Daeghrefn a Frisian warrior, champion of the Hugas, whose beating heart Beowulf, as a young man, crushed with his bare hands.
dawn-scorcher, flame-snake, the worm epithets for the dragon.
doom here, eternal judgment.
Eadgils and Eanmund Ohthere's sons, Swedes. They had a feud with their uncle, Onela, and were temporarily sheltered by Heardred. Eadgils, supplied by Beowulf, later killed Onela.
Ecgtheow Beowulf's father.
Ecgwela a former Danish leader.
eddy a current running contrary to the main current, sometimes producing whirlpools.
Eofor and Wulf fought Swedes' King Ongentheow to his death. For a chronology of the Geats' feuds, see Chickering, pp. 361–62.
Eomer son of Offa.
fen low, swampy land.
feud-bites a kenning for wounds.
Fitela nephew of Sigemund, possibly his bastard son.
flagon a vessel for holding mead or other alcoholic liquids, usually made of metal or pottery and featuring a spout as well as a handle.
Folcwalda father of Finn.
Frankish pertaining to the Franks, a Germanic tribe in the Rhine region.
Franks and Frisians Germanic tribes united in opposition to the Geats.
Frisia Hygelac was killed in an apparently ill-conceived battle with the western Frisians (allies of the Franks), not by King Finn's people of the Finnsburh episode. Hygelac's death (c. 520 AD) is one historical event in the epic; it was recorded by Saint Gregory of Tours in his Historia Francorum.
Froda king of the Heathobards, father of Ingeld.
