The meaning _fire_ may be
justified
as well, if we consider that the old
helmets were generally made of leather, and only the principal parts were
mounted with bronze.
Beowulf
sg. bōte, 158.
brand, brond, st. m.: 1) _burning, fire_: nom. sg. þā sceal brond fretan
(_the burning of the body_), 3015; instr. sg. by hine ne mōston ... bronde
forbærnan (_could not bestow upon him the solemn burning_), 2127; hæfde
landwara līge befangen, bǣle and bronde, _with glow, fire, and flame_,
2323.--2) in the passage, þæt hine nō brond nē beadomēcas bītan ne meahton,
1455, brond has been translated _sword, brand_ (after the O.N. brand-r).
The meaning _fire_ may be
justified
as well, if we consider that the old
helmets were generally made of leather, and only the principal parts were
mounted with bronze.
The poet wishes here to emphasize the fact that the
helmet was made entirely of metal, a thing which was very unusual.--3) in
the passage, forgeaf þā Bēowulfe brand Healfdenes segen gyldenne, 1021, our
text, with other editions, has emendated, bearn, since brand, if it be
intended as a designation of Hrōðgār (perhaps _son_), has not up to this
time been found in this sense in A.-S.
brant, bront, adj., _raging, foaming, going-high_, of ships and of waves:
acc. sg. brontne, 238, 568.
