The land from which monsters come

on the fīfẹlcynnes eard in Beowulf, v. 104

Abstract

This article aims to analyse semantically and culturally the expression fīfẹlcynnes eard in the epic-elegiac Old English poem Beowulf. The analysis focuses on the first element (fīfẹl-), given the complexity involved in its explanation, by reference to its ties with biblical themes, and to two close vernacular literatures, Irish and Old Norse. The text proposes that, instead of proposing a directly monstrous character as it is usual in translations, the expression refers mostly to a space of wilderness and excess.

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