quality. Skofnung also has a supernatural quality. It is Skofnung's
nature to utter a loud sound whenever it reaches the bone.[82]

That two swords in two widely separated compositions are identical
requires more proof than that the term "golden hilt" is used in
connection with both of them; and in the two compositions in question
there is nothing else than this term, and the peculiarity of the one
sword that it can be wielded only by a man of unusual strength, of the
other that it can be wielded only by a brave man, on which to base an
identity. The fact of the matter is that it is the requirement of the
plot that has supplied both the name and the unusual quality of the
sword Gullinhjalti in the _Hrólfssaga_. Other requirements would have
produced other results.

But since such stress has been laid on the similarity between "gylden
hilt" (_Beowulf_) and "Gullinhjalti" (_Hrólfssaga_) in the attempt to
identify Bothvar Bjarki with Beowulf, let us turn our attention, before
proceeding further, to the portion of _Beowulf_ where the term "gylden
hilt" occurs.

The text shows clearly that the author of _Beowulf_ did not intend
"gylden hilt" as a proper noun. He never uses the word "hilt" in
connection with the weapon in question to designate the sword as a
whole. "Hilt," both as a simple word and in compounds, is used only to
designate the handle of the sword. The following terms are used for the
sword as a whole: "bil,"[83] "sweord,"[84] "wǣpen,"[85] "mǣl,"[86]
"Ä«rena cyst."[87] The word "hilt" is used seven times. Sarrazin says,
"Es ist bemerkenswert, dass bei jenem Schwert, auch als es noch
vollständig und unversehrt war, regelmässig die hilze, der griff (hilt),
hervorgehoben wurde (ll. 1563, 1574, 1614, 1668, 1677, 1687, 1698)."[88]