Literary Onomastics Studies
Volume 1
Article 4
1974
Onomastic Concepts of "Bear" in Comparative
Myth: Anglo-Saxon and Greek Literature
Thalia Phillies Feldman
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Recommended Citation
Phillies Feldman, Thalia (1974) "Onomastic Concepts of "Bear" in Comparative Myth: Anglo-Saxon and Greek Literature," Literary
Onomastics Studies: Vol. 1, Article 4.
Available at: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/los/vol1/iss1/4
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Thalia Phlll ies Feldman
C1"Kl\lASTIC CONCEPTS OF "BEAR" IN CQ\lPARATIVE t-f'l'TI I: A.'\GLO-SA.\0:\ .\.'Q1
.
GREEK LITERATUIU:
lt is the purpose of this study to consider the feasibility of
applying onomastic methodology to the diffusion of myth1 in this cnse
of the well-knO\vn one of the Bearson.
Friedrich Panzer .in 1911 iden­
tified some twenty versions of this myth in Europe and Asia, of 1vh.ich
the Old English Beowulf was the only one glorified into epic, about
A.D.
700.1
It may seem a relatively simple matter to ldenti fy \ersions as
deriving from a �dngle common source, as for example, when the at.=t ion
o[ aJ 1 of them involves a hero rescuing a maluen or o t rc<L<.>ure from ;;
dragon and/or descending to an undenvorld to slay H monster 1 prcci se I y
the deeds in 1vhich Beowulf engages.
However, since we arc more aHare
today that most actions in myth arise from univetsal needs and e.xperi­
ences and invo:ve common psychological determinants,
which understand
ably therefore find independent expression though in qujtc analogous
am.l parallel [onns, we may well raise the questLon us to 1vhcthcr the
resemblances arc ever due at all to diffusion l'rom a single couunon
sourcc.:.
Let me state at the onset, therefore, that 1 run a beliC\cr in
cultural tli ffusion as \\'ell as in independent psychological detcnninants.
Khereas, however, the initial urge to a particular J..mJ o( mytl1 may
stem from the needs of the latter, independent sort, on th0 other hand
the fonnal shape \vhich the myth takes i11 its clw n11..:t.ers 1 deta j 1 s, a11d
-j-
2
Thalia Phillies Felcbr,.'Ul
other features, \'t'OUld in some cases at least ha\'C a s inglc narrative
source from which that. myth spread 0\rer continents and in m.uw lan
guages and dialects.
·
It is as though at sane point in the prchi� toric
period, probably, some poetic genius, literally, a "born
creator
ot·
maker," took particular universal experiences that were al ready in
some loose oral fonn and effectively shaped those needs into a nar­
rative prototype, giving them viable, illlTiortal Conn by which they
could be transmitted by one group to another and for a very tong time.
�1oreovcr, it wus because of a basis in corrunonly shared psychological
experiences thnt certain tales and
myths
became readily acceptable
when first heanl fran culture to culture simply because thci r clements
stn.tck so deeply familiar an internal chord.
But hO\< can we be more certain that \'t'hat
h'e
call comparative
myth involves more than that shared conmon human experience '"hlch hils
been cast in parallel actions, rather than arising, in some instances
at
least, fro111 a single organizing source which ls then tUCfused?
would seem that the latter
can
It
be the case, as wil l be demonstrated.
It appears Lhat a given myth receives a definite bustc organiw­
Uon and structure by virtue of being composed of
e l eme nts
of a lin­
guistic nature \\'hich not only define and limit it hut also enab le H
to be conveyed Ly literal translation from or.e people to another.
By
means of this verbal structure, specifically onomastic, it is poss1blc
to identify C\'en seemingly remote versions as ha\'ing a cor�non source­
c\·cn \•:hen, in fa:::t ,
\\'C:
may st.:arcely recognizt• o rfhand ho\\ C<lllpilJ':lt i \'t" l y
close their actl:.m�; anJ <:p1soJes actually :111'.
1-iur\.'0\'<'1, �plliJrb .u�.l
3
Thalia Phillies Fe:dman
other nouns that are not personal names but which are closely associ­
ated \vith given characters should also be, more effectively, capitalized.
When left in lower-case type (anu this, too, is merely an
vention)
editorial co!l­
we tend automatically to do\\'l'lgrade the complex substantive
nature of a given character.
Grendel is not only "Grendel," but he is
as much "The Monster," rather than simply·"� monster".
Otherwise it would be difficult to believe, as in our example of
comparative myth, that Beowulf, 111e Monster Grendel, his Dam
(other\v-ise
"nameless"), and The Dragon cli'e blood-kin, as it were, to the mythic
complex of Perseus, Gorge-Medusa, her son Chrysaor, The Sea-Monster
Ketos, anti more.
Yet by the application of comparative onomastics this
can be shown to be the case.
By this demonstration it is hoped that
something else, o£ greater scholarly value,. can perhaps also be
lished,
estab­
and that is the introduction of onomastics as a new tool or
methodology in the pursuit of comparative myth.
There is one simple
basic tule to this methotl, however, that m:Jst be an absolute in thls
kind of onomastic study: All names must be literally translated, never
transliterated as editors and translators now do.
Only by the
ful etymological analysis and scrupulously accurate
most
translation
care­
of these
can we tear off many a mask and reveal the true meaning beneath and thus
compare.
The custom of merely transliterating a name may arise from the [act
that sometimes the literal meaning may be elusive, such as that of Achilles
for example.
But more likely the name may be all too li1:crally tlescrjp­
tive, and in fact unpoetic, awkward, and seemingly even embarrassingly
Thalia Phillies Feldman
primitive or simply naive.
"Bem,ulf" has a grand ring to it, 1�hereas
"Bee-\\'olfer" is graceless indeed.
Yet it is as ''Bee-Wol(et·" that the
hero has a long epic and mythic history.
It has been recognized for
some time that Beo-wulf, Bee-\volf, is not lupine as the "-1..ulf" sug­
2
gests, but means "One-Who-Wolfs-Down-Bees," that is, "Iloney."
The
question now arises as to why Bear rather than Wolf was granted the
distinction of being the prototype for this hero of the North.
The
answer is that in prehistoric and later times the g reat Brown Bear was
the largest predator of the northern European forests and the central
Asian highlands.
Very likely he was the peer of the nine- foot giant
Kodiak, a species that still makes awesome tracks in the
fines of Alaska.
na rrm"
con­
So great was the fear of Brown Bear and his pm�ers
that in most places he came under that taboo as soc ia ted
,., i th
nominal
sanctity 1vhich is nonnally extended to such powers as arc too dominant
and imminent and which, for one reason or another, are deemed too super­
natural to be subject to ordinary
c ont rols.
The taboo is reserved for
those major divinities and forces whose names one must not speak aloud
lest unknown consequences result from the invok�ng of them.
Thus, peri ­
phrastic epithets which identify but do not invoke arc used instead, and
sometimes these even supersede and thrust the actua] name i.nto oblivion.
111at this was a corranon practice in referring to Bear has been demon­
strated by �le1llct.
3
Conversely,
in Greece and Italy where Bear h.ud
limited range because the lion was dominant instead until the 8th t.:.
B.C.
in Greece at least, a taboo name for it rarely arose, so that Latin
5
Thalia Phillies Feldman
freely used the generic term ursus and Greek ark.tos which has the same
root
as
the Sanskrit.
Where Bear reigned, however, among the languages
of the �orth the Indo-European nomenclature '''a s suspended and the bea.:;t
identified periphrastically, as bruin, bear or braun, nll meaning "The
Brown One."
The Baltic people preferred alluding to him aJ so as ''The
Big Foot," and, most tellingly, "The Glo1·y of the Forest."
Slctvi<..: used
a tcnn closc�t to the Old English "Bee-\Volfor," munely, •rrhe Eater of
I toney."
Even ln Greece, in one limited Bear cult at:tad10d to Artemis,
Goddess of \\ild Animals,
she w� worshipped as Brauronla and her
priestesses were very young girls l.:ho doruted bearskins during the pcr­
fonnance of her rituals. 4
Significantly, the hero Beowulf has characteristics that suggest
his ursine origins: his slothful boyhood, for one, might well stand
comparison \vith the lLUllbering ways or even the hibcmating habit� of
Hcur.5
It might account for something or the aspccl of "Loner'' in hi�
nature,
for Lhe grmvn male Bear, too, has qujte solHary habits.
Most
of all, though, Beowulf resembles Bear ln his method or fighting with
bare hands cmJ breast and in his notorious bear-hug.
r L is
thus, not
by a S\\'Orc.J lmt by the crushing strength of thirty men, that the hero
grapples with Grendel to the death and, later, fights \dth the frisia1:
hero, Daeghrefn.
6
Similarly, in Northern legend there is frequent mer­
tion of a kind of unanned warrior who battles "like a mad dog or "·olf
\o\'ho bites and k1lls and against Khom neither .iron nor fire .seems to have
any effect."
Such a fighter was called in lcelanuic a berserker, "One
Who Wears a Bc:rr' s Coat."7
In the I3pic l t .is the
monstc r c; rcnJe 1 who
Thalia Phillies Feldman
6
also bites his prey to death, while Beo\,ulf only crushes.
Regardless of his ursine origins, hO\\'ever , the creators of BcO\vulf
did not keep him
Bear, but at some point saw him <ls
as
co111p letc lr
human;
from a menacin g villain of the forest he was converted jn the �orth iJ1to
an apotropaic hero, and his pm.,;ers 3 now macle benign, \vere d neeted
against forces of evil intent such as Grendel, his
Dam> and
the Dragon.
I low might this have happened?
Pla inly , Beowulf had the supernatural powers of the zoom011Jhlc ki nd
associated with those of the Shaman who prevailed in pr eh jstor.ic £·.uras1a
for millenia and still does among the Siberian r:skimo.
concepts of zoomorphism and
changeably alignecl.8
In the Shaman,
anthropomorphism are inseparably and inter­
In the case of the Eplc, Beo\\'Ulf, the Bear ances­
tor had long since been tamed and, indeed, in this respect he
seems al­
most 1 J ke a gelded hull that has been corral led and trained to function
usefully.
Such
an
interpretation a lso makes it possi b le tu
aL coun t
for
the fact th;ll in a culture which valued sons anti heirs m ost highly , nc\ cr­
thclcss He01vul f has no offspring.
ln a sodety in which i l was unthink­
able for a king to be in the condition of BeO\oJUl f, deli bern tc ly
1" i fele ss
and childless, o ne can only conclude that the legend the reby tacitly
aclmm�ledged that somewhere along its developnent he \�as <.lccmcd sterile.
rUl of his energies and intentions instead were thought of as cud.>eJ and
Jetlicatcd to the welfare of his people.
In contrast, G • c ncle l , in being introtlucC'J in t he Epi�,
·
a<>
Acglaecu,
only as
'l11
•�
clesu·ibcd
"Monster," who ambushed ldng llrothgar's ll;uws, nml, not
Evil,
a
"Killer," Banam, but more signifit'antl)', as lk•orc
7
Thalia PhilLies t:eldman
Ucathscua, ''Dark Shadow of Death."
The struggle between Grendel and
Rcowul £ is, in these terms, profounder than that bt't\oi·een E\·il nnd
Goad
as moral powers, but is that ben.,reen Death and Life, bet\.,reen the host
as opposed to the monster Death itself, lurking and ever \·•aiting to
spring in the dark of night.9
Etymologkally, the name Grendel reveals
the same fatal qualities, quite divorced from ethical ones.
In Old
FngJish, as Klaeber defines the name, it is related to grindan and
111cans "Destroyer."
In Old Norse it is related to grindell, one of
the poetical terms for "Stonn," and to grenja, meaning "to bellow.dO
Ilence, Grendel is ''The Destroyer,'' by grinding, and he is ''The Roarer. ''
RAging, stonning) and roaring, he destroys men by crushing, tearing
them apart and grinding their flesh 1n devouring them.
ll
lie seems to
have been end01ved \vith certain attributes of the berserker and the
"l!oncy-Devourer."
Like a scapegoat he assumes the castoff bcarskjn or
the power who has been converted to a man and becomes a force o[ Dcuth.
MOreover, Grendel is Umnune to attack by swords for obviously that
S)'mboJ o.f man's phallic powers can do naught against Death.
GrencJc 1 's
powers are subdued only when the great hero with bear-hug wrestles
with this agent of Death, like two alter egos o[ Good and Evil, or
Life and Death.
As
an
agent of Death Grendel cannot stand the life, the merriment
and song ringing from Hrothgar's rreorot, "lfart-Hall."
That the royal
seat itself is named after an animal is another indication of the zo­
omorphic, totemic world in which this Anglo-Saxon Epic still movc<.l in
:->pitc of the fact that the poet is regarded by some scholars as a Christ tt:m.
8
Thalia Phillies feldman
The name of Jleorot itself suggests h�· tiC':� inant stl lJ is its p:tgnn
cult origin.
The cult aspect of the hart, which llppears freqnem.ly
.in proto-Celtic context, may also be suggested b)' the fact that
recent excavations at Yeavering, the royal scat of l!<h-:in of �ortluunbria,
nave rcvculcd
a
hall which resembled Heorot in plan, w:ts ident icnl in
layout wlth cnrly Nortln.nnbrian d1urches .12
A royal scat such as
"llurt-llall" served for congregational mcet1ngs, -;acrod nml secula r, and,
if the archaeological implications are correct, nctcd
protot}•pc
for the Christian church as we l l
.
;ls
the nutural
In pluin language, the
very names alone within the Epic, Beo\o.'Uif, cl �
us
in to the fact of
how rrntch the pagan and primitive world is the vital background of its
action.
In contrast to these highly literal names for Bco\,ulf and C.rendcl,
lt is cudous that Grendel's mother at first seems to have no name -­
only
"
a
series or epithets, which, hO\.;cver,
Grcnulcs modor, itles agl:1ecwif
.
•
•
nrc
"13
rnost illuminating:
l\1tile it is the con-
vcn tion in Eng I b>h trans la tions to capital i zc the dc:-;c r i pt j \•c t'Pithet,
Gl'cn<.lu l , "Gr in<.lcr," "Roarer," "Destroyer," <U1<.1 thu� turn it i 111 o
;1
pt'oper n<unc, such a change is not ma<.le in any of his D<un's Jescriptivc
nomenclature.
Rut if '�e honor her in the same mruu11."'r, and (as noted
earlier) only editorial convention or mere habit ba ts the way, she e­
merges as f·t:>dor, meaning "Mother,'' as in, sny, '1-lother of
Ides Aglae�if, meaning "Lady, t-lonstcr-1\'o:nan ."
a!> r
w:ts
1t
w:ts nt
God�' and as
this pojnt,
capitalizing her epithets, that suddenly hells of memory
Thalia Phillies Fehlman
pe a led for
me,
9
for in this juxtaposition of "Destroyer," ''Lady,"
"�lonstcr-Woman," there
was
evoked
a
and
sin&ru l a rlr literal parallel h'ith
the Perseus and Gorge-Medusa myth.
First,
14
Perseus' name is deri\'ed from the Indo-European roo t
pcrthein and means "Destroyer,'' by cut ting, and
what he does in destroying Gorge by
is
no 1ma lly r epresented
as
am pu tati ng
us ing a s ho 1·t
ger, for it has no guard hilt.
t ing
cut
her head.
is precisely
For this he
sword ruther like a long dag­
Vase paintmg and myth sjmilarly ns­
:;oci.ate a sakes with him, a sack or bag in \.,.hich he puts the head of
�lcdusa.
t-�dusa herself, whose capitalizoo epithet 1n her case tra di t ion
arbi tra rily accepts
Grendel's f·bther,
as
means
her proper name, unlike the convention rega rdi ng
literally, ''Lady," and is the feminine fonn of
the title accorded her lover t-ledon Poseidon, meaning "Lord Poseidon."
for both these monstrous ladies the tit lc "Lady" is surely not so rlllch
honorific as cautious euphemic;m.
Now, Medus:.� 's other name, or r:.� thcr
her capitalized epithet (and we apprcciutc more nnd more that epithets
arc what all names in myth really
arc
),.
i s Gorgo, meaning "Roarer," tho
same as the old Norse epithet for Grend�l.jAs its root
� itsel f
indi­
cates. as \iCll as English derivatives such as "gargle." "gnrgorle,"
"gorge,"
etc. , aml
even
"Gargantua,"
Shakc�pcare '.s "vor a cious m o nste r; •
it is a �ling, guttural sounJ, c.:losesl to
a "grrowling" beast.
name
the threatening gtTgrr
of
Thus, the �arne onornalopoct ic sow1d occurs in the
of Grr-endel and Gorr-go.
Furthermorc,Gorgo is characterized not
JO
Thalia Phillies Feldman
only by her great, wide-open mouth necessary for roaring, but also by
her fierce teeth fitted for crushing and grinding the bodies of men.
In addition, llomer also speaks of her as blosuropis, meaning "bristly­
haired," presumably like a shaggy beast.
In Greek myth, however, it
is not her teeth which destroy men, th oug� Freud has sho,,n hm.,. these
and her mouth symbolize the vulva dentata, the castrating remale organ .
Rather, it
LS
her devastating Evil Eyes : one look from Lhese and a
man ls turnecl to stone, which is to say he is w11nanned.
J\s "uch, there­
fore, Gorgo is the classical and unive rsal "Mom'J of a 11 times and a11
peoples; she is the dominating female \\hom all gro\•.n men fear to have
enter their bed.
But Perseus, forewarned of Gorgo's potential for
castration, averts his gaze while he cuts off her head and conceals
it in the sack.
gainst males
He uses the head later, and consistently, onl}' a­
or wanton sexual intent.
This highly complex and universally significant concept of the
menacing figure, as roaring, grO\o/ling, shaggy,
a mmulo id
and suggestive of the angry, threatening female,
Gorgo-Mec.lusa or the Perseus myth.
and g l aring ,
is hr�c;ic to the
It is also more oml
rnorc·
central
to the BC'owu!f story as we investigate it and itl-i varjous J\nalogue::­
lS all of h'hJch serve
as well, as I do elsewhere at length,
as illumi ­
nating trans'! t ional steps fran myth to the Epic. H.>
Beyond th is constellation of names we find that L.:uJy <�orgo and
the equa 11 y nons trous Lacly �!other of GrenJel
0\\11
culture, in analogous ways.
have each settled into her
Both arc forced to d\"C 11 in rcmo t c and
\�·atery regions: Grendel's LJam in desolate "cold streams", ccaiJc strcw11o�s
Thalia Phillies Feldman
11
and an undergound cave; Gorgo Medusa, in r.he frontier land.� beyond
Okeanos (which in Jlesiod's Theogony consistently means "streams" and
Also, the gorgon head of the decapitated Medusa finds
"rivers").17
refuge jn the unden-.rorld where Odysseus sees it, \vhile Beowulf en­
counters Grendel's Dam in her unden;ater cave and then cuts off
Grendel's head.18
Both epic poets show their awareness of the es­
sentials of those universal epics wlrich require the hero to descend
to undergrouncl, subhuman regions and engage in struggle with the
spirits below.
So also, we recall, do Aeneas and Gilgamesh, onl} \vith
one markedly significant difference: they c.lo not share in the same
complex constellation of names as do our other mythic figures.
In the Old English version, and presu11ably prior to the compo­
sition of the Epic, Lady seems furthermore to have split into t\\'O
figures, of Mother ancl her son Grendel who is her Roar lng aspect.
lie,
too, is characterized by preternatural, wildly gJaring eyes which con­
found men
as
1
do Medusa's . 9
It seems co rrcct, therefore, to suggest
that the hero's two duels \{ith the mother and son are really to be re­
garc.lcc.l as t\vo encounters with one personal .L ty. 20
�1oreover, just so,
on being decapitated, Medusa, Poseidon's l..ttl)', splits open .mcl gives
birth from hcT severed neck to Poseiclon 's son Pegasos, the \oJlngec.l
horse.
llis unusual fonn was the Greeks' acknowledgement that his father
\\'as God of Horses as well as of Water, for Pcgasos' own name deTives
fn>m the word
pege, meaning "'!Yell-Spring."
At the same time Nedusa
also gives birth to Chrysaor, a fuJl-gro\vn youth, but one who seems to
have little visible connection with either his divine father or his
12
Thalia Phillies Feldmru1
monstrous mother.
Grendel, too, is curiously fatherless, unless we
him as literally a split personality, split off from his m ot he r
rega 1·d
as just stated.
who figur es
But, in
comparison
with Grendel, or even tvith Pegasos
so prominently :in the Bell erophon myth,
further action of any kind in any myth.
which revea ls
t ion of an
that he is not a person,
object,
C hrys aor takes
is his
Yet it
no
name Chrysaor
but actually the personifica­
and one which is very important to both the Anglo­
Saxon and the Greek versions of this my th, for Chrys -a or means "Golden
Now, also, in the Lady Monster-Woman 1 s
Sword."
contends with .her, hangs just
lair
suc h a supematural
Davidson, the fo re mos t authorit y on Anglo-Saxon
Fetelhilt "unique," as she says,
in the
swords,
''arising out of
finds the term
a tradi. tional element
,g_ [my emphasis,
T. P.
F.]."
But, if
shift
we
fetel to faetel as some do, the meaning o f the
pla te beaten out of metal, espe cially gold,'1 and
"
readily trans_ates into "golden hilt. " 21
emerges
sword, Petelhilt.
story though its significance is no long er apparent in the
as we have
of
w here Bem<tUlf
the spelling
tenn emerges as
as su ch , the tetm
If ca pitaliz e d,
Fetelhilt
as literally the Chrysaor of the Greek.
Fe tel hilt, moreover, was made b y
giants of o1cJ who are described
not only by the Anglo-Saxon tenn eotenisch, but by the Greek
.
2
pgantas as \velJ. 2
dis tinctively Greek
eJ sewhe re
Curiously, that happens
in
origin in the entire Epic.
view of the foregoing
from the Greek, might it not
term
to be the only word of
to describe further the hilt of th i s
po int , and
nation
poem
Tt is
used here
same sword.
argument as to
possible
and
1\t \vhi ch
contamj­
be valid to ask \v11cther those
,
Thalia Phillies Feldmru1
13
gigru1tas do not perhaps explain the origin of that obscure ''traditional
element" which Davidson suspects in reference to it?
The poet himself
also considers it a sword of obscure origin when he declares it the
work of "wundorsmitha," which Earle perceptively notes does not mean
23
"of wonderful smiths" but "of smiths of wonderland."
In the poet's
thinking it is the place of origin that is remarkable, not the crafts­
To continue i n this light: The contest of the reference to the
man .
gigantas arouses further suspicions of contamination from Greek sources,
for as Hrothgar surveys the hilt, "the old relic" given to him by Beowulf,
he finds inscribed upon it "the origin of primeval quarrel, what time
the flood, the rushing ocean destroyed the 'giants' brood (gigantas cyn)
This makes the third time the same _gigantas are mentioned, albeit in
reference to Cain, though, very significantly, in a context quite un­
biblical: "He banished him
banished him from mankind.
[eotensJ
giants
[Cai�
far away, the Maker, for that crime
From that origin all strange broods awoke,
and elves and ogres, as well as giants
(gigantas--a
foreign breed perhaps, as distinguished from the local Anglo-Saxon
eotens?
)
who warred aga:inst God a long time."
TI1e Biblical Cain never has such a monstrous brood, nor are giants
ever wiped out in any flood by the Lord for warring against Him.
Again,
Davidson quite validly regards this Biblical interpretation of the runic
inscription on Fetelhilt as "obscure and purposeless," but then adds,
".
.
. but if we regard it as a slight twist of an earlier non-Christian
tradition connected with the sword, given by a poet well acquainted with
Genesis, it becomes very understandable. ,,24
nas happened.
I
TI1is seems precisely what
Besides the Old Testament Satan ru1d his followers, the
.••
Thalia Phillies Feldman
14
only other hOst.to war against the chief divinity are the Giants, the
Titans, against Zeus and the Olympians as celebrated by Hesiod )n the
Theogony. 25
Moreover, surrounding that portion o£ the ancient Greek
version of the genesi s of the cosmos, there is embedded in it the leg­
end
of the first of the great Greek heroes mentioned by
6
that is Perseus. 2
this vexing
in Beowulf, which
anti
Those Giants o f the Theogony are \Yiped out not by
flood but in a colossal battle against the god, Zeus.
we take all
name,
Therefore, if
admixture of names, tenninology, and situations
appear to have strange and irrational parallels
to those in the Greek Theogony of the early 7th c. B.C., and contumi
·
nate them with a respectably late touch of Genesis, inclutling The
Flood, then certain "obscurities" in Beowulf become much more explicable.
The poet compounds all this by another tenn which the
schoJars
also label as "obscure," though it need not be so regarded if analyzed
according to comparative etymoJogy:
is
TI1at runic inscription referred to
engraved on the so-called scennum of Fetelhilt
and is
7
exact significance of which is not clearly understood.2
a
tenn the
Davidson again
suggests that there may have been a special tradition regarding scennum
in some earlier and lost version of the story, misunderstood by the poet.
lt has been interp1·eted by some to mean "skln" and therefore it is sug­
gested at this time that there is present in the story a certain contam­
ination
from the skin-bag which Perseus carries with him to bear off
the head of Gorgo.
llowever, in reinterpreting the myth ln the North,
the skin has somehow become combined with the great sword
of
gold ussoc.iatccl
15
Thalia Phillies Feldman
naturally wi tr the Lady Monster.
Moreover, a parallel im·ol\·ing a
special sword and a bag seems also to have been part of the IcelanJic
Grettir Sage, the most important of the Analogues of Beo\\'U 1f.
addition, the particular weapon used by Grettir is again,
states, as seemingly "obscure" as Fetelhilt,
��
28
In
Davidson
for it is caLled a
Heptisax (a tenn noted as strange even by the saga-teller).
It is, how­
ever, a term nonnally applicable only to a knife or dagger \vithout a
guard-hi1t, and, as such, is precisely the kind of weapon depicted in
Greek vase paintings of Perseus beheading Gorgo.29
Thus, in the Grettir
Saga, the beheading of the monster, the short tlagger-llke sword and the
bag, c.:ontaln persistent elements that arc very essential also to the
core of the Greek myth.
Actually there is
much more to be explored by way or comparative
myth regarding the Eurasian roaring Brmvn Bear, Lady Monster and the
decapitating Hero of Greek and Northern legenc.l.
The Analogue s arc full
of parallels both to that Epic and the substance of the Gorge-Perseus
myth.
Moreover, what, for example, do we make o[ the hero of the Kojiki
legend of Japan, who like Beowulf slays a dragon,
j us t as Perseus :-;lays
the great sea -monster Ketos, and finds in t!le dragon's hoc.Jy what is
simply translated as a "golden sword"?
Or, when \ve apply the appropriate
capital letters, does the original Japanese version mean "Golden S\vOrd,"
as does the Chrrs-aor of the Greek?
30
t\11 this may seem like skating on thin Nordic ice, indeed, until
we come to grips with the fact so hard for
:.t
book-reading
culture such
16
Thalia Phillies Feldman
as ours to appreciate, that no human baggage traveled more widely,
continuously, or swiftly even across the expanse of Eurasia than did
story-telling.
on
It found acceptance first and foremost in being based
universal psychological experience.
Further, as Panzer found, it
was structured within a framework of set situations and actions .in
conjunction with certain ideas that comprise the core elements of it.
But then we find t.tat it is the names, both the obvious capitalized
terminology, and, very importantly, those very literal epithets and
descriptive terms, which we normally relegate to the ancillary role of
minor adjecti \eS, but '"hich should be promoted to capitalized forms
themselves--it is all these which actually carry the burden of any
myth.
It is the names in their literal meanings which comprise the
core structure of any myth and convey in capsule form its meaning, the
meaning which is only then acted out in the episodes.
The names are
the skeleton of the myth, and the narrative its flesh.
Finally, if such a constellation of names, epithets, and s:i.gnifi­
cant tenninology is translated--and not just transliterated, for that
is the fatal mistake- -and is then successfully matd1ed with a comparable
constellation of names as well as of actions, then we have evidence, I
believe, for the presence of comparative myth.
ous
Normally it is the obvi­
parallels of action which first clew us into making such a possible
c omparison.
But it is by the application of et�nology and onomastics
that we can be assured of the most definitive evidence.
It is J1oped,
Thalia Phillies Feldman
17
at least, that this onomastic study in comparative myth has demonstrated
a methodology that can be applied in furtner contexts.
Canisius College
Buffalo, New York
Thalia Phillies Feldman
18
NOTES
l.
Friedrich Panzer, Studien zur ennanischen Sagengesch ichte:
.Beowulf (Mmich: 1910); Friedrictilaeber, fieowulf, 3rd ed. (Boston:
1936), pp. xiv, :xxviii; \'Jm. W. Lawrence, Beowulf and
Tradition
(Cambridge, Mass.: 1928), pp. 164ff., 246-B, Ch. VI, " rendel and
His Dam." Also , for the comparative study between Beowulf and
Odysseus : Rhys Carpenter, Folk-Tale, Fiction and Saga in the Homeric
.
and
Eo
p s (Berkeley: 1946), pp. 136-56; Gwyn Jon es , Kings
Beasts Heroes (Oxford: 1972), p. 21 and n.l.
J
E8ic
2.
Klaeber, p.xxv and n. 6a. Carpenter, p. 43. The "wolf" is
descriptively important because the male of the species bolts his
food down in large, nndigested chunks while on the hunt but re­
gurgitates these, even 24 hours later, to feed the lactating fe­
males and puppies left behind in the den. In like manner Grendel
devoured his v ic t ims but not for the same reasons.
3.
Alfred E
rnout et Antoine ��illet, Dictionnaire etymologique de
la langue latine. (Paris: 1959), s.v. ursus.
4.
Lewis Farnell, The Cults --of the Greek States (Oxford: 1896),
11, 434-9.
5
Bemvulf vv . 2177-89. Adrien Bonjour, "Beowulf's Inglorious
Period," in his Twelve Beowulf Papers (Geneva: 1962), pp. 89-96.
Klaeber, p. 162.
6.
Bem\'Ulf
w.
435-41, 745-91, 2501. Bon;our pp. 90-1.
7.
Hector Munro Chadwick, Tile Heroic Age , 3rd ed. (Cambridge: 1967),
pp. 121, and n. 3. It was ar5o recountea-by Saxo Grammaticus,
!listeria Danica Il, sect. 56, that a drink of bear's blood was thought
to make a man stronger.
8
��urice Bowra, Heroic Poetry (London: 1952), pp. 16ff. This zoo­
morphic-anthropomorphic relationship is at the basis CJf llibcrno-Saxon
art and has its antecedents, apparently, in the protohi.stori c art of
Europe:! and Asla and which was taken north by the Goths from Southern
Thalia Phillies Feldman
19
Russia ; Wm . Carroll Bark, Origins of the Medieval World (Stanfo1·d :
1958) , p . 23, and notes 73-S; Marija Gimbutas , Bronze :\gc Cultures
(Paris: 1965) , pp. 329- 4'!;\\'il
l\eliri
in Central and Eastern
\\'orr1nger 1:onn in Gothic New York: 1964) , pp. 58-62.
9.
--
EuCope
Beowulf vv . 157 - 6 3 . Bonjour p. 56 , is very perceptive in re­
garding Grendel as a creature of darkness and gloom , especially in
vv . 702-10; Klacber pp. xlviii-slix; Demp Malone, "Beowulf , " in
An Antholo y of Beowulf Criticism ed. Lewis Nicholson (Notre Drune ,
Ind . : 1963 , p . 143; Edward Irving , Jr . , A Reading of Beowulf (Yale:
1968 ) , p . 205, relates the Epic to Old English elegies which re­
flect on mortn l i ty.
'
10.
Klaeber, pp . xxii i , XXV1.1l."'XXix; Lawrence , p . J 63 traces Grendel
to 0 . E. grund , i . e . "ground ," ''bottom," or "watery depth ," and vie\vs
tht;. name as a tenn for a ''water-monster ," such as the water - fall
trolls of Scandinavian myth. Also , Ch. \V. Kennedy , Bco\vuH The
Oldest English Epic (OXford : 1940) , p . xxi .
11.
·nu� sculpture of the anthropophagos monster of �oves (Bouches
du Rhone) answers remarkably the image of Grendel .
From its gaping ,
great-toothed ja\vS protrudes a human ann, while .its forcpa\\s rest
upon two bearded , severed heads seemingly as noble in appearance as
must have been Aeschere , King Hrothgar 's beloved councillor whom
Grendel similarly devoured. Porinsias t.1acCana , Celtic. Mythology
(London: 1970) , pp. 4 6 - 7 .
12.
Peter II . Blair, Roman Britain and Early England (Udinburgh :
1963) , pp. 28 - 9 . 2 2 2 , 258.
13.
Beowulf,
vv .
1258 -9 .
14 .
The following discussion regarding the Perseus-Gorgo myth is
based on my doctoral dissertation: Thalia Phillics llo\o.'e, An
Interpretation of the Perseus-Gorge t.� in Greek Literature and
�bmunents Througn the Classical P
eri oa:-cOi
uiribia Un1vcrs1 ty 1952.
Also , on subsequent publications : "The Origin and Function of the
Gorgon-Head ," Amer. Journal of Arch
aeolo
(July 1954) ; and , as
Thalia Ph.i llies feldman, "GOrgo and the
igins of Fear," Arion.
r
Univ . of Taxas Classical Quarter ly C�utumn 1965) .
�
15.
ln my book, under preparation, Several Aspects of Beowul f.
Thalia Phillies Feldman
20
16.
G . N. Gannonsway , Jacqueline Simpson , llilda Ellis 0a¥idson,
BeO\\-'Ulf and Its Analogues (Londo n : 1968) ; Jones pp . 15-21 ; Kermroy
pp. XXl-XXXi.
17.
Beowulf
\' .
1261. Hesiod Theogony v . 274.
18.
Odyssey IX, 627-35. Beo\vulf
w.
1492-1622.
19.
For Medusa , see ref. above (note 14) . Par Be0\4\.tlf, v . 7 29, " . .
out of his Grendel ' s eyes there stood 1 i'kest to ftruno a n eerie ligh t . "
Glrunr , the fiend i n the Grettir Saga , has similar eyes . Sec Analogues
above n . 16) pp . 302, 311. For a reference to the Evll Eye in Beowulf,
see v . 1776 .
.
20.
As Ritchie Girvan also suggests, B
e
m
..
ulf and the Seventh Century ,
(London : 1971) p . 5 7 .
2nd ed.
2J .
On Fetelhilt: B�ulf vv. 1557ff.
The argument is also given
that afetcl-hiIt is intended tO ffieaJ1 a "bel ted-hilt" 1 and as SUch
would refer to a "ring-s"'urd". Klaeber p. 4 7 0 . But, s1nce the poet
further alludes to the hilt as literally "gilded," gyldcn hilt (\'.
1677) , it is evident that he is not referring to r jngs 6ut to a
golden-hilted sword . Moreover , as Earle notes , a gold-plated sword,
"goldc faeted sword , " was one of the insign1a of knighthood . Jolm
Earle, The Deeds of Beowulf (Oxford : 1892) p. 1 73 anc.l note 1 !)00.
22.
Beowulf w. 1 557-65; 1677-81 . llilda R . Davidson, The Sword i n
Anglo-Saxon England (OXford : 1962) , pp . 137 - 8 .
23 .
Beowulf v . 168 1 . Earle p. 164 . Yet Klaebcr ,,,.auld excise this
passage for no apparent reason, pp. 189 anu ev i l .
24.
Davidson p . 14 1 .
2:.
'l'heogony
w.
664-735.
26.
Thcogony vv . 237 ff.
Thalia Phi11ies Fcldm..m
21
27 .
Beowulf \' . 169-l . Donald rry , The Bcoh·.Jlf Poet (Englewood Cliffs,
N . J . 1968) 127-8. Davidson (above �22) 1
3
s
t
r:-;-s
ccnnum has been
ncio) , :ifid to 0. N .
related to Gen n . skan · t-1. H . G . schene (' 'manbra
On
ese grounds 1t 1s interpreted as "skin" and as
skan ("crust") .
such, perhaps , was a leather cover for the hilt.
I think not, for
reasons stated in the text ; and becaus e if it were a tenn reserved
for a hilt-cover, it would very likely have been more extensively
used in literature , instead of this hap
ax legomenon.
:Jt
28 .
ca.
Ana lo
fOes
on the Grettir Saga ,
A.D. I 0- 20 .
w.
139ff, 302·16, which is dated
29.
On the hept isax : Analogues ch. xvi ; on p . 312 it is translated
"short- sword . " Davidson, pp. 135ff, discusses the tcnn at length.
It is worth noting perhaps that tM> such short-swords of the heptisax
type �ere engraved on a dolmen at Stonehenge, and arc regarded as of
Cretan type , indicative, as some scholars believe, of the presence
of those early Greeks in Britain , perhaps e\·cn as the architects of
that megalithic structure.
If so, who knows what sagas and tales
'they brought with them besides those S\\.'Ords? Gerald Hawkins and John
\\hite, Stonehenge Decoded (New York: 1965) , p . 51.
as
30.
Mytholo
of All the Races C . Mac Culloch . l'rill1.s l . from the
� Anesafi�New York: 1964) Vl f i , pp. 222·249.
Japanese by
�