Beowa, Beaw, Bēow , Beo or Bedwig is a figure in

Anglo-Saxon paganism Anglo-Saxon paganism, sometimes termed Anglo-Saxon heathenism, Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian religion, or Anglo-Saxon traditional religion, refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and 8th centurie ...

associated with

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

. The figure is attested in the

Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies A number of royal genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, collectively referred to as the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, have been preserved in a manuscript tradition based in the 8th to 10th centuries. The genealogies trace the succession of th ...

as they were extended in the age of Alfred, where Beowa is inserted as the son of Scyld and the grandson of

Sceafa Sceafa ( ang, Scēafa , also ''Scēaf'', ''Scēf'') was an ancient Lombardic king in English legend. According to his story, Sceafa appeared mysteriously as a child, coming out of the sea in an empty skiff. The name also appears in the corrupt ...

, in lineages carried back to Adam. Connections have been proposed between the figure of Beowa and the hero Beowulf of the poem of the same name and English folk song figure

John Barleycorn "John Barleycorn" is an English and Scottish folk song listed as number 164 in the Roud Folk Song Index. John Barleycorn, the song's protagonist, is a personification of barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it: beer and whisky. ...

Etymology

''Beoƿ'' is an Old English word for barley. In the Anglo-Saxon genealogies, Beoƿa is the son or grandson of

, the Old English word for

sheaf Sheaf may refer to: * Sheaf (agriculture), a bundle of harvested cereal stems * Sheaf (mathematics), a mathematical tool * Sheaf toss, a Scottish sport * River Sheaf, a tributary of River Don in England * ''The Sheaf'', a student-run newspaper se ...

. The noun ''beoƿ'' has an

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

parallel in ''Bygg'', the word for "grain." Related comparisons have been made between the figure of Beoƿ and

Byggvir Byggvir is a figure in Norse mythology. The only surviving mention of Byggvir appears in the prose beginning of '' Lokasenna'', and stanzas 55 through 56 of the same poem, where he is referred to as one of Freyr's servants and as the husband of Bey ...

, attested in the ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...

'' as a servant of the god

Freyr Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...

.Alexander (2002:28).

Theories

Some scholars posit a connection between the mythical figure of Beowa and the legendary Beowulf. As the two characters possess many of the same attributes, it has been suggested that "a god Beowa, whose existence in myth is certain, became confused or blended with Beowulf."Lawrence (1909:249). Another possibility is that the (first) scribe responsible for the Beowulf text conflated two names. At the beginning of the poem, there is a character called Beowulf, the son of Scyld Scefing, but this character is not the Beowulf who is the protagonist of the poem. Rather than accepting that there are two different characters with this unusual name, many modern editions of the poem replace this name with "Beow".

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

, one of the proponents of reading "Beow" here, suggested that the use of "Beowulf" as Scyld Schefing's son was a scribal error for the original "Beow", noting that the two scribes who produced the Beowulf manuscript were "both extremely ignorant of and careless with proper names", and called the occurrence of "Beowulf" in this place in the manuscript "one of the oddest facts in Old English literature" and "one of the reddest and highest red herrings that were ever dragged across a literary trail".

Kathleen Herbert Kathleen may refer to: People * Kathleen (given name) * Kathleen (singer), Canadian pop singer Places * Kathleen, Alberta, Canada * Kathleen, Georgia, United States * Kathleen, Florida, United States * Kathleen High School (Lakeland, Florida) ...

draws a link between Beowa and the figure of

of traditional English folksong. Herbert says that Beowa and Barleycorn are one and the same, noting that the folksong details the suffering, death, and resurrection of Barleycorn, yet also celebrates the "reviving effects of drinking his blood."Herbert (2007:16).

Notes

References

*Bruce, Alexander (2002). ''Scyld and Scef: Expanding the Analogies''.

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

. *Herbert, Kathleen (1994, 2007). ''Looking for the Lost Gods of England''. Anglo-Saxon Books. * Lawrence, William Witherle (1909). "Some Disputed Questions in Beowulf-Criticism" PMLA, Vol. 24, No. 2 {{Anglo-SaxonPaganism Anglo-Saxon paganism Germanic mythology

Etymology

Theories

See also

Notes

References