Editing Sceafa (section)

==Variations on Sceaf's lineage==

{| class="wikitable"
|+Sceaf and his lineage in different sources
|-
! Æ !!  ASC !! ''Beowulf'' !! ''[[Prologue to the Prose Edda|Edda]]'' !! WM
|-
| {{CNone}}  || Noe || rowspan = "3" {{CNone}} || Magi   || Noe
|-
| '''Scef'''     || '''Scef''' || '''Seskef'''  || '''Strephius'''
|-
| rowspan = "6" {{CNone}} || Bedwig       || Bedvig         || Bedwigius
|-
| Hwala    || (Ecgwela?) || {{CNone}} ||Gwala
|-
| Hratha       || rowspan = "2" {{CNone}} || Athra ([[Annar]]r)                         || Hadra
|-
| Itermon      || Ítermann || Stermon
|-
| [[Heremod]]  || (Heremod)                || [[Hermod|Hermóðr]] || Heremodius
|-
| {{CNone}}  || {{CNone}} || {{CNone}} || '''Sceaf'''
|-
| Sceldius     || [[Sceldwa]]       || [[Scyld|Scyld Sceafing]] || Skjaldun ([[Skjöldr|Skjǫld]]) || Sceldius
|-
| Beowius      ||   [[Beowa|Beaw]]    || [[Beowulf Scylding]]                  || Bjáf (Bjárr) || Beowius
|-
| Tætwa        || Tætwa      || rowspan="2" {{CNone}} || {{CNone}} ||Tetius
|-
| [[Gaut|Geat]]    || Geat  || Ját || Getius
|}
<blockquote style="font-size:smaller;">
'''Æ''' = Æthelweard's ''Chronica''.<br />
'''ASC''' = ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', year 855 versions B and C. The A version omits the names Hwala, Bedwig, and Scef, almost certainly by accident, so that in that text it is Hrathra who is a son of Noah born in the ark.<br />
'''''Beowulf''''' calls Heremod a Scylding and calls his people were Scyldings, which should mean Heremod was a descendant of Scyld. But that may be anachonistic usage of a common term.<br />
'''''Edda''''': The forms used indicate an English source. Of the three supposed Norse counterparts, the equation with ''Skjöld'' is obviously correct, but nothing is otherwise known about Bjárr or this particular Annarr. Seskef (that is Sceaf), in this pseudohistorical account, is son of Magi, son of Móda, son of Vingener, son of Vingethor, son of Einridi, son of Lóridi, son of [[Thor]] by [[Sif]], Thor here being the son of Múnón, also called Mennón (equated with [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]]) by Tróan daughter of King [[Priam]] of [[Troy]].<ref>[http://sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre03.htm Snorri Sturlusson's Prose Edda, Prologue, sect. III, trans. Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur]</ref> Lóridi (more often Hlóridi) and Einridi are elsewhere names for Thor himself. The names Magi and Modi resemble the names [[Móði and Magni|Magni]] and [[Móði and Magni|Modi]] given to Thor's two sons in other sources. The other names are unique to this list. It is possible that a list of names applied to Thor or connected with Thor may have been at some stage misinterpreted as a lineage or that the names of the descendants of Thor in this list were earlier all applied to  sons of Thor.<br />
'''WM''' = [[William of Malmesbury]]'s ''Gesta regum anglorum''.
</blockquote>
Scyld is sometimes son of Sceaf and sometimes son of Heremod and a descendant of Scef. William of Malmesbury combines both versions in making Scyld son of Sceaf and Sceaf son of Heremod, but then traces Heremod's ancestry up to Strephius, son of Noah, born in the ark, who is obviously Sceaf appearing a second time with corrupt name. Asser in his ''Life of Alfred'' repeats the listing of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' for this section of his genealogy except that he replaces Sceaf altogether with the name Seth and mentions nothing about him being born in the ark. Some modern translations emend Seth to [[Shem]] who was son of Noah in the [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] account.

It is possible that name of ''Beaw'' the son of Scyld may be a variant of ''beow'' 'barley' and that in part these figures derive from rustic folklore about King Sheaf and his son Barley into which the Shield element has intruded. Perhaps a misunderstanding of Scyld Scefing as Scyld the Scefing instead of Scyld of the Sheaf led to the boat story being transferred to Scyld's supposed father Sceaf when he became misunderstood as the true first king in the dynasty. There may be confusion between Danish traditions about Scyld/Skjöld and Anglic traditions about Sceaf. There is the possibility that Bedwig son of Sceaf is a corruption of Beaw son of Scyld. Scholars disagree.

For the descendants of Sceaf, only Scyld/Skjöld, Beaw, and Heremod are certainly known elsewhere outside these genealogies, though Hwala or Gwala is possibly the Ecgwela who appears in connection with Heremod in the poem ''Beowulf'' in the phrase "offspring of Ecgwela", apparently a kenning for ''Danes''.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}