Beowulf Vocabulary

Front 1

Alliteration-

Back 1

noun; occurrence of the same stress letter

Front 2

Comitatus -

Back 2

a body of companions; secret service (thanes); made of strong warriors that were loyal to the king

Front 3

Eloquence-

Back 3

noun; fluent or persuasive speaking or writing

Front 4

Epic-

Back 4

long poem, narrating a deed or adventures of legendary figures

Front 5

Hermod-

Back 5

enormously gifted but a moral idiot, destroyed his own life, prosperity of his own kingdom

Front 6

Higlac-

Back 6

king of the Geats; Beowulf’s uncle, brought up Beowulf’s

Front 7

Hrunting-

Back 7

Unferth’s most treasured sword that he gives to Beowulf to apologize

Front 8

Indo-European-

Back 8

noun; a family of languages, great language of most languages; does not include Japanese, Chinese, etc.

Front 9

Interpolation-

Back 9

verb; to put in or change a work of art, add in later that wasn’t in it before

Front 10

Linguistics-

Back 10

noun; scientific study of language

Front 11

Mead hall-

Back 11

a place where people eat drink, and celebrate victories

Front 12

Scop-

Back 12

the name for an old English poet or shaper of words

Front 13

Thane-

Back 13

a man who watches over the king’s safety and gets land after they work

Front 14

Unferth-

Back 14

one of Hrothgar’s thanes, that have a considerable reputation, but a dark side: kills his brother,

Front 15

Welthow-

Back 15

Hrothgar’s wife, addresses Beowulf, thanks him

Front 16

Old English-

Back 16

Anglo-Saxons use 600-1100 AD

Front 17

Middle English-

Back 17

English language from 1100-1500 AD

Front 18

Modern English-

Back 18

language from 1500-1700 AD, Late Modern from 1700+