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So my question deals with the name "Hygelac". In Beowulf it's given to a male figure. I've heard that Anglo-Saxons of noble birth usually took two-word compounds for their names and that the last element had to be of masculine gender if they were male or feminine gender if they were female. Hygelac seems a lot like "Mind Play" or something similar. The only catch is that its last element +lac is either feminine or neuter in gender - not masculine. So how could it have been given to a male figure? It'd be like naming this guy Pauline instead of Paul.

I'm also wondering if the last element in an Anglo-Saxon male's name can be neuter if the first is masculine. That would potentially explain this discrepancy away.

• Hygelac - Visitor  May 2 2011, 2:25:15 PM
  • Re: Hygelac - Pie  May 3 2011, 2:41:55 PM
    • Re: Hygelac - Pie  May 3 2011, 4:56:37 PM
  • Re: Hygelac - Cleveland Kent Evans  May 3 2011, 8:08:56 AM