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9 - Place names in eddic poetry
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- By Stefan Brink, University of Aberdeen, John Lindow, University of California
- Edited by Carolyne Larrington, University of Oxford, Judy Quinn, University of Cambridge, Brittany Schorn, University of Cambridge
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- Book:
- A Handbook to Eddic Poetry
- Published online:
- 05 August 2016
- Print publication:
- 19 August 2016, pp 173-189
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Summary
There have been few analyses of place-name usage in Old Norse poetry. We have the odd article discussing names in poems such as Ynglingatal (e.g. Noreen 1925; Åkerlund 1939; Vikstrand 2004) and, of course, the related Old English Beowulf and Widsið. There are many cases where single names found in eddic poetry have been commented on and etymologised, but no one has, to our knowledge, taken a holistic approach to this material. The personal names of gods, goddesses, giants, dvergar (‘dwarfs’), etc. in the poems have attracted more interest (for an overview, see Mundal 1990). Our aims in this chapter are: first, to outline some of the material; second, to probe the meaning of the names (hence their etymology); and third, to see if there are any noticeable tendencies indicative of toponymic ‘genres’, especially between the mythological and the heroic poems. It is impossible to cover all the place names mentioned in the Codex Regius here; therefore, we concentrate on three of the most important poems for mythological place names – Vǫluspá, Vafþrúðnismál, and Grímnismál – taking them as samples which may enable us to draw some conclusions. One would expect the mythological poems to contain descriptive, fictional names, enhancing the mythic story, while in the heroic poems more ‘real-world’ place names might be expected, employed to situate the heroes within a European heroic past. The skaldic poems, in particular Ynglingatal, have many more place names; these add plausibility to the historical claims made in the poems, although the geographical designations may or may not be historically valid.
Names comprise an important element of frœði, or mythological knowledge. Take Vafþrúðnismál, a contest of frœði, for instance. The wisest of all giants asks his unknown interlocutor for four names: two personal names and two place names, and when he answers all four correctly, Vafþrúðnir admits: fróðr ertu nú, gestr (Vm 19/1) (‘wise you are now, guest’). Óðinn, on the other hand, asks for narratives instead: the origin of the cosmos, of earth, day, the seasons, and so forth, and then finally the details of ragnarǫk. In some cases the answers are little more than personal names, such as Vindsvalr, Svásuðr, or Hræsvelgr, but some of the narratives require toponyms.
6 - Eddic poetry and mythology
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- By John Lindow, University of California
- Edited by Carolyne Larrington, University of Oxford, Judy Quinn, University of Cambridge, Brittany Schorn, University of Cambridge
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- Book:
- A Handbook to Eddic Poetry
- Published online:
- 05 August 2016
- Print publication:
- 19 August 2016, pp 114-131
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
Introduction
When the Germanic peoples – the ancestors of the English, Germans, and Scandinavians – met the Romans during the first centuries CE, they translated the Roman weekday names bearing the names of Roman deities. Thus, we know that Týr (Tuesday), Óðinn (Wednesday), Þórr (Thursday), and Frigg (Friday), to use the names in their Old Norse forms, must have been worshipped or at least known in pre-Christian times across the Germanic speech area, and many other sources support this conclusion. Also, in the Interpretatio romana (ch. 43) of the Roman historian Tacitus’ Germania (Benario 1999), we can easily recognise traits of Óðinn, Þórr, and Týr in descriptions of Mercury, Hercules, and Mars among the Germani, and in doing so we postulate the existence of narratives (myths) about these deities. Such narratives were almost certainly in verse. Since we can reconstruct the existence of alliterative poetry in early Germanic times on the basis of the verse that has survived in Old English, Old High German, Old Saxon, and Old Norse (and on runic inscriptions, many of which technically precede what we call Old Norse), we may infer that mythological alliterative poetry existed among the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, Germans, and Scandinavians. For the most part, however, such poetry has survived only in Old Norse. The exception is some charm poetry in Old English and Old High German, where names of mythological beings seem to figure. These include the Old English Charm Against a Sudden Stitch (Elves) and Charm Against Unfruitful Land (Erce, mother of earth) and, especially, the Old English Nine Herbs Charm, which shows Woden (~ Óðinn) in a healing role.
Wyrm com snican, toslat he man;
ða genam Woden VIIII wuldortanas,
sloh ða þa næddran, þæt heo on VIIII tofleah.
þær geændade æppel and attor,
þæt heo næfre ne wolde on hus bugan.