Synonyms for "Sea" Used as the Element of Compounds and Genitive Combinations in Beowulf
The poetic synonym sǣ used as the first element of a compound becomes a heroizing epithet. In poetry this word is never found in genitive combinations. It is very close to substantive epithets studied by M.I. Steblin-Kamensky. However, the denotative meaning of the word sǣ is not replaced by its heroizing semantics, but reflects the picture of the world expressed in Beowulf. Other synonyms for “sea” converge in the position of the first element within a compound. As a genitive attribute they preserve their denotative meaning which lacks a cosmological component.