Ingeld

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A legendary Germanic prince of the Heathobards, featured in Old English poetry such as Beowulf and the Widsith
2. The figure in early Germanic legend who was a prince of the Heathobard people and a central character in Anglo-Saxon heroic verse
3. A heroic prince of the Heathobards in ancient Germanic tradition, whose feud and marriage alliance are recounted in Old English literature

Etymology: Ingeld is a figure from the Old English poem Beowulf, where he appears as a Heathobard prince whose feud with the Danes is recalled in a few lines of the poem. The name itself is Germanic and is attested in several forms across the early medieval north, including Old Norse Ingjaldr and Old High German Ingold, a compound of the divine name "Ing" (associated with the god Freyr in Norse sources) and a second element meaning something like "ruler" or "chieftain." Its earliest English appearance is in the poem's manuscript, so the name reaches English through the Anglo-Saxon tradition rather than through any later borrowing. Ingeld matters because of the tragic bargain at the heart of the Heathobard feud. Beowulf's Danish hosts hope that a marriage between Ingeld and Hildeburh, a Danish princess, will end the bloodshed, but the poem's narrator suggests the peace is doomed, since the old grievance will flare again once the young men see the Danish weapons their fathers lost. Scholars have long compared this to the Hildebrand and Hadubrand story in German tradition, where a similar conflict ends in father-against-son combat, and the episode shows how the Germanic audience knew these figures well enough to need only a hint.