East Dane is an Anglo-Saxon ethnonym which was used in the epic Beowulf.
It was also used in an Anglo-Saxon runic poem describing the first appearance of the god Frey (called Ing, see Yngvi):
- Ing wæs ærest mid Eástdenum
- gesewen secgum, oð he síððan eást
- ofer wæg gewát. wæn æfter ran.
- þus Heardingas þone hæle nemdon.
- Ing was first amidst the East Danes
- so seen, until he went eastward
- over the sea. His wagon ran after.
- Thus the Heardings named that hero.
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