resurrection 335 Sólarljóð and Beowulf 337 14. Grendel, His Mother and Other Moon-Monsters 339 Trees of Sun and Moon, and a Monster Called Quasi Caput Luna 340 Grendel the Wan 346 Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tale 175: Der Mond ‘The Moon’ 351 The Dead Moo n, a Blickling Homily and Beowulf 352 Nið ‘Waning/Dark Moon’(?) in Beowulf 358 Grendel and Glámr, the Monster with Moonlit Eyes 368 Grendel’s Mother and Norse Moon-Giantesses 372 Mána, Moon-Giantess and Thief 373 Mána and Brana 374 Skjaldvör, the ‘Dark-Moon Chest’ and More about the Nið -Dragon 376 Hyndla at the ‘Darkness of Darknesses’ 388 Þórgunna, Mána-Ljótur and the Half-Moon 390 The Old One and the Pitchforker, Again 391 Ýma and the Boatforker 395 Two More Male Forkers and a Sword of Lunar Waning 399 King Dagr and the Hayforker 399 Kolr the Gibbous, His Fork-Wielding Son and the Sword Angrvaðill 400 Anger, Death and the Dismembered Moon 406 The Lunar Head and the Solar Head 408 15. The Sun in the Pike 411 Three Golden Eggs, a Fallen Spark and a Pike 412 Tyrfingr and the Pike 413 Mistilteinn and the Pike 414 xv Contents Hrómundr Gripsson, Þráinn and Mistilteinn 415 Grendel’s Mother as Pike 418 16. Conclusion: Beowulf , an Anglo-Saxon Song of Ice and Fire 425 Bibliography 471 Supplementary Note 519 List of Illustrations 521 Index 523 Acknowledgements Sadly, my greatest debts by far cannot be acknowledged in person, being to the members of my family to whom I dedicate this book. More happily, I acknowledge my debt to the many scholars whose works appear in the bibliography. I apologize to the many others whose writings doubtless ought to feature but do not. Thanks are also due to my former teachers of Old English, Old Norse, Old Irish and medieval Latin at various colleges of the University of London: Professor Janet Bately, Professor Jane Roberts, Mr John Porter, Professor Alison Finlay, Professor Richard North, the late Dr Paddy Considine, Mr Robert Ireland, Professor Katie Wales, Dr Eirian Davies and Dr Stuart Lee. None of these people, however, are in any way responsible for the approaches taken or opinions expressed in this book, some of which may prove controversial. I am solely accountable for any errors it contains. Russell Marks deserves special thanks for generously allowing me to include his splendid illustrations of Grendel and Grendel’s mother. More of his work can be found at www.artstation.com/russellmarks Finally, I warmly thank Dr Alessandra Tosi, the anonymous reviewers of this book, and the cover design, typsetting, editorial and indexing staff (Anna Gatti, Luca Baffa and Adèle Kreager) at Open Book Publishers for accepting and improving this volume. Signs and Abbreviations * Hypothetical or reconstructed word-form AbäG Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik AEW F. Holthausen, Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch , 3rd edn. (Heidelberg, 1974) ANEW J. de Vries, Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch , 4th edn. (Leiden, 2000) ANF Arkiv för nordisk filologi ANQ American Notes & Queries ASE Anglo-Saxon England ASPR G. P. Krapp and E. van K. Dobbie (ed.), The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records: A Collective Edition (New York, 1931–53) BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands Library BT T. N. Toller (ed.), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Based on the Manuscript Collections of the Late Joseph Bosworth, D.D., F.R.S. (Oxford, 1898) BTS T. N. Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Based on the Manuscript Collections of the Late Joseph Bosworth: Supplement (Oxford, 1921), with A. Campbell, Enlarged Addenda and Corrigenda (Oxford, 1972) C&M Classica et Mediaevalia corr. corrected CV R. Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson, An Icelandic-English Dictionary , 2nd edn. (Oxford 1957) DOE A. Cameron, A. C. Amos, A. diP. Healey et al. (ed.), Dictionary of Old English: A to H online (Toronto, 2016) EDD J. Wright (ed.), English Dialect Dictionary (Oxford, 1898–1905) EETS Early English Text Society ELH English Literary History ELL English Language and Linguistics ELN English Language Notes e.s. extra series (EETS) ES English Studies