Re: More Ragnarsdrápa

Hi Haukur!

Very interesting. It's a problem I've been wrestling with for some time
(pronouncing Old Norse, that is)...

I had a particular question about the ligature "æ" in "mæri". According to E.
V. Gordon, it's meant to be a diphthong like "ai" in "samurai", but in
another recording (from Sequentia's "Edda"), it's treated as OE "æsc" (ie.
ModE "a" in "hat"). Your pronunciation was closer to "ei" as heard in ModE
"pay". Is this how it's pronounced in Modern Icelandic, a slip of the tongue,
or how it's meant to be pronounced in ON? If it is ON pronunciation, how is
it pronounced in ModI? Just curious...

BTW, have you had a chance to look at my "þar var skorinn á Þórr" question?

Thanks,

Dan

Haukur Thorgeirsson wrote:

> Inspired (shall we say) by professor Lindow I tried
> reading the first two half stanzas of Ragnarsdrápa with
> my attempt at a reconstructed pronunciation.
> What I think are some of my greatest problem
> (in following the RP - the RP may have problems
> of its own but that's not what I'm talking about) are:
>
> 1. Getting vowel length correct in situations
> which do not exist in Icelandic - that is a short
> vowel followed by a short consonant or a long vowel
> followed by a long consonant. A good example is the
> first word, 'vilið'.
>
> 2. Voicing 'b', 'g' and 'd'.
>
> 3. Getting the correct value of 'o', especially to
> get the long version from becoming a diphthong.
>
> http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/ragn1_2b.mp3
>
> Vilið Hrafnketill heyra,
> hvé hreingróit steini
> Þrúðar skalk ok þengil
> þjófs ilja blað leyfa.
>
> Nema svát góð ens gjalla
> gjöld baugnafaðs vildi
> meyjar hjóls enn mæri
> mögr Sigurðar Högna.
>
> (Finnur Jónsson's version)
>
> Oh yes, and one more thing. My recording equipment
> is so bad that I have to half-shout the poetry into
> the microphone to get a high signal-to-noice ratio.
> Maybe that's how it should be read anyhow - and maybe
> not.
>
> If there's any interest I can read the rest of the drápa
> and maybe make a version with modern pronunciation as well.
>
> Kveðja,
> Haukur
>
>
> Sumir hafa kvæði...
> ...aðrir spakmæli.
>
> - Keth
>
> Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
>
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--
Daniel Bray
dbray@...
School of Studies in Religion A20
University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia