妖孽身份背后的旷世悲情——《贝奥武甫》中格兰代尔母子的隐秘身世

Innermost Secrets behind Grendel and His Mother

《贝奥武甫》是一部用古英语讲述古日耳曼历史故事的史诗巨著。由于这部作品与日耳曼传统有着紧密的联系,它和日耳曼文化圈中的其他中世纪文学作品一样,带有显著的日耳曼文化特征,因此,《贝奥武甫》中的人名大多与古日耳曼社会的传统人名一样,在故事中不断传递着丰富的历史文化信息。本文以古英语词源学为线索,试图通过再次解读格兰代尔这一名字中所隐含的神秘词义,进一步挖掘这一似人非人的狂野角色在日耳曼传说中或曾有过但已被历史掩埋了的古老故事。

As an Anglo-Saxon epic that bears most of the outstanding features of the medieval Germanic people,Beowulf conveys cultural and historical information with the names of its major characters. Although debates have never ended concerning the hidden messages transmitted by such names as Beowulf and Grendel,it seems to have been a largely accepted opinion among scholars and critics that an appropriate interpretation of the names is of significance in our understanding of the masterpiece. This article intends to explore,along this line,the hidden message of Grendel's name by means of a careful examination of its etymology so as to provide a more convincing support to the long-lasting argument that the apparently monstrous figure and his mother are part of the forgotten history of the medieval Danish royal family.