Heaðoric and Sifecan, Hliðe and Incgenðeow,
mentioned as being among the followers of Eormenric. These names clearly come from Gothic tradition, but the passage would seem to suggest that Sifeca was a man, the Sibich of the German poems. Cf. Chambers, Widsith, p. 32. For the name Lotherus in Saxo, see note to ch. 12, p. 242.
Holmgarth, i.e. Novgorod.
IX.[°] Wendland, i.e. the 'Land of the Slavs' (Anglo-Saxon Weonodland). After the expansion of the Slavs, from the fifth century onwards, this term came to denote an enormous expanse of country, including the coast of Eastern Germany, to which it is applied in the account of the voyage of Wulfstan in Alfred's translation of Orosius. In earlier times, when the Goths still occupied Poland and Galicia, the Slavs were restricted to the regions east of these countries.
His horse fell dead. Here the point of the story seems to be missed, or at least not clearly expressed. According to Höfund's fifth maxim (see ch. 6), Heithrek was not to ride his best horse when he was in a hurry.
X.[°] They had a daughter. From our text it would appear that Hervör was the daughter of Sifka; but the end of ch. 9 is probably a late addition to the text. In the text printed by Rafn, Hervör is expressly stated to be a daughter of Hergerth.
Ormar is presumably to be identified with the Wyrmhere mentioned in Widsiþ, l. 119, in connection with the war waged by the Goths against the Huns in defence of their ancient fatherland, round the forest of the Vistula.
Gestumblindi. For this curious name, cf. the Gestiblindus Gothorum rex mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus, Dan. Hist., p. 198 ff.