Note 180 — Chapter VI · SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS IN THE HEROIC STORIES.

It is generally held that this person's original name was Beowa or Beaw. The latter is the form given in the genealogy in the Chronicle (ad ann. 855); but in view of the many corruptions which this genealogy has suffered it may very well be due to a scribal error for Beowa. This again may be a hypocoristic form for Beowulf, though on the other hand it is by no means impossible that the name of the son of Scyld has been assimilated to that of the hero of the poem. But in any case there does not seem to be any adequate ground for the commonly accepted view that the adventure with Grendel originally belonged to this person.