That Beowulf was written by an Irishman called Kevin? Unthinkable? How about an acrostic of cwealmcuman (792), ænig (802), burston (818), Geatmecga (829), inwidsorge (831) & niða (845) - it would have to be Middle Irish or the b would be an m, as I understand it.

It all seems a bit random, perhaps - but: in one way of setting out the poem, the rune eþel is separated, on the 3 occasions it occurs, from the word gist by 528, 528 and 527 lines respectively.

Ethelgist could be a name and so a signature, but I don't entirely believe in it. What if the phrase or compound were a translation of patriae alienus, I ask myself, and find that phrase is used by Gregory in reference to Cain.

So separate 'Cain' - CA+527+IN, and substitute letters of the alphabet for these numbers: CAEBGIN.

Which crosses cæbgin in a nice symmetrical way: the mean of the first eþel-gist pair is 829.