Ofer Hronrade—Defining the Long-Enigmatic “Hron” of Old English

The poetic compound hronrad at the beginning of Beowulf is often translated as "whale road", despite protestations from J.R.R. Tolkien that have hitherto been unheeded. Through an exhaustive contextual study of the Old English word hron—and its relationship with the common word hwæl—as well as statistical analysis of British marine biology, this paper seeks to demonstrate that the meaning of hron should indeed be separated from the Modern English word "whale", with "orca" or "large dolphin" likely being more accurate translations.