en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
1 correction found
Hrothgar gives Beowulf many gifts, including the sword Nægling, his family's heirloom.
This misidentifies Nægling. In the poem, the gear Hrothgar gives Beowulf includes a sword formerly owned by Heorogar, while Nægling is later explicitly described as Beowulf's own sword in the dragon fight.
Full reasoning
The article conflates two different swords.
In Beowulf's report to Hygelac, the gift from Hrothgar is identified as battle-gear that had previously belonged to Heorogar: "Hrothgar gave me this battle-gear ... he said that Heorogar the king first had it." That is the sword associated with Hrothgar's gift.
By contrast, Nægling is named much later in the dragon episode as Beowulf's own sword: "Nægling shattered—the sword of Beowulf weakened at battle." Scholarly discussion likewise refers to Nægling as Beowulf's "own heirloom sword."
So the sentence is wrong to say that Hrothgar gave Beowulf Nægling. The Hrothgar gift is a different sword with a different provenance.
3 sources
- Beowulf (review-copy translation PDF)
"Hrothgar gave me this battle-gear ... he said that Heorogar the king first had it"; later: "Nægling shattered—the sword of Beowulf weakened at battle"
- Beowulf (trans. by Francis B. Gummere) | The Poetry Foundation
"But Naegling was shivered, broken in battle was Beowulf's sword"
- Wiglaf's Sword: The Coming of the State (Brill)
Search snippet: "own heirloom sword, Nægling"