 The Old English wælcyrge and wælcyrie appear several times in Old English manuscripts , generally to translate foreign concepts into Old English . In the sermon Sermo Lupi ad Anglos , written by Wulfstan II , wælcyrie is used , and considered to appear as word for a human " sorceress " . An early 11th @-@ century manuscript of Aldhelm 's De laudis virginitatis ( Oxford , Bodleian library , Digby 146 ) glosses ueneris with wælcyrge ( with gydene meaning " goddess " ) . Wælcyrge is used to translate the names of the classical furies in two manuscripts ( Cotton Cleopatra A. iii , and the older Corpus Glossary ) . In the manuscript Cotton Cleopatra A. iii , wælcyrge is also used to gloss the Roman goddess Bellona . A description of a raven flying over the Egyptian army appears as wonn wælceaseg ( meaning " dark one choosing the slain " ) . Scholarly theories debate whether these attestations point to an indigenous belief among the Anglo @-@ Saxons shared with the Norse , or if they were a result of later Norse influence ( see section below ) . 
