Hi Alan,
Yes, I did take it for the neuter 'oeði', meaning in
this case
"nature". I just assumed that the implication of the sentence
was
that his normal nature was shown by him coming, thus
demonstrating
that he was in no way impotent, even though he couldn't
have
penetrative intercourse with his wife. Interesting that we
reached
different conclusions though, even though I think we interpreted
the
literal meaning and grammar the same. What does everyone else
think?
I suppose part of the reason I was thinking along these lines
was
that the story, having built up this expectation that Gunnhild
has
enchanted away his manhood, it then almost goes out of its way
to
demonstrate that the situation isn't like that after all, and to
cast
no slur on his manliness (or that of his descendents, if they
were
among the sagas original audience?), so it goes through each of
the
things that you might suspect were wrong with him, and
establishes
that they aren't, just this one problem with this one woman.
To
complete the picture, we later find out that he has no deficiency
in
respect of fertility either.
Llama Nom
--- In norse_course@ yahoogroups. com,
"AThompson" <athompso@.. .> wrote:
>
> Am I missing
something here? The discussion seems to be suggesting that
> `í æði
sínu'is translated as in his frenzy = climax/orgasm, based on the
>
feminine noun `æði' But surely the noun is the neuter noun `æði' (note
>
the neut dat sg pronoun sínu) which Zoega gives the meaning nature,
>
disposition, mind. Note also that `sem aðrir menn' can mean like other
>
human beings, ie not necessarily males. Taken together, I took this
mean
> that Hrút having briefly become some kind of supernatural monster
with a
> gigantic (and therefore somewhat ineffective) phallus simply
resumed
> normal human characteristics and form.
>
>
Kveðja
> Alan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
norse_course@ yahoogroups. com
[mailto:norse_course@ yahoogroups. com]
>
On Behalf Of llama_nom
> Sent: Tuesday, 11 July 2006 4:55 AM
> To:
norse_course@ yahoogroups. com
>
Subject: [norse_course] Re: Nature
>
> --- In HYPERLINK
>
"mailto:norse_ course%40yahoogr oups.com" norse_course@ ...,
>
"Blanc Voden" <uoden@> wrote:
> >
> > "EftirLæti" same
as saying he did not have organism
>
> Þegar hann kemur við mig
þá er hörund hans svo mikið að hann má ekki
> eftirlæti hafa við mig en
þó höfum við bæði breytni til þess á alla
> vega að við mættum njótast
en það verður ekki. En þó áður við skiljum
> sýnir hann það af sér að
hann er í æði sínu rétt sem aðrir menn.
>
> I took this to mean
that he did ejaculate eventually (just not in
> her), and that is how he
showed himself to be "exactly like other men".