Honestly Ann, Julie and Jayne, I did NOT take umbrage. I had a giggle myself.
But I do think that this thread has run its course and it would be self-indulgent to continue my ramblings.
Two of the ordered books in the mail today. One is a doctor's thesis from 1991, which made me drool (luckily
not directly on the book). The other I thought might not be helpful as it has no footnotes or references, but I changed my mind when this caught my eye during a quick look-through:
Quote:
Yet there seems to be no evidence that a god Frea was ever worshiped by that name in England. That is partly because the English knew it was not a personal name; the word is only used as meaning 'lord', so they could use it of Christ, they could use it of human kings and chiefs.
Moreover, they knew what this particular Lord's name was. He was called Ing, the same form as the Old English patronymic. In the oldest Germanic legend of origins, Ing is one of the three sons of Marinum, the primal human off-spring, born from the androgynous Tuisto who came from the Earth. So Ing was a son of Mari; the Ingaevones, the tribes of the north German coastlands, including the English, were his descendants.
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(I have always wondered if there weren't some connection between "ing" and "England". If we live long enough we will get answers to all our questions.
)
There is more of interest about Sweden in this little book, but this caught my attention because of (posts #58 and #60) that early line about Lord Frey.
felahrór féran on fréan waére·
still in his full-strength, to fare in the protection of the Lord Frea;
In this line, Frea seems to be used as a name. IF it is true (and it might not be) that Frey was not used in English as a name, but only as a title, it seems that these lines might be a hand-me-down from an older manuscript or oral text with foreign origins.
For the English readers still with us, I'll mention that this quote is from a small pamphlet "Lost Gods of England" and the author is Kathleen Herbert, about whom I know next to nothing at this point--only that she wrote a triology set in sixth century Britain, one of which won the Georgette Heyer prize for an outstanding historical novel, and that she read English at Oxford.
Looking at this map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A...xons_jutes.png , it occurred to me that oral poetry was the property of many bards and Beowulf might be handed down through Angle or Saxon oral tradition, prior to Viking rule, even though it is about the Geats and the Danes.
One must not underestimate the extensive movements of people and cultural artifacts. A runestone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6k_Runestone raised at a village quite near my home mentions Tjodrik, i. e. Theoderik the Great, who was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), ruler of Italy (493–526), regent of the Visigoths (511–526), and a patricius of the Roman Empire. Rome is quite far from here overland, but not for a sailing ship. The Rök stone contains both kennings and magic spells.
Oh, lordy, I have more to say, but an hour ago I claimed I was not going to say any more. 
PS I want to thank Matt who has kindly shared several relevant documents. I am in his debt.