Alliteration in the Poetic Edda 9783035300956, 2010047881, 303530095X

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www.peterlang.com

STUDIES IN HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS VOL. 8

Tadao Shimomiya

Studies in Historical Linguistics

ISBN 978-3-0343-0151-0

Peter Lang

Tadao Shimomiya studied Germanic and comparative linguistics in Tokyo, Bonn and Salamanca. Professor of German and Germanic linguis­ tics at Gakushuin University, Tokyo, from 1975 to 2005, he has been Professor Emeritus since 2005 and gained his LittD in 2010. He has published books and papers on Germanic, Romance and Indo-European linguistics, and the Georgian and Basque languages.

Alliteration in the Poetic Edda

The needs of the student of Old Icelandic poetic style have been foremost in mind in the presentation of this book. It includes an overview of sources not readily available to scholars as well as those not available in English. Copious examples are presented in Old Icelandic with English translation and supported by a select glossary of key Old Icelandic words into English. A Japanese language précis contains a select list of 100 alliterations that appear in the Poetic Edda.

Tadao Shimomiya

This book presents a detailed analysis of the alliteration of the whole of the Poetic Edda (or Elder Edda) of the Codex Regius, using the Germanic alliterative framework established by Andreas Heusler. The considerable regularity of the alliterative scheme is demonstrated, with only a handful of the corpus of approximately 7,300 long-lines falling outside of the rules identified, and therefore the appropriacy of Heusler’s system for understanding the structure of the Poetic Edda is confirmed.

Alliteration in the Poetic Edda

Peter Lang

www.peterlang.com

STUDIES IN HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS VOL. 8

Tadao Shimomiya

Studies in Historical Linguistics

 

Peter Lang

Tadao Shimomiya studied Germanic and comparative linguistics in Tokyo, Bonn and Salamanca. Professor of German and Germanic linguis­ tics at Gakushuin University, Tokyo, from 1975 to 2005, he has been Professor Emeritus since 2005 and gained his LittD in 2010. He has published books and papers on Germanic, Romance and Indo-European linguistics, and the Georgian and Basque languages.

Alliteration in the Poetic Edda

The needs of the student of Old Icelandic poetic style have been foremost in mind in the presentation of this book. It includes an overview of sources not readily available to scholars as well as those not available in English. Copious examples are presented in Old Icelandic with English translation and supported by a select glossary of key Old Icelandic words into English. A Japanese language précis contains a select list of 100 alliterations that appear in the Poetic Edda.

Tadao Shimomiya

This book presents a detailed analysis of the alliteration of the whole of the Poetic Edda (or Elder Edda) of the Codex Regius, using the Germanic alliterative framework established by Andreas Heusler. The considerable regularity of the alliterative scheme is demonstrated, with only a handful of the corpus of approximately 7,300 long-lines falling outside of the rules identified, and therefore the appropriacy of Heusler’s system for understanding the structure of the Poetic Edda is confirmed.

Alliteration in the Poetic Edda

Peter Lang

Alliteration in the Poetic Edda

Studies in Historical Linguistics Vol. 8 Edited by Dr Graeme Davis, Karl A. Bernhardt & Dr Mark Garner

PETER LANG Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien

Tadao Shimomiya

Alliteration in the Poetic Edda

PETER LANG Oxford Bern Berlin Bruxelles Frankfurt am Main New York • Wien •

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Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National­ bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: Shimomiya, Tadao, 1935Alliteration in the poetic edda / Tadao Shimomiya. p. cm. -- (Studies in historical linguistics, ISSN 1661-4704 ; v. 8) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-3-0353-0095-6 1. Eddas--History and criticism. 2. Old Norse language--Syntax. 3. Alliteration. 4. Typology (Linguistics) I. Title. PT7235.S46 2011 839'.61--dc22 2010047881

ISSN 1661-4704 ISBN 978-3-0353-0095-6

© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2011 Hochfeldstrasse 32, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland [email protected], www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net All rights reserved. All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems. Printed in Germany

Contents

Foreword Legend Introduction

vii ix 1

Poetic Edda

5 5 13 20 24 28 30 32 34 36 40 43 45 47 50 55 59 60 63 66

From The Seeress’s Prophecy From Sayings of  the High One From Vafthrudnir’s Sayings From Grimnir’s Sayings From Skirnir’s Journey From Harbard’s Song From Hymir’s Poem From Loki’s Quarrel From Thrym’s Poem From The Lay of  Volund From All-Wise’s Sayings From The First Poem of  Helgi Hundingsbani From The Poem of  Helgi Hiorvardsson From The Second Poem of  Helgi Hundingsbani From Gripir’s Prophecy From The Lay of  Regin From The Lay of  Fafnir From The Lay of  Sigrdrifa From Fragment of a Poem about Sigurd

vi

From The Death-song of  Hildibrand

67 68 72 74 76 81 83 86 92 94 95 96 101 102 104 105

Glossary (Old Icelandic to English) Bibliography Japanese Résumé Index of  Terms

107 175 177 187

From The First Lay of  Gudrun From A Short Poem about Sigurd From Brynhild’s Ride to Hell From The Second Lay of  Gudrun From The Third Lay of  Gudrun From Oddrun’s Lament From The Lay of  Atli From The Greenlandic Poem of  Atli From The Whetting of  Gudrun From The Lay of  Hamdir From Balder’s Dreams From The List of  Rig From The Song of  Hyndla From The Song of  Grotti From The Lay of  the Fight of  the Huns

Foreword

This is an expanded version of the same study published in The Development of  the Anglo-Saxon Language and Linguistic Universals (Series 3, 87–115, Senshu University, March 2008). The text is from Hans Kuhn (ed.), Edda. Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern (I. Text, Dritte, umgearbeitete Auf lage, Heidelberg 1962). Examples are given in the order of the text by H. Kuhn (1962) so that the reader can get a rough idea about the content of the Poetic Edda. For the general principles of alliteration see A. Heusler’s article on ‘Stabreim’, in Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde (ed. Johannes Hoops, Bd.4, Strassburg 1918–1919), 231–240. For the English translation of  the Poetic Edda, I am largely indebted to the newest one by Carolyne Larrington (Oxford World’s Classics, 1999), which I find text faithful and context friendly. I also consulted German translations by H. Gering, K. Simrock and F. Genzmer and the Japanese translation by Yukio Taniguchi (Tokyo 1973). Beatrice La Farge and John Tucker’s Glossary to the Poetic Edda (Heidelberg 1992) has been thankfully consulted on every occasion. For the identification of word forms, I was greatly aided by H. Gering (1903). An Old Icelandic–English glossary is appended for beginning students. I have added a Japanese résumé (which includes a synopsis of alliteration in general and a selection of a hundred examples of alliteration from the Poetic Edda) for Japanese readers. I am grateful to Professor Tomonori Matsushita of Senshu University, Tokyo, director of the above-mentioned project, for suggesting that I should publish my humble work in a separate book. — Tadao Shimomiya 7 March 2009

Legend

a

[alliterating sound (stave, stafr)]

x

[nonalliterating sound]

three normal alliterating long lines (with caesura /) are: aa/ax [in general, the first stave of  the second half-line A decides the alliterating sound of  the whole line, thus aa/Ax] ax/ax and xa/ax.

Introduction

In this study, I have indicated alliterating sounds with a and nonalliterating sounds with x. There are three normal placements of an alliterating sound in a long line of  two half-lines: aa/ax, ax/ax and xa/ax. The consonant groups sk, sp, st must alliterate with the same clusters. Vowels can alliterate with any other vowel on the ground that an initial vowel is preceded by a glottal stop in old Germanic languages (from today’s German ʔ auf ʔ einer ʔ alten ʔ Eiche). The principal stave (Hauptstab, hǫfuðstafr) is the stave in the first ictus of  the line (Snorri Sturluson, c.1220, quoted from A. Heusler §35). Stave is a semantic narrowing of stafr (Buchstabe, Laut). The Latin alliteratio comes from the humanist Jovianus Pontanus (died 1503). Alliteration is a Germanic tradition known by name parallels Gunther, Gernot and Giselher in the Nibelungenlied, Hildebrand und Hadubrand (father and son in Hildebrandslied), Ingaevones, Istaevones, Erminones (trinity of  Germanic protopeoples), the three Proto-Gods (V)Óðinn, Vili, Vé, or the Runic inscription ek HlewagastiR HoltijaR horna tawido (c.400, I, Hlewagastir of  Holt, made the horn). Also outside Germanic the epitheton ornans in Kalevala (vaka vanha Väinämöinen ‘steadfast old Väinämöinen’, by W.F. Kirby 1907), Old Irish heroes Conchobar, Conall and Cu Chulainn. The type [aa/xa] (the stave in the second ictus of  the second halfline) is not strictly excluded (A. Heusler §36), as in Vkv.15,1 Hlaðguðr ok Hervǫr / borin var Hloðvé (Hladgud and Hervor; children of Hlodver); Vm.2,1 Heima letia / ek mynda Heriafǫðr (I would rather keep the Father of  Hosts at home); HH.II.42,3 up er haugr lokinn, / kominn er Helgi (the mound has opened up, Helgi has come); Grp.3,3 Sigurðr ek heiti, / borinn Sigmundi (Sigurd I am called, son of  Sigmund); Gðr.II.7,1 Hnipaði Gunnarr, / sagði mér Hǫgni (Gunnar looked down, Hogni told me); Od.32,2 móðir Atla, / hon skyli morna! (the mother of Atli, may she shrivel away!); Akv.26,4 hodd Nif lunga: / lifira nú Hǫgni (the hoard of 

2

Introduction

the Nif lungs, now Hogni is not alive); Akv.41,4 brandi, brúðr, heitom;/ þau lét hon giǫld brœðra (with a f laming sword the bride made them pay for her brothers); Hm.21,4 góð born Giúka, / festa á gálga (to hang the good sons of  Giuki up on the gallows); Bdr.6,2 segðu mér ór helio / ek man ór heimi (tell me [the news] from hell, I know [the news] from the world); Grt.9,4 brœðr bergrisa, / þeim erom bornar (brothers of the mountain-giants, we are descended from them, also 11,4). Occasionally initial h is disregarded in ON and OE (Heusler §27): Sg.50,1 Þǫgðo allir, / hugðo at ráðom (all were silent, they considered what to say, initial h in hugðo can be ignored, otherwise no alliteration). Two kinds of  twofold alliteration (gekreuzt, crossed, ab/ab) and (umschliessender, enclosing, ab/ba) (Heusler §37). Þrk.3,4 ef ek minn hamar / mættak hitta (to see if I can find my hammer); Grp.43,2 Sigurðar ok Gunnars, / í sǫlom Giúka (Sigurd’s and Gunnar’s [wedding] in the halls of  Giuki); Rm.14,2 nú er Yngva konr / með oss kominn (now the of fspring of Yngvi [dwarf ’s name] has come to us); Sd.2,1 Lengi ek svaf, / lengi ek sofnuð var (Long I slept, / long have I slept); Sd.4,1 Heilir æsir, / heilar ásynior (Hail to the Aesir! Hail to the goddesses!); Gðr.II.11,2 á við, lesa / varga leifar (to the woods, to gather the leavings of the wolves); Od.15,4 ok suðr gefa / syni Grímhildar (and in the south to give to the son of Grimhild); Akv.16,2 sem hiálmom aringreypom, / at siá heim Atla (with helmets surrounding the hearth, to see the home of  Atli); Akv.19,1 Siau hió Hǫgni / sverði hvǫsso (Hogni hacked down seven with a keen sword); Hdl.4,1 Þór mun hon blóta, / þess mun hon biðia (she [Freyia] must sacrifice to Thor, she must ask for this); Hdl.16,1 Þaðan ero Skiǫldungar, / þaðan ero Skilfingar (from them come the Skioldungs, from them the Skilfings, also 16,2, 16,3); Hdl.28,3 Auðr diúpauðga / Ívars dóttir (Aud the deep-minded, daughter of  Ivar); Hunn.9,1 Hrís þat mæra, / er Myrkviðr heitir (The mighty forest, which is called Myrkwood); Þrk.16,1 Látom und hánom / hrynja lukla (Let keys jingle about him); Hym.12,2 svá forða sér,/ stendr súl fyrir (so they hide themselves and the pillar is in front of them); Od.25,1 Sendi Atli / áro sína (Atli sent his messengers). In cases like Vsp.19 Ask veit ek standa, /heitir Yggdrasill (I know that an ash-tree stands called Yggdrasil), the last word should be read 'Ygg  drasill, ' and the alliteration pattern is [ax/ax]. Words like sógoro should be read

Introduction

3

svá goro in Grp.24,2 Sigurðr við fylki / at sógoro (Sigurd must part from the king, things being as they are, also Grp.40,2). If one reads ofrgiǫld (requital) with the accent on ofr and giǫld in Rm.4,1 ofrgiǫld fá / gumna synir (the sons of men get a terrible requital), then giǫld and gumna alliterate. Br.12,2 þá var hvívetna / vilmál talið (then all sorts of pleasant words were spoken), 'hví'vetna alliterates with vilmál. The same stafr appears in both half-lines in Fm.29,1 Lengi liggia / létir þú þann lyngvi í (you would have left him long in the heather); Br.4,1 Sumir úlf sviðo, / sumir orm sniðo (some roasted wolf, some sliced serpent). A number of  lines do not have any alliteration available, e.g. Skm.1,1 Rístu nú, Skírnir, ok gakk at beiða (Get up now, Skirnir, and go to ask…), Hrbl.4,2 veiztattu fyrir gorla (you don’t know clearly what is before you), Þrk.28,3 Svaf vætr Freyia átta nóttom (Freyia did not sleep for eight nights); Sg.13,1 Reiðr varð Gunnarr / ok hnipnaði (Gunnar got angry and cast down); Gðr.II.19,1 Valdarr Dǫnom / með Iarizleifi (Valdar with the Danes, with Iarizleif ); Od.16,2 hana kvað hann óskmey / verða skyldo (he said she would be [Odin’s] beloved girl); Akv.35,1 Skævaði þá in skírleita, / veigar þeim at bera (then the bright-faced woman hastened to bring them drink; only in the first half-line, also at 40,1); Ghv.5,1 Urðo þér / brœðra hefndir (your brothers were avenged for you); Hm.19,1 Segia fóro / Iǫrmunrekki (they went to tell Iormunrekk); Hm.25,1 Þá hraut við / inn reginkunni (then he roared, the one versed in magic); Hunn.11,1 Ek mun bióða þér / fagrar veigar (I will give you beautiful drinks, also 15,4). Pronouns, otherwise unstresssed as function words, are contextually stressed as in Sg.48,1 Hné við bólstri / hon á annan veg (she fell backwards against the pillow, hon is stressed here?); Sg.58, 4 hon mun þér unna, / sem ek skyldak (she’ll love you as I ought to have done, with stressed ek). Likewise, otherwise seemingly unstressed ero (they are) is stressed in Sg.63,1 ero í varúðom / Iónakrs sonom (as for Ionakr’s sons, they are in careful attention). In ljóðaháttr (song form, e.g. Hávamál) the stanza consists of  two long lines with caesura, alternating with two lines containing three stresses and no caesura. Háv.36, 37 Bú er betra, þótt lítit sé (A farm of your own is better, even if small) has no alliteration available connecting the first and the second half-lines. Neither Háv.131,4 varan bið ek þik vera, / ok

4

Introduction

eigi ofvaran (I ask you to be cautious, but not over-cautious), but one can alliterate the lines if one reads 'of 'varan. Háv.22,1 Vesall maðr / ok illa skapi (a wretched man and of evil character) does not have any alliteration. Likewise at Hávamál 27,2 þat er bazt, / at hann þegi (it is best that he keeps silent) does not have any, unless one stresses the pronoun þat (if  I were a skáld, I would say ‘þat þykkir [instead of er] bazt, at hann þegi’). Also Hávamál 80,5 þá hefir hann bazt, ef hann þegir (then it is best for him if  he keeps silent). Háv.101,1 Ok nær morni, / er ek var enn um kominn (and near morning, when I came again) has no alliteration at all. Still another at Háv.159,4 fár kann ósnotr svá (few who are not wise know it, few fools know it); Grp.36,1 Mein ero fyr hǫndom, má ek líta þat (Harm lies ahead, I can see that).

Poetic Edda

From The Seeress’s Prophecy The Seeress’s Prophecy, Song of the Sibyl (Vǫlospá) is the most important section and stands at the head of the Codex Regius. It describes the creation of the world, the birth of Gods, giants and mankind, and the destruction of  the world with the suggestion of the arrival of a new world. The following examples are arranged in the order of alliterating letters. Á fellr austan /um eitrdala (Vsp.36,1) a river is falling from the east / through poisonous dales [á ‘river’, f.nom.sg.; fellr ‘it falls’, 3.sg.pres.of  falla ‘to fall’; austan, adv. ‘from east’; um, prep. ‘around, through’; eitrdala, m.acc.pl. ‘poisonous dale’, eitr, n. ‘poison’] alda bornom, / ørlǫg seggia. (Vsp.20,6) to the children of  the people/ the fate of mankind to tell [alda ‘of the people’, f.gen.pl. of ǫld; bornom ‘to the children’, n.dat.pl.of  barn; ørlǫg ‘fate’, n.acc.pl.of ørlǫg ‘fate’; seggia ‘to say, to tell’, inf.] gnýr allr iǫtunheimr, / æsir ro á þingi (Vsp.48,2) the whole giantland groans, / the gods are in council. [gnýr ‘it groans’, 3.sg.of gnýia ‘to groan’; allr ‘all’, m.nom.sg.; iǫtunheimr ‘giantland’, m.nom.sg.; æsir ‘gods’, m.nom.pl.of áss ‘god’; ro=ero ‘they are’; á, prep. ‘at, on’; þingi, n.dat.sg.of þing ‘assembly, meeting’] Ár var alda, / þat er Ymir bygði (Vsp.3,1) it was in the days of yore / that Ymir (the Proto-Giant) lived [ár, adv. ‘early’, var ‘it was’, alda, f.gen.pl.of ǫld ‘time, age’, ár var alda ‘it was in the days of yore’; þat, conj. ‘that’; þat er ‘when’; Ymir, the name of the Proto-Giant, from *yumyiaz, from *yemo ‘zwilling, zwitter’ ( Jan de Vries); byggði ‘he lived’, 3.sg.pret.of  byggia ‘to live’]

6

Poetic Edda

Ask ok Emblo, / ørlǫglausa (Vsp.17,4) Ask and Embla, / (Gods found them) fateless [Ask, m.acc.sg.of Askr ‘the first man, made of ash’; Emblo, f.acc.sg.of  Embla ‘the first woman, made of elm’; ørlǫglausa, acc.pl.of ørlǫglauss ‘fateless’] Ek sá Baldri, / blóðgom tívor (Vsp.31,1) I saw for Baldr / for the bloody God [ek ‘I’; sá ‘I saw’, 1.sg.pret.of siá ‘to see’; Baldri, dat.sg.of  Baldr, son of  Odin and Frigg, God of  Light, OE bealdor ‘prince, king’; blóðgom, m.dat.sg.of  blóðugr ‘bloody’; tívor, m.dat.sg.of  tívorr ‘sacrifice’] biórsalr iǫtuns… / enn sá Brimir heitir. (Vsp.37,4) a beer hall of  the giant / who is called Brimir [biórsalr ‘beer hall’, m.nom.sg.; iǫtuns ‘of the giant’, m.gen.sg.of iǫtunn ‘giant’; enn, conj. ‘but’; sá ‘he, who’, m.nom.sg.; Brimir, name of a giant; heitir ‘is called’, 3.sg.pres. of  heita ‘be called’, OE hātan] Þar kømr inn dimmi / dreki f liúgandi (Vsp.66,1) the dark / dragon comes f lying [þar, adv. ‘there’; kømr ‘he comes’, 3.sg.pres.of  koma ‘to come’; inn ‘the’, m.nom.sg.cf. hinn, demonstr.pron. ‘that, G.jener’; dimmi, weak m.nom.sg.of dimmr ‘dark’; dreki ‘dragon’, m.nom.sg.; f liúgandi ‘f lying’, pres.participle of  f liúga ‘to f ly’] hverr skyldi dverga / dróttin skepia (Vsp.9,3) who should make the king of  the dwarfs [hverr ‘who’, interrog.and relative pron., m.nom.sg.; skyldi ‘should’, pret.3.sg.of skal, skolo, pret.-pres.; dverga, gen.pl.m.of dvergr ‘dwarf ’; dróttin, acc.sg.m.of dróttinn ‘king, lord’; skepia, inf.of skepia ‘to make, shape, create’] á genguz eiðar / orð ok sœri (Vsp.26,3) oaths were broken / and words and swearings (were broken) [á ‘on, in’; á genguz ‘they were broken’, pret.3.pl.of gangask ‘to go against each other’ eiðar, m.nom.pl.of eiðr ‘oath’; orð, n.nom.pl.of orð ‘word’; ok, conj. ‘and’; sœri, n.pl.of sœri ‘swearing’]

Poetic Edda

7

um mun engi maðr / ǫðrom þyrma (Vsp.45,6) no one will show mercy / to others. [um, here pleonastic; mun ‘will’, pres.3.sg.of munu ‘shall, will’; engi ‘no one’, from einn gi ‘one-not, keiner’; maðr ‘man’; ǫðrom ‘to others’, m.dat. pl.of annarr ‘other, another’; þyrma ‘to show mercy, spare’, inf.] falla forsar, / f lýgr ǫrn yfir (Vsp.59,3) waterfalls fall, / an eagle f lies over. [falla ‘they fall’, 3.pl.pres.of  falla ‘to fall’; forsar ‘waterfalls’, pl.of  fors, m. cf. placename Helsingfors; f lýgr‘it f lies’, 3.sg.pres.of  f liúga ‘to f ly’; ǫrn ‘eagle’, m.nom.sg.; yfir, adv. ‘over’] ok á Fimbultýs / fornar rúnar. (Vsp.60,4) they remember the highest God’s old runes. [ok ‘and’; á ‘on’ (minnaz á ‘they remember’); Fimbultýs, gen.of  Fimbultýr ‘mighty god’, fimbul- ‘great, mighty, awful’; fornar, f.acc.pl.of  forn ‘old’; rúnar, f.acc.pl.of rún ‘rune’] enn Frigg um grét / í Fensǫlom (Vsp.33,3) Frigg (Baldr’s mother) wept / in Fensalir (Frigg’s hall) [enn, conj. ‘ but’; Frigg, f.nom.sg.wife of  Odin, the highest goddess; um, prep. ‘about, over’; grét ‘she wept’, 3.sg.pret.of gráta ‘to weep’; í, prep. ‘in, at’; Fensǫlom, dat.of Fensalir ‘marshy hall’, abode of the goddess Frigg] gap var ginnunga, / enn gras hvergi. (Vsp.3,4) there was yawning gap, / there was nowhere grass [gap, n.nom.sg. ‘gape’; var ‘it was, there was’; gap ginnunga, n.nom. sg. ‘the great void, primeval chaos’; enn, conj. ‘ but’; gras, n.nom. sg. ‘grass’; hvergi, adv. ‘nowhere’