heáfod-segn
- noun [ masculine ]
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Hét þá in beran eafor heáfodsegn, . . . helm, herebyrnan, gúðsweord,
- B. 2152-4.
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These are the ' feówer maðmas' (l. 1027), given to Beowulf by Hrothgar, of which the first is elsewhere (1021-2) described as 'segen gyldenne, hroden hiltecumbor'. It would seem, then, to have been an ensign, which had at the head of its shaft (
hilte
) the figure of a boar. Perhaps the poet of the Exodus had the same kind of ensign in mind where he says that the tribe of- Judah, '
Bosworth, Joseph. “heáfod-segn.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/51863.
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