[norse_course] Re: Ellisifjardrápa

> Oopsh, that should have been: "skínn á skildi mínum." Or is the
> 2nd 'n' of 'skínn' taken as part of the next syllable?

Duh, okay, sorry. Wasn't thinking.
Yes, there are some rhymes like that.

"áss hretviðri blásinn" - Þórsdrápa

This was apparently considered a blemish
but a permissable one.

>> Well, it's certainly a very poor rhyme with
>> the modern pronunciation but I suppose it might
>> have worked when it was composed.
>
> How?

Nowadays the cluster 'kl' is pronounced [hkl]
but the 'k' in 'rekinn' is pronounced [c].

> Or did you mean it might have had completely different words
> originally? I guess the modern pronunciation would also make the
> rhythm weird in a line like this, since it depends on the
> distinction between long and short vowels.

One might think - but it's actually not so bad.
Or at least I like it anyway and I don't think
it sounds any better when I (pretentiously) try
to follow the reconstructed pronunciation.

>> It is what Snorri called a 'nýgjörving'.
>
> What's that?

A new kenning or a set of kennings, ideally
with a continuous metaphor. See the 6th stanza
of Háttatal and Snorri's explanation of it.

> I think the writer of Göngu-
> Hrólfs saga gets a bit carried away at times, and I didn´t really
> get into the story of that one, although there´s a funny bit which
> Ralph O´Connor quotes in his Viking Histories and Romances, where
> England has just been alluded to in the saga, and the author feels
> obliged to take time out from the story to give us a geographical
> rundown of the country, its principle towns and major exports, etc.,
> etc.

Oh, it's not so bad - it's just a little blurb ;)

"England er kallat gagnauðigast land af Vestrlöndum, því at þar er blásinn
allr málmr, ok þar fellr hveiti ok vín, ok alls konar sæði má þar hafa.
Eru þar ok klæði gerð ok margháttaðir vefir meir en í öðrum stöðum.
Lundúnaborg er þar höfuðstaðr ok Kantaraborg. Þar er Skarðaborg ok
Helsingjaborg, Víncestr ok margir aðrir staðir ok borgir, er hér eru eigi
nefndir. "

What I think is weird is that this introduction
to England comes near the end of the story whereas
the first mention of the country is near the beginning.

> Tilbúinn. Tilbúinn. Samþykkt. Tilbúinn. Árás! Já.

Hah! I'll fight back your pitiful hersir rush,
boom into mythic and crush you with the titan.

Kveðja,
Haukur