Additionally, the text refers to Beowulf as fleotan (line 543) – “floating”,William Nelles, “Beowulf’s Sorhfullne Sið with Breca”, Neophilologus, vol.83 nr.2 (April 1999) page 300. and being on sidne sæ (line 508), and on deóp wæter (line 510) – “upon the wide sea” and “upon the deep water” and similar expressions—putting him consistently atop or above the water, rather than in or under the water. In line 515, he is described as having glidon ofer garsecg – “glided over / above the surf”; again, an image more in keeping with rowing than swimming. Further, in line 581, fatigued from his struggles with the sea monsters, Beowulf was carried by the currents to the land of the Finns (presumably a great distance) – and here the original manuscript's text clearlyVery clearly. Julius Zupitza, Beowulf, Autotypes of the Unique Cotton MS. Vitellius Axv in the British Museum, with a Transcription and Notes (1882, London, Early English Text Society), after providing both a photograph and printed transcript of the manuscript page, says for the reading wudu weallendu, “wudu, not wadu, without the least doubt; an a open at the top does not occur so late in English MSS.” (p.28); and quoted by Fred C. Robinson, “Elements of the Marvelous in the Characterization of Beowulf: A Reconsideration of the Evidence”, in Peter S. Baker, ed., The Beowulf Reader (2000, NY, Routledge) page 94. reads wudu weallendu – wudu, a word related to “wood” and often meaning “boat” (or perhaps “raft”), as it does in lines 216, 298 and elsewhere, so that Beowulf was carried to the Finns on a tossing, quaking boat;James W. Earl, “Beowulf’s Rowing-Match”, Neophilogus, vol.63, nr.2 (April 1979) p.286; Frederick M. Biggs, “Beowulf’s Fight with the Nine Nicors”, Review of English Studies, vol.53 n.s., nr.211 (2002) p.313, not necessarily the boat he started with, but perhaps a raft or boat found or hastily constructed after his struggle with the sea monsters. however, several editors and translators saw an obscure difficulty (between the masculine wudu and the neuter weallendu) and insisted on changing the wudu (“boat”) to wadu (“water”), making it appear that Beowulf was carried to the Finns on “surging water” (and, naturally, translators relying on the printed Anglo-Saxon text worked up by such editors were innocently led to the same result).R.D. Fulk, “Afloat in Semantic Space: Old English sund and the Nature of Beowulf’s Exploit with Breca”, Journal of English & Germanic Philology, vol.104, nr.4 (Oct. 2005) pp.463-464; James W. Earl, “Beowulf’s Rowing-Match”, Neophilogus, vol.63, nr.2 (April 1979) p.286; Karl P. Wentersdorf, “Beowulf’s Adventure with Breca”, Studies in Philology, 72, no.2 (spring 1975) p.162; Frederick M. Biggs, “Beowulf’s Fight with the Nine Nicors”, Review of English Studies, vol.53 n.s., nr.211 (Aug. 2002) pp.313-314.
