Earlier this week, The Independent reported that the first line of Beowulf has been incorrectly translated for hundreds of years. According to research by Dr. George Walkden, a University of Manchester lecturer,  the Old English word hwæt, which begins the English language’s oldest epic poem (“Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in gear-dagum, þeod-cyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!â€), should not be read as an interjection separate from the rest of the first line  (“Listen! we have heard of the might of the kingsâ€),  but rather as part of a complete exclamatory sentence—something like “How we have heard of the might of the kings.â€
Citing research that “there’s no record of the Anglo-Saxons using exclamation marks, or any other form of punctuation, besides the full stop (or ‘point’) and the occasional semicolon†Walkden declares all previous interpretations—â€â€˜What ho!’ (Earle 1892), ‘Hear me!’ (Raffel 1963), ‘Attend!’ (Alexander 1973), ‘Indeed!’ (Jack 1994), and ‘So!’ (Heaney 2000)â€â€”to be wrong.
Did everyone get the first line of Beowulf wrong.. or did Seamus Heaney get it right? | MobyLives.