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Dena and Beowulf

10/30/07

  11:21:01 pm, by Nimble   , 89 words  
Categories: Distractions

Dena and Beowulf

Was poking through the Old English-plus-translation version of Beowulf I have, and was intrigued that the first line was:

Hwæt, we Gar-Dena in geardagum

There you go, Dena's in Beowulf!

(Even though it means the Danes, here: Gar-Dena = spear-Danes)

Not knowing where Tolkien got his inspiration, there's an awful lot of homage to Beowulf in Lord of the Rings. Beowulf refers to Middle Earth, ring-givers, and one of the Old English words for king, apart from "cyning" (kewningg) is "þeoden" (the "þ" giving a "th" sound). Theoden King indeed!

1 comment

Comment from: dena [Member]  
dena

*laugh!*

Even better when you consider that my heritage, largely Scandinavian, is primarily Danish. I like it!

…neat find about “Theoden King"… Sounds pretty clear to me that Tolkien read Beowulf. :)

11/01/07 @ 17:59