Beowulf - new words

One reason I love to read British Literature is (are?) the new words I learn. If I ever have the time, I want to learn either Old or Middle English so I can learn even more. Until then, this is what I've learned from Beowulf.

• mead-benches - A seat or bench at a Germanic feast; from Old English medusetl. So, this is interesting. It reminds me (us) that the British Isles were just as much of a melting pot and the US was in the early 1900's. The use of a German(ic) word to describe where 14th Century English warriors sat.
• march-stepper - This is a description of Grendel; boundary-land walker, a walker in outlands or desolate places. I had the vision of Grendel walking as Germans did in the films from marches for Hitler. Perhaps, then, when Australians are on walk-abouts they, too, are march-steppers?
• the giver of rings - The lord of a won battle. As I read, I kept having visions of either a dream or something I had seen on television - men who won a joust were given large rings over their joust-posts by either the king, queen, or maiden princess. After doing some further research I find that this makes sense. I'm still wondering why it is the King - or whomever - would give rings of gold or other precious metal and not something more useful, such as better chain mail or better swords.
• suffer much of weal and woe - This one was a bit confusing; it is an antonym to itself. Woe is sorrowfulness so, it would follow that weal would be a raised mark on the skin produced by a blow; from Old English walu, meaning ridge. However, it also has the definition of prosperity or wellbeing. Knowing the definition of woe, I know it is the former which is correct here. But, it is one of those curious words from "way back" that makes me ponder why "we" selected only certain OE and ME words to use and only certain definitions.
• fen - bog
• gannet's bath - Considering the gannett is a large sea bird and a large body of water may be considered a bath, I'm suppose this is a large body of water over which a gannett flies. Nothing exciting there, either.
• geurdon - To reward. I would think that a better definition would be a reward for hand-to-hand combat fighting (such as guerilla). What I found most intriguing was this: Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin widerdnum, alteration (influenced by Latin dnum, gift) of Old High German widarln : widar, back, against; see wi- in Indo-European roots + ln, reward; see lau- in Indo-European roots. Wow!
• battle-targes - eh, battle shield. Deserves a more impressive definition.

Final Words on Beowulf

There are many more ideas and concepts I have learned from reading Beowulf; there are also more questions about why this was told/written and what its influence was on people of the 13th, 14th, and perhaps even up to 19th centuries. To write of them all, I'd have my own book the breadth of Beowulf.