From: Blanc Voden
Message: 6843
Date: 2006-08-07
--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@...> wrote:
>
> > Nú tók Svanur til orða og geispaði mjög: "Nú sækja að fylgjur
Ósvífurs."
> MM & HP: "At that moment Svan had a fit of yawning and announced,
> "Osvif's fetches are attacking us." The first part more literally:
> "Now S. started speaking and yawned much..."
>
> `fylgjur' (sg. fylgja) are supernatural "accompaniers" (according
to
> the usual etymology), spirits or fetches, not the men who have
come to
> help Osvífr, who are referred to later as his `förunautar'.
According
> to Rudolf Simek's Dictionary of Northern Mythology, trans. Angela
> Hall, `fylgjur' are "The souls of people but separate from their
> bodies. The `fylgjur' of Old Norse literature are only seen in
dreams
> or else by people capable of seeing them with supernatural powers.
> They appear in the shapes of women and animals, but are a kind of
> doppelgänger of a person and can act or else appear instead of him
as
> an ominous sign." Apparently the ability to see one's own `fylgja'
> might also betoken one's impending death: `þú munt vera feigr maðr
ok
> muntu hafa sét fylgju þína.' Comparing and contrasting them with
the
> Christian idea of the soul, he writes that they "leave a person at
his
> death and become independent beings" and "can transfer to
relations so
> that a certain relationship of the `fylgjur' to the family must be
> assumed." He also compares them to the Roman `genii' and Christian
> `guardian angels'. "They are more than these, as they are bound
by a
> belief in destiny, and they stand in association to the personified
> luck of a person, the `hamingja'. The word `fylgja' is thought to
be
> related to the ON verb `fylgja' "follow", and as such would
actually
> mean "following spirit", "wraith", but a connexion with
`fulga' "skin,
> cover; caul" and `fylgja' "afterbirth" cannot be totally
rejected"."
> As protective supernatural females, their role seems similar to
that
> of the `dísir' (often translated "goddesses"), but I don't know to
> what extent these concepts overlap. Here is a collection of Old
Norse
> quotes dealing with `fylgjur' and related entities [
> http://www.hi.is/~terry/ntfylgjur.htm ].
>
> According to the school's edition notes: Svanur fær aðsókn. Það er
> alþekkt trú á Íslandi og Noregi að fornu og nýju að menn geispi
eða þá
> syfji þegar sótt er að þeim, sbr. t.d. Finnboga sögu ramma (669) og
> Þorsteins þátt uxafóts (2312). "S. gets a premonition in the form
of
> an attack of yawning or feeling abnormally drowsy (aðsókn). It is
a
> well known belief in Iceland and Norway, in both ancient and modern
> times, that people will yawn or become drowsy when they're going to
> get a visit, compare for example Finnboga saga ramma (669) and
> Þorsteins saga uxafóts (2312)." Another example, the `völva'
> (seeress) in Hrólfs saga kraka yawns a lot when she starts to
identify
> the princes with seid-magic. Apparently the belief is that the
> yawning is caused by these fylgjur (fetches / guardian spirits),
> either sent deliberately, or just going on ahead of the approaching
> person. There are a few explanations here [
> http://lexis.hi.is/cgi-bin/ritmal/leitord.cgi?
adg=daemi&n=32616&s=4042&l=a%F0s%F3kn
> ], including this one: "eru það nefndar aðsóknir, þegar einhver
þykist
> finna á sér ónot, óró, máttleysi, eða svefnsókn fyrir gestakomu."
> "That is called `aðsóknir' (pl.) when someone feels unease or
weakness
> or has an attack of sleepiness before a visit."
>
>
> > Svanur tók geitskinn eitt og veifði yfir höfuð sér
> MM & HP: "Svan took a goatskin and swung it round his head."
>
> Schools edition: hér er um að ræða galdrabragð og kemur það fyrir í
> talshættinum "veifa (vefja) héðni um höfuð e-m" (sbr. Eyrbyggju
558 og
> Grettlu 1054). VEIFÐI: veifaði. "A magical technique is being
> described here. It also occurs in the expression `swing (wrap) a
skin
> round someone's head', cf. Eybyggja saga 558 and Grettis saga
1054."
> Zoega defines that idiom "to hoodwink one". I wonder if this is
> related in any way to the traditional saga method of killing
witches,
> which involved putting a skin bag over their head. I had assumed
this
> was so that the executioners wouldn't have to look them in the eye
(to
> avoid remorse or being cursed, which I guess psychologically might
> amount to the same thing). A sort of hoisting them with their own
> petard? Or just coincidence?
>
>
> > og verði skrípi
> Could also be plural, as MM & HP have translated. Likewise
`undr'.
> They have "phantoms...weird marvels". The older spelling `undr' is
> just used here because it's verse. Patricia's "weird stuff" is
about
> the right for neutrality I think, although it might diminish it to
> sound too colloquial? MM & HP translate a later
occurrence "uncanny
> events", which I quite like. Marvels and wonders, to me, have
> something of a positive connotation, as if it might be something
> amazingly beautiful or admirable in some way, a sense of awe, or
else
> it has a connotation of fairground / circus advertising, or just
> surprise in the set phrase `it's a wonder' = "it's surprising
that..."
> How do other people feel? The word `undr' covers all sorts of
> strange occurrences in sagas, including unpleasant and sinister
> phenomena, supernatural killings and so forth. Just the impression
> I've got from my limited reading... It sounds a little archaic to
me
> to use `marvel' or `wonder' in this broader sense for anything
> strange, bad things included. Not that archaic is necessarily out
of
> place here; might be a matter of style.
>
>
> > á hálsinn
> Schools edition: Bjarnarfjarðarháls.
>
>
> > og gengu í fen ofan sjálfir
> Patricia, `sjálfir' is masculine nominative plural, and I think
refers
> to the men themselves (as opposed to their horses, which may also
be
> sinking, but I think this is just emphasising that even the men
were
> sinking). `fen' is neuter accusative (plural?) here, so if the
> adjective had been referring to that it would have been `sjálf',
of if
> singular `sjálft'. For the word order, compare `Þeir gengu út
báðir'
> "They both went out.
>
>
> > svo að þeim hélt við meiðingar
> "so that they were on the verge of [sustaining] unjuries"
> MM & HP "so that they were in danger of injury"
> (distinguished from other senses of `halda við' by accusative)
>
>
> > Þeir töpuðu af sér vopnunum.
> "They lost their weapons."
>
>
> > "Ef eg fyndi hesta mína og vopn þá mundi eg aftur hverfa."
> "If I found (MM & HP: could find) my horses and weapons, then I
would
> turn back", plural.
>
>
> > Þá eggjuðu margir á að enn skyldi við leita um atreiðina og var
það
> gert og urðu þeim þegar hin sömu undur.
> "Then many urged that they should still make the attempt (go on
with
> the attempt) at riding there, and that's what they did, but they
were
> instantly met with the same weird phenomena." MM & HP: "uncanny
> events". Neuter nominative plural, the same as the nominative
> singular, but note the plural verb `urðu' and inflections on the
> article and weak adjective, `hin sömu'. School's edition notes:
> ATREIÐ: það að ríða að e-m "riding to someone."
>
>
> Patricia: "And this happened three times (some folk never learn)"
> But it's a tale. You have to do things three times in tales. It's
> the rule!
>
>
> > Þá mælti Ósvífur: "Þó að förin sé eigi góð þá skal þó nú aftur
> hverfa. Nú skulum vér gera ráð vort í annan stað og hefi eg það
helst
> í hug mér að fara og finna Höskuld föður Hallgerðar og beiða hann
> sonarbóta því að þar er sæmdar von sem nóg er til."
>
> Schools edition: ÞAR ER SÆMDAR VON ER NÓG ER TIL: helst er að leita
> sæmdar þar sem gnægðir eru fyrir. "The best place to look for
honour
> is where there is an abundance." MM & HP: "Finally Osvif said, `We
> have had no success on this expedition, but even so we must turn
back.
> We must resort to other plans. What I have chiefly in mind is to
go
> to se Hoskuld and ask him for compensation for my son. One may
look
> for honour where honour abounds.'" See also the proverbs
concordance:
> Then Osvif said, "Though our trip has led to no good, we must turn
> back. We'll try another plan, and what I have in mind now is to go
to
> Hoskuld to ask him for compensation for my son we can expect to
find
> honour where there is plenty of it." [
> http://www.usask.ca/english/icelanders/proverbs_BNS.html ].
>
>
> > og er nú ekki fyrr frá að segja en þeir koma á Höskuldsstaði.
> "and there's nothing to tell of now till they come to Hoskuld's
place."
> `fyrr en' "before"
> (-staði, accusative plural of masculine i-stem staðr.)
> This is a sort of set phrase or formula, very commonly used for
> describing journeys in saga: nothing significant happened, there's
> nothing to report till they reach their destination.
>
>
> > Þar var þá fyrir með Höskuldi Hrútur bróðir hans.
> "There with Hoskuld then was his brother Hrut."
> In this context, `fyrir' just means "there", "present".
>
>
> > og er það eigi allra manna að sækja hann þangað.
> MM & HP: "and it is not everyone who can reach him there."
> More understatement...
>