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The Old English word wealbhafoc poses two unresolved problems. The first is the etymology of the word itself, while the second is why the word so often appears in Old English glossaries as a gloss for Latin herodio 'heron (?), stork (?)' when it seems that it should refer to a bird of prey (often taken to be the peregrine falcon).1 This article argues that both of these problems can be resolved by understanding how the word came into being - that is, not simply its etymology, but the actual circumstances in which an Anglo-Saxon invented the word. While we cannot identify the precise individual who undertook this act of lexical invention, it will be shown that this individual worked with Theodore and Hadrian at Canterbury in the later seventh century, and that one or other of these figures was also involved in the invention of the word wealbhafoc. The application of the term to birds of prey appears to be a slightly later development, arising perhaps in the eighth century, that reflects movement of birds into Anglo-Saxon England through trade or tribute. This context may explain the Old Norse word valr and Welsh gvalch, which both seem likely to be loanwords from Old English. In the case of valr, however, it is possible - although by no means certain - that the original application of the term to a water-fowl also influenced its potential meanings in Old Norse. If this is the case, it has the potential to yield some surprising new insights into the aeronautical garments of the goddess Freyja.
Herodio ^ wealhhafoc?
The word malhhafoc is typically glossed 'falcon' in modern glossaries and dictionaries of Old English. It has therefore appeared rather surprising to scholars that early Anglo-Saxon glossaries employ this term to gloss Latin herodio? The forms uualhhebuc and uualhhaebucgloss horodius (sic) in the Epinal and Erfurt glossaries, respectively.3 The Corpus Glossary follows the Epinal-Erfurt tradition in glossing herodius as walch habuc, but also glosses falc\o\ with the same word, in the form walhhabuc.4 The glossary of names of animals prohibited in Leviticus xi.19 in St Gall, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 913 glosses erodionem with ualuc haebuc (pp. i4of.). The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources cuts the Gordian lcnot by...