The more I dig into this Beowulf legend, the more I convince myself that it is an old Norse saga that has been Christianized and sanitized. The Cain reference must surely originally have been to Loki (who fathered Fenrir and
Jǫrmungandr among other disreputable children), and the good monks did not wish to taint the story with foreign gods.
If I dig deep enough I'm sure to find someone who has documented the same doubt.
The notes to the Benjamin Slade translation (linked in Post #35 above) are a treasure trove.
I am impelled to pass on the following anecdote.
I learned the word "halvdan" early in my Swedish-vocabulary-building: it means "mediocre, middling, not well-done, sloppily made". When I began my first "real job" in Sweden, a large office where I had hundreds of workmates, there was a colleague whom everyone referred to as Halvdan. When I protested one day that it wasn't a very nice nickname, they laughed and said that was his real name. So I shut up but secretly wondered why anyone would give their child such a debilitating name. Well, in the notes to the Slade translation I found this footnote.
Half-Dane is Beowulf-Scyldings's son. "Half-Danes" later appear in the poem (l. 1068) ruled over by Hnaef, apparently part of the Danish forces (or allied with them). Wrinn proposes that they may actually be Jutes in Danish service, hence their strange names.
It isn't hard to understand how the name became (in Swedish) something done only by halves, local humor like the rivalry of two towns with opposing football teams.
Looking further I found this (seeming) confirmation: "
In Norwegian, the name Halvdan means - half dane. The name Halvdan originated as a Norwegian name. The name Halvdan is most often used as a boy name or male name." http://www.meaning-of-names.com/norwegian-names/halvdan.asp#ixzz3hjhgiREQ
Re ethnic designations, one must remember the many old and new borders and allegiances. Norwegian Vikings were independent tribes, later Norway was under the rule of Denmark, then Sweden and only in modern times (1905) again became an independent nation, a peaceful transition with no bloodshed.
Related to this word "halvdan" is my former puzzlement over an expression I often heard when the language was still fairly new to me and I was daily trying to make sense of what I heard around me. A new employee who was quickly elevated to a top position was described by everyone as having "arrived and quickly climbed up in the high seat (
högsätet)". Later, in the course of reading the Old Norse literature I understood this everyday expression to be another relic, a reference to the elevated position of the king in the great hall, what Murphy-Sullivan translate as "throne" and Heany translates as "platform" (leading me to think of the "high table" at Oxford—though that may be folk etymology on my part).
Such is the pleasure of reading Beowulf—incidentally the latter part of the name, "ulf", means "wolf"—still a common name in Sweden today, like "Björn", bear, and "Tor", Thor, and lots of names with "Gud", indicating a divine connection to the pagan gods. Topdown conversion is not very effective.