(JHEISTIANIA vidensk.-selsk;. FOBHANDL. 187 9. No. Id. 3 



name of this king is the same as Aveloc. The Norse Olafr, ori- 

 ginaly Anleifr, corresponds with the Anglo Saxon Anlåf, the Irish 

 Amlaib, pronounced Awlay, and the Welsh Abloc. Thus in the 

 Welsh chronicle Brut y Tywysogion (ed. by the Rev. John Willi- 

 ams ab Ithel, Lond. 1860) the predecessor of our Anlaf is named 

 „Abloyc" (A. D. 942), we find A. D. 960 the „meibon Abloec" i. e. 

 the sons of Abloc Cuaran and A. D. 989 the death of Glumaine 

 mab Abloyc (the Irish Gluniaran, iron knee) noticed. And as Abloc 

 is the Welsh form of Anlaf or Olave, thus Aveloc • — in later Eng- 

 lish Havelok — must be the Anglo-Norman pronunciation oi Abloc; 

 we mentioned abore that the french poem calls it seif a trans- 

 lation from British i. e. Welsh. 



If thise tymological remarks are right, I think the identification 

 of the poetical Aveloc Cuaran and the historical Olave Cuaran is 

 proved. The true history of Olave Cuaran in England cannot but 

 confirm these conclusions. His father Sigtryg, descended from the 

 Norse dynasty in Dublin, reigned in the Danish kingdom of Nort- 

 humberland, but on his father's death (927) Olave was expelled by 

 the English conqueror Athelstan; Olave afterwards dwelt many years 

 in Scotland, and in this exile he married the daughter of the Scot- 

 tish king. But in 940 he returned to England and after the death 

 of his cousin and helper Olave of Dublin in 942 he recovered non only 

 his father's kingdom Nor thumberl and but also the north-eastern 

 Mer ei a and reigned for some years (942 -44) over „all Danelage 

 north of the Watlingastræt". In these traits I find elements enough 

 to produce the romantic epos of Aveloc. It is true, that the sur- 

 name of Olave and Aveloc does not sigmfy in Welsh „scullion". 

 Cuaran is Irish and designs „sandal" ') ; but as Mr. Skeat remarks 

 in his edition of the Lay, there are several words of the same 

 root in British, whieh might have conveyed to a British ear the 

 idea, that Cuaran signified scullion, and if this be proved, it is 

 evident, as the same autor remarks, that this derivation has given 

 rise to the story of Havelok's degradation. 



') Vide Todd, The war of the Gaedhil with the Galls, introduction p. CI. 



1* 



