Volsungasaga, part 3
Apr. 6th, 2014 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darchildreThe Saga of the Volsungs, chapters 15 through 23.
In which a sword is forged, Sigurd is revenged for the death of his father, there's a fight with a dragon, Sigurd learns to understand the language of birds, and we meet Brynhild! Also, there is a chapter devoted to telling us how hot and awesome Sigurd is. And we have hopefully figured out by now that every time there's a mysterious old man with a beard, that's Odin.
There's a good bit of poetry in this section, which contains some kennings* and weird names, so I'm going to explain those under a cut.
Chapter 17 contains this poem:
As Hnikar they hailed me
When Hugin I gladdened
And when, O young Volsung,
I vanquished.
Now you may address
The old man of this rock
As Feng or Fjolnir.
From here I would take passage.
Hnikar, Feng, and Fjolnir are three of Odin's huge collection of names. (There's a pretty comprehensive list on wikipedia, if you're interested.) Feng means "Fetcher" or "Catcher", Fjolnir means "Wise One" or "Concealer" and Hnikar means "Overthrower" or "Thruster". Hugin is one of Odin's ravens, and to gladden the ravens means to kill men in battle (thus providing carrion for said ravens).
Chapter 21 is about half poetry. I won't reproduce it all here - I'll just talk about the bits that might need explaining:
When Brynhild says, "And name Tyr twice," she is referring to the god Tyr, for whom one of the runes is named. Tyr is a warrior god who's good to call on in battle.
"Sail-steeds" are ships.
The Thing is a an assembly during which laws are made and lawsuits are dealt with. (If we do Njal's Saga, we will see a lot of the Thing.)
Hropt is yet another name for Odin (meaning "Sage").
Arvak and Alsvid are the horses that pull the chariot of the Sun goddess.
Hrungnir is a giant and I don't know why we're talking about him here.
Sleipnir is Odin's eight-legged horse.
Bragi is the god of poetry and eloquence.
Gaupnir is another name for Gungnir, Odin's spear.
The Aesir and Vanir are the two families of gods.
And "maple shaft of sharp weapons" is a kenning for warrior.
Previous parts of this saga can be found here. Enjoy!
*Kennings are a common feature of Norse poetry. They're a kind of poetic, metaphorical way of referring to things - for instance, in a poem one might say "the whale road" instead of "the sea". Sometimes, kennings get more complex or contain kennings within kennings. So you might have "the feeder of the swan of wounds," where "swan of wounds" means "raven" and "feeder of ravens" means "warrior".
It's assumed that the listener would understand the kenning, much like we would assume that a modern reader would understand if we said something like "it's raining cats and dogs," but since we aren't 13th century Icelanders, I will endeavor to explain the kennings we come across that don't seem immediately obvious. (For example, though the kenning "battlefield's ruler" was used in chapter 21 (meaning warrior), I thought you could probably figure that out.) If I ever skip one that you don't get, please let me know. I've been reading sagas and Norse mythology for a while now, and I sometimes forget what isn't obvious to people who don't do that. 8)
In which a sword is forged, Sigurd is revenged for the death of his father, there's a fight with a dragon, Sigurd learns to understand the language of birds, and we meet Brynhild! Also, there is a chapter devoted to telling us how hot and awesome Sigurd is. And we have hopefully figured out by now that every time there's a mysterious old man with a beard, that's Odin.
There's a good bit of poetry in this section, which contains some kennings* and weird names, so I'm going to explain those under a cut.
Chapter 17 contains this poem:
As Hnikar they hailed me
When Hugin I gladdened
And when, O young Volsung,
I vanquished.
Now you may address
The old man of this rock
As Feng or Fjolnir.
From here I would take passage.
Hnikar, Feng, and Fjolnir are three of Odin's huge collection of names. (There's a pretty comprehensive list on wikipedia, if you're interested.) Feng means "Fetcher" or "Catcher", Fjolnir means "Wise One" or "Concealer" and Hnikar means "Overthrower" or "Thruster". Hugin is one of Odin's ravens, and to gladden the ravens means to kill men in battle (thus providing carrion for said ravens).
Chapter 21 is about half poetry. I won't reproduce it all here - I'll just talk about the bits that might need explaining:
When Brynhild says, "And name Tyr twice," she is referring to the god Tyr, for whom one of the runes is named. Tyr is a warrior god who's good to call on in battle.
"Sail-steeds" are ships.
The Thing is a an assembly during which laws are made and lawsuits are dealt with. (If we do Njal's Saga, we will see a lot of the Thing.)
Hropt is yet another name for Odin (meaning "Sage").
Arvak and Alsvid are the horses that pull the chariot of the Sun goddess.
Hrungnir is a giant and I don't know why we're talking about him here.
Sleipnir is Odin's eight-legged horse.
Bragi is the god of poetry and eloquence.
Gaupnir is another name for Gungnir, Odin's spear.
The Aesir and Vanir are the two families of gods.
And "maple shaft of sharp weapons" is a kenning for warrior.
Previous parts of this saga can be found here. Enjoy!
*Kennings are a common feature of Norse poetry. They're a kind of poetic, metaphorical way of referring to things - for instance, in a poem one might say "the whale road" instead of "the sea". Sometimes, kennings get more complex or contain kennings within kennings. So you might have "the feeder of the swan of wounds," where "swan of wounds" means "raven" and "feeder of ravens" means "warrior".
It's assumed that the listener would understand the kenning, much like we would assume that a modern reader would understand if we said something like "it's raining cats and dogs," but since we aren't 13th century Icelanders, I will endeavor to explain the kennings we come across that don't seem immediately obvious. (For example, though the kenning "battlefield's ruler" was used in chapter 21 (meaning warrior), I thought you could probably figure that out.) If I ever skip one that you don't get, please let me know. I've been reading sagas and Norse mythology for a while now, and I sometimes forget what isn't obvious to people who don't do that. 8)
