Stonc æfter stane (Beowulf, l. 2288a):
Philology, Narrative Context, and the Waking Dragon

by THOMAS KLEIN

In line 2288a of Beowulf, the dragon does something denoted by the verb stincan:

Pa se wyrm onwoc,        wroht wæs geniwad;
stonc da æfter stane,     stearcheort onfand
feondes fotlast.              (ll. 2287–89)

(When the serpent awoke, anger was renewed; it stonc then æfter stone, the stout-hearted one discovered an enemy's footprint.)

These lines describe the dragon's reactions to its growing awareness of the theft from its hoard, but unfortunately there is no philological consensus on the meaning of the verb form stonc. It might mean something like 'smelled' or 'sniffed', meanings for which it is difficult to find precedent elsewhere in Old English (although gestincan does commonly mean 'to perceive a smell' and stincan 'to give off a smell'). On the other hand, it might mean 'leapt' or 'moved quickly', a sense also difficult to find elsewhere (but which is hinted at by a number of apparent cognates in Old English and several North Germanic languages).