Ellor-Gǣst

On Translating Grendel's Mother

When translating Beowulf, every translator has to make a decision on words that can change how the characters are perceived. But have we fallen into a larger pattern of be-monstering anyone who is an “other”?

The Old English text of Beowulf is filled with words that can be reinterpreted slightly to bring new life and meaning into the story. After all, that’s the beauty of translation: A good translator can creatively revive a text. But translators have to make decisions when picking words that will add modern English connotations. Sometimes, these decisions can create a feedback loop, as other translators are influenced by those who came before them.

Grendel’s Mother holds a unique position within Beowulf, as she seeks revenge for the death of her son, Grendel, and does in fact avenge his death. But as far as revenge goes, hers is relatively standard in the literature of this period, “an eye for an eye.” After her revenge, Beowulf seeks out Grendel’s Mother in her home, posing the question of who is justified in this cyclical violence.

The Old English text, while it follows the heroic story of Beowulf, acknowledges that this moral question does not have a definitive answer.

The Ellor-gǣst Kenning

Despite most popular translations, the words used to describe Grendel’s Mother do not directly translate to “monster,” “fiend,” or “evil monster.” She is described instead as an ellor-gǣst. This Old English word is much less decisive.

Ellor-gǣst or ellorgǣst translates directly to “elsewhere-spirit,” or a “departing spirit.” I also found that it could be translated as “alien-spirit,” which I interpret as “other-spirit” or even “foreign-spirit.”

However, Heaney takes the Old English “ættren ellor-gæst” and translates it as “the poisonous fiend” (Heaney 111). Crossley-Holland takes the same words and translates it to “so poisonous the monster” (Crossley-Holland 54). These words — “fiend” and “monster” — are their translations for ellor-gǣst, which adds an excessive negative connotation and erases some of the depth within the original kenning.

A kenning is one of the most beautiful elements of Old English or Old Norse literature. It’s a hyphenated expression used instead of a single word, like “ring-giver” for a king or “elsewhere-spirit” for someone like Grendel’s Mother.

Crossley-Holland made a decisive choice when naming Grendel’s Mother as “the evil monster” (Crossley-Holland 54). I found Heaney’s use of “wandering fiend” (Heaney 111) more accurate, but I would take it one step further. I find that ellor-gǣst being hyphenated in the line of the poem places an emphasis on “gǣst,” and the soul and spirit of Grendel’s Mother in this moment. Still, I liked Heaney’s use of “wandering” because of the idea that Grendel’s Mother is foreign and lost.

While Grendel’s Mother has been referred to as a “monster,” her role is deeper than our modern interpretation of this word; she is an other-spirit. She shows another way of life, which doesn’t necessarily mean evil. In the context of this poem she is one of the antagonists, however, Grendel’s Mother herself is simply a “foreign-spirit.”

Grendel’s Mother’s Agency

The way that different translations describe the moment of Grendel’s Mother’s death can imply her purpose very differently, although most translations give Grendel’s Mother agency over her life, having her let it go or end it herself. Still, some translators add extraneous emphasis on the hero’s involvement in the episode.

In the Old English, the end of this episode with Grendel’s Mother reads:

“Wæron yð-gebland eal gefælsod, eacne eardas, þa se ellorgast oflet lif-dagas ond þas lænan gesceaft.”

“The vast wave-surges were cleansed entirely, when the other-spirit relinquished days of her life and this transitory destiny.”

I found the Old English words “þas lænan gesceaft” to be very interesting. I found this to translate to “this transitory destiny,” Crossley-Holland had “this transitory life,” and Heaney had “this unreliable world” (Heaney 113; Crossley-Holland 54). These are all similar and they give more insight into Grendel’s Mother’s position as an “other-spirit.”

The use of “transitory” indicates that this life is transitory from one place to another. This is also interesting when we think of Grendel’s Mother having a gǣst or spirit, because if she is or has a spirit in this “transitory” life, her spirit is going somewhere and serves a purpose.

The translation of “relinquished” or “let go” shows that Grendel’s Mother chose to leave this Earth at the end. These words convey more of a peaceful departure or acceptance.

However, if the translator places emphasis on the “cleansing,” in the first clause, instead of balancing the two clauses, we start to see an imbalance that is not present in the Old English.

For example, Crossley-Holland places an emphasis on Beowulf’s experience in this moment:

“He who had survived the onslaught of his enemies was soon on his way, swimming up through the water; when the evil monster ended his [her] days on earth, left this transitory life, the troubled water and all the lake's expanse was purged of its impurity” (Crossley-Holland 54).

This emphasis on the hero’s act of purging and cleansing is a dangerous cycle that erases the complexities of Grendel’s Mother’s position in the saga.

Heaney’s translation here is much closer to the Old English:

“The wide water, the waves and pools were no longer infested once the wandering fiend let go of her life and this unreliable world” (Heaney 113).

Not only does Grendel’s Mother have the agency to “let go of her life” in these translations but the emphasis remains on her and the waters themselves. The sentence has nothing to do with the hero and the actions that he has taken. While it’s reasonable to include some word along the lines of “cleansing” or “infested,” as the author of Beowulf did, some translations take the othering much further in translation.

Grendel’s Mother’s “Poisonous” Blood

One of the moments in the poem where I find Grendel’s Mother’s “monstrosity” to be the most compelling is in her “poisonous” blood. While Grendel’s Mother’s blood as “poisonous” is constant along translations, how it affects the sword is different. Additionally, the sword’s value varied along translations.

In my translation, I noticed two words that seemed to disappear in Heaney and Crossley-Holland’s translations. I found the words “since fage” important at the end of the phrase:

“Ne nom he in þæm wicum, Weder-Geata leod, maðm-æhta ma, þeh he þær monige geseah, buton þone hafelan ond þa hilt somod since fage” (Heaney 110).

“The Water-Geat’s leader did not take, in those habitations, into his possession more treasure, although he saw many there, except for the head and the hilt together, treasure stained.”

I think the word “fage,” meaning “stained,” is important to highlight that either the “head and the hilt” are “treasure stained” and/or the treasure that Beowulf doesn’t take is “treasure stained.” Either way, this additional description alludes to the fact that Grendel’s Mother’s treasure, or head and sword hilt, is stained by something unlike typical treasure that is won from a glorious battle.

While this could mean literally stained with Grendel’s Mother’s poisonous blood, I believe that it could mean stained with injustice. The stain is either the literal stain from her “other” blood, or it’s the stain of the injustice of how she was killed.

Beowulf’s attack on Grendel’s Mother could be seen as an injustice, as Beowulf enters Grendel’s Mother’s home and attacks in a similar way to how Grendel enters Heorot and attacks. These parallels, with the inclusion of this phrase “treasure stained,” imply that this battle is not as simple as other heroic endeavors we have seen before.

I found that Crossley-Holland’s translation made two key changes that I thought were important. Crossley-Holland emphasized the “gold adorned” sword, and, while this is correct, I thought this was interesting because the head and the hilt are specifically distinct from the other treasures in Grendel’s Mother’s hall (Crossley-Holland 54). Additionally, Crossley-Holland does not seem to make use of the word “fage” or “stained.”

Heaney similarly emphasizes the treasure of the sword with “embossed with jewels” (Heaney 111). One thing that Heaney does that I like more than Crossley-Holland’s translation is the use of “spoils” for the other treasure. While “spoils of war” can be used in modern English to describe treasure, it also carries the weight of how the treasure was achieved and spoiled to some extent, through blood-shed, in a way that the word “treasure” does not.

Despite the saga following the heroic Beowulf, the Old English acknowledges the “stains” and “spoils” that accompany his victory against Grendel’s Mother in a way that modern translations can often ignore.

Conclusion

Grendel’s Mother is a unique character that could not only represent a humanoid monster, but any type of “other-spirit.” To keep the plot of the poem and the author’s/storyteller’s intent, it can make sense for translators to make a decisive characterization of Grendel’s Mother. She functions as an antagonist of the poem after all. Still, the Old English holds an extreme amount of depth and opportunity for interpretation that is vast and difficult for modern English to capture.

I find great emotional depth in Grendel’s Mother as an Ellor-Gǣst and I don’t know if I have a perfect answer as to what words I would use in translating her. “Other-spirit” is a start that I feel captures the Old English, her agency, and the complexities of revenge.

The alternative — to fall into a cycle of be-monstering a woman who was only playing by the rules of her time — is a dark one. Grendel’s Mother’s death signifies the “cleaning” of the water, which is a frightening narrative. If a person can be turned into a monster, either through translation or rhetoric, and then if a land can be “cleansed” of them, you already know what that means.

Translations Referenced:

Crossley-Holland, Kevin, translator, and Heather O’Donoghue. Beowulf the Fight at Finnsburh. Oxford University Press, 1999.

Heany, Seamus, translator. Beowulf: a New Verse Translation. W. W. Norton and Company, 1999.