The EmendationEorle(Heruli) inBeowulf, Line 6a: Setting the Poem in “The Named Lands of the North”

Abstract

To most editors, line 6a of Beowulf, "egsode eorl," has required explanation if not emendation. A straightforward and literal translation, "terrified the warrior," makes little sense in the context of the celebration of Scyld Scefing's great deeds in the opening lines of the poem. 1 Most editors and translators therefore follow J. M. Kemble and Eduard Sievers in emending eorl to accusative plural eorlas and printing square brackets in their editions. 2 The opening lines would then be translated as: