Wig-heafola

According to the Old English Dictionary:

(?) :-- [Hē] wōd þurh done wælrēc wīg[hea]folan bær freán on fultum. Beo. Th. 5316; B. 2661.

wig-heafola

Hea is the reading of Thorkelin's transcripts, but now the MS. shews only quite uncertain traces of h, and ea is entirely gone (Zupitza). Wīg-heafola is taken to mean a helmet by some editors: Grein suggests wīgneafolan = umbonem bellicum i. e. clypeum. Could the reading be wīgneafolan ? Cf. Icel vīgr in fighting state, serviceable for fighting, and afli strength; so that the passage would mean he had or brought strength that might serve to help his lord in battle. wig-heafola