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‘How so?’

‘Well, the word appears several times in Beowulf. For instance, it’s used to describe Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon at the end.’

‘Okay, so it means something like “monster”?’

‘Aha. This is what Mr Klaeber says too. In his book, which is considered the gold standard of Beowulf scholarship by the way, he translates aglæca as . . . hang on.’ Sophie dug her little black notebook out of her bag and thumbed through it until she found what she was looking for. ‘Monster, demon, fiend. In the case of Grendel’s mother, the word is modified to aglæc-wif.’

‘Female fiend?’

‘Klaeber charmingly opts for “wretch, or monster of a woman”, and where Klaeber’s translation goes, all the others follow.’ Sophie turned a page. ‘“Monstrous hag” is Kennedy’s definition, “ugly troll lady” from Trask, “monster-woman” from Chickering, “woman, monster-wife” from Donaldson. Even Seamus Heaney translated aglæc-wif as “monstrous hell bride”, can you believe it?’

‘I can,’ I said. ‘I mean, I can’t see why he wouldn’t. What’s the problem?’