Posted by Lawrence Frewin on 01 January , 2004 at 21:39:49:
I have found that the word "freawine" appears not only in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, as mentioned in our history page at http://www.the-net.co.uk/frewin/history.htm, it also appears in Beowulf, the famous Anglo-Saxon poem, in lines 2358, 2429 and 2439.
From Beowulf line 2355:
þær mon Hygelac sloh,
where someone slew Hygelac,
syððan Geata cyning guðe ræsum,
after the king of the Geats,
freawine folca
friend and lord of the people
From Beowulf line 2428:
Ic wæs syfanwintre, þa mec sinca baldor,
I was seven years old, when the treasure lord,
freawine folca, æt minum fæder genam;
friend and lord of the people, took me from my father;
From Beowulf line 2438
syððan hyne Hæðcyn of hornbogan
after Haethcyn struck down
his freawine, flane geswencte
his friend and lord with an arrow from his horn bow
Beowulf translation: http://www.as.wvu.edu/english/oeoe/english311/2751.html
Beowulf also contains the Saxon word "freowine" meaning "noble friend"
freowine, m., noble friend; vs. 139v6:429.
http://beowulf.engl.uky.edu/~kiernan/ENG619/eBeowulf-ed/glossary/F2.htm#freowine
There is an interesting collection of Saxon and old english names here:
http://www.ealdriht.org/names/Englishnames.htm
This website translates the word freawine as "lord friend" a combination of two saxon words, "frea" translates to "lord" and Wini as "friend"
A Dictionary of Surnames by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges Barbara has the origin of the surname Fruen as:
FRUEN (Eng.) One of several versions of FREWIN which comes from the Middle English personal name 'Frewine' and the Old English 'Freowine'. The elements making it up are 'freo' meaning 'free, noble, generous (or the rarer 'frea' lord, master) + 'wine' meaning friend. The other variations are: FREWEN, FREWING, FROWEN, FROWING, and FRUIN.