Saving the “Undoomed Man” In Beowulf (572b-573)

Abstract

The maximWyrd oft nereð // unfӕgne eorl, / þonne his ellen deah“Fate often spares an undoomed man when his courage avails” (Beowulf572b-573) has been likened to “Fortune favors the brave,” with little attention to the wordunfӕgne, which is often translated “undoomed”. This comparison between proverbs emphasizes personal agency and suggests a contrast between the proverb in 572b-573 and the maximGӕð a wyrd swa hio scel“Goes always fate as it must” (Beowulf455b), which depicts an inexorablewyrd. This paper presents the history of this view and argues that linguistic analysis and further attention to Germanic cognates of(un)fӕgereveal a proverb that harmonizes with 455b.(Un)fӕgeand its cognates have meanings related to being brave or cowardly, blessed or accursed,anddoomed or undoomed. A similar Old Norse proverb also speaks to the significance of the status ofunfӕgemen. Furthermore, the prenominal position ofunfӕgneis argued to represent a characterizing property of the man. The wordunfӕgneis essential to the meaning of this proverb as it indicates not the simple absence of being doomed but the presence of a more complex quality. This interpretive point is significant in that it provides more information about the portrayal ofwyrdinBeowulfby clarifying a well-known proverb in the text; it also has implications for future translations of these verses.