From the phonological point of view the etymology is a
perfect one, but many of those who were convinced that "Beowulf" meant "bee-foe" had no satisfactory explanation of "bee-foe" to offer[[815]]. Others, like Bugge, whilst admitting that, so far as the form of the words goes, the etymology is satisfactory, rejected "bee-foe" because it seemed to them meaningless[[816]].
Yet it is very far from meaningless. "Bee-foe" means "bear." The bear has got a name, or nickname, in many northern languages from his habit of raiding the hives for honey. The Finnish name for bear is said to be "honey-hand": he is certainly called "sweet-foot," sötfot, in Sweden, and the Old Slavonic name, "honey-eater," has come to be accepted in Russian, not merely as a nickname, but as the regular term for "bear."
And "bear" is an excellent name for a hero of story. The O.E. beorn, "warrior, hero, prince" seems originally to have meant simply "bear." The bear, says Grimm, "is regarded, in the belief of the Old Norse, Slavonic, Finnish and Lapp peoples, as an exalted and holy being, endowed with human understanding and the strength of twelve men. He is called 'forest-king,' 'gold-foot,' 'sweet-foot,' 'honey-hand,' 'honey-paw,' 'honey-eater,' but also 'the great,' 'the old,' 'the old grandsire[[817]].'" "Bee-hunter" is then a satisfactory explanation of Bēowulf: while the alternative explanations are none of them satisfactory.
Many scholars have been led off the track by the assumption that Beow and Beowulf are to be identified, and that we must therefore assume that the first element in Beowulf's name is Bēow—that we must divide not Bēo-wulf but Bēow-ulf, "a warrior after the manner of Beow[[818]]." But there is no ground
for any such assumption. It is true that in ll. 18, 53, "Beowulf" is written where we should have expected "Beowa." But, even if two words of similar sound have been confused, this fact affords no reason for supposing that they must necessarily have been in the first instance connected etymologically. And against the "warrior of Beow" interpretation is the fact that the name is recorded in the early Northumbrian Liber Vitae under the form "Biuuulf[[819]]." This name, which is that of an early monk of Durham, is presumably the same as that of the hero of our poem, though it does not, of course, follow that the bearer of it was named with any special reference to the slayer of Grendel. Now Biuuulf is correct Northumbrian for "bee-wolf," but the first element in the word cannot stand for Bēow[[820]], unless the
affinities and forms of that word are quite different from all that the evidence has hitherto led us to believe. So much at least seems certain. Besides, we have seen that Byggvir is taunted by Loki precisely with the fact that he is no warrior. If we can estimate the characteristics of the O.E. Beow from those of the Scandinavian Byggvir, the name "Warrior after the manner of Beow" would be meaningless, if not absurd. Bugge[[821]], relying upon the parallel O.N. form Bjólfr[[822]], which is recorded as the name of one of the early settlers in Iceland[[823]], tried to interpret the word as Bœjólfr "the wolf of the farmstead," quoting as parallels Heimulf, Gardulf. But Bjólfr itself is best interpreted as "Bee-wolf[[824]]." And admittedly Bugge's explanation does not suit the O.E. Bēowulf, and necessitates the assumption that the word in English is a mere meaningless borrowing from the Scandinavian: for Bēowulf assuredly does not mean "wolf of the farmstead[[825]]."
Neither can we take very seriously the explanation of Sarrazin and Ferguson[[826]] that Bēowulf is an abbreviation of Beadu-wulf, "wolf of war." Our business is to interpret the name Bēowulf, or, if we cannot, to admit that we cannot; not to substitute some quite distinct name for it, and interpret that. Such theories merely show to what straits we may be reduced, if we reject the obvious etymology of the word.
And there are two further considerations, which confirm, almost to a certainty, this obvious interpretation of "Beowulf" as "Bee-wolf" or "Bear." The first is that it agrees excellently with Beowulf's bear-like habit of hugging his adversaries to death—a feature which surely belongs to the original kernel of our story, since it is incompatible with the chivalrous,
weapon-loving trappings in which that story has been dressed[[827]]. The second is that, as I have tried to show, the evidence is strongly in favour of Bjarki and Beowulf being originally the same figure[[828]]: and Bjarki is certainly a bear-hero[[829]]. His name signifies as much, and in the Saga of Rolf Kraki we are told at length how the father of Bjarki was a prince who had been turned by enchantment into a bear[[830]].