Darraðarljóð and Njáls saga
Abstract
A traditional, anonymous poem spoken by valkyries, exulting in the death of one warrior and the protection of another, is quoted in full in one of the last chapters of Njals saga. The prosimetric shift disturbs the generic expectations of the Islendingasogur on a number of levels: poetic quotations are conventionally of only a single stanza, spoken by characters in the saga; the narrative context at this point in the saga is a pious account of the death of the Irish King Brian; and the circumstances described in the poem do not correspond neatly to the prose account. In this essay I explore why such an unexpected poem might have been incorporated into the saga at this point in the narrative, when the focus of the final chapters of the saga is squarely on Kari Sǫlmundarson and his dangerous but ultimately successful single-handed vengeance mission against the burners of Njall and his family.
Abstract
A traditional, anonymous poem spoken by valkyries, exulting in the death of one warrior and the protection of another, is quoted in full in one of the last chapters of Njals saga. The prosimetric shift disturbs the generic expectations of the Islendingasogur on a number of levels: poetic quotations are conventionally of only a single stanza, spoken by characters in the saga; the narrative context at this point in the saga is a pious account of the death of the Irish King Brian; and the circumstances described in the poem do not correspond neatly to the prose account. In this essay I explore why such an unexpected poem might have been incorporated into the saga at this point in the narrative, when the focus of the final chapters of the saga is squarely on Kari Sǫlmundarson and his dangerous but ultimately successful single-handed vengeance mission against the burners of Njall and his family.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Vorwort VII
- Inhaltsverzeichnis XI
- The Finn Episode in Beowulf: Its Beginning, its Conclusion, and Some Further Textual Notes 1
- Manuskript-Runen im Kontext des medizinisch-botanischen Schrifttums: Zur Funktion bestimmter Runeneinträge 19
- Eddische Dichtung und skandinavische Ballade: Eine schwierige Nachbarschaft 33
- Í eino briósti ec sác aldregi fleiri forna stafi. Der Begriff stafr in der eddischen Dichtung und den metrischen Runeninschriften 53
- Die dreizehn Geschichten auf dem Runenstein von Rök 65
- The Porosity of Kennings and Kenning Patterns 85
- Überlegungen zur Bild- und Runenritzung von Aspö in Södermanland (Sö 175) 95
- The Term rekit in Háttalykill and Háttatal 109
- Norwegian runestones with inscriptions in the older Futhark: a socio-topographical sketch from an archaeological point of view 121
- The Fatal Role of Women in Medieval Icelandic Literature – the example of Njáls saga 147
- The Northernmost Runic alu 163
- Was ist die Mehrzahl von „Milch“? Lexikalische Plurale im Nordfriesischen und im Jütischen 169
- Gamle fund – nye opdagelser 193
- Hier mun standa stainn at merki: Ett par bidrag till tolkningen av inskriften på Hogränstenen (G 203) 205
- Love and Eroticism in Medieval Norwegian Runic Inscriptions 217
- Ironische Kenningar 233
- Was bedeuten die Runen rmþï in der Runeninschrift auf dem Stein von By? 243
- Unsichtbare Grabhügel 261
- The phonological systems of Biblical Gothic and Crimean Gothic compared 277
- Bergakker Revisited 291
- Darraðarljóð and Njáls saga 299
- Die Überlieferung des Jütischen Gesetzes (1241) 315
- Fuþorc Rune 31: Überlegungen zu Form und Funktion 323
- Historische Anthropologie in der Altnordistik 339
- Hans Kuhn, das Nordische Institut und die Anfänge der Nordfriesischen Wörterbuchstelle 347
- The name of the rune æsċ: The Transformation of the Common Germanic rune *ansuz to Pre-OE rune æsċ 363
- A far-travelled word: Old Norse skeið ʻracecourse, running trackʼ in early literature and place-names 379
- Þórr and wading 411
- Interdisziplinäre Interpretation: Theoretische Grundlagen und methodische Ansätze 429
- Schriftenverzeichnis Edith Marold 449
- Indices 463
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Vorwort VII
- Inhaltsverzeichnis XI
- The Finn Episode in Beowulf: Its Beginning, its Conclusion, and Some Further Textual Notes 1
- Manuskript-Runen im Kontext des medizinisch-botanischen Schrifttums: Zur Funktion bestimmter Runeneinträge 19
- Eddische Dichtung und skandinavische Ballade: Eine schwierige Nachbarschaft 33
- Í eino briósti ec sác aldregi fleiri forna stafi. Der Begriff stafr in der eddischen Dichtung und den metrischen Runeninschriften 53
- Die dreizehn Geschichten auf dem Runenstein von Rök 65
- The Porosity of Kennings and Kenning Patterns 85
- Überlegungen zur Bild- und Runenritzung von Aspö in Södermanland (Sö 175) 95
- The Term rekit in Háttalykill and Háttatal 109
- Norwegian runestones with inscriptions in the older Futhark: a socio-topographical sketch from an archaeological point of view 121
- The Fatal Role of Women in Medieval Icelandic Literature – the example of Njáls saga 147
- The Northernmost Runic alu 163
- Was ist die Mehrzahl von „Milch“? Lexikalische Plurale im Nordfriesischen und im Jütischen 169
- Gamle fund – nye opdagelser 193
- Hier mun standa stainn at merki: Ett par bidrag till tolkningen av inskriften på Hogränstenen (G 203) 205
- Love and Eroticism in Medieval Norwegian Runic Inscriptions 217
- Ironische Kenningar 233
- Was bedeuten die Runen rmþï in der Runeninschrift auf dem Stein von By? 243
- Unsichtbare Grabhügel 261
- The phonological systems of Biblical Gothic and Crimean Gothic compared 277
- Bergakker Revisited 291
- Darraðarljóð and Njáls saga 299
- Die Überlieferung des Jütischen Gesetzes (1241) 315
- Fuþorc Rune 31: Überlegungen zu Form und Funktion 323
- Historische Anthropologie in der Altnordistik 339
- Hans Kuhn, das Nordische Institut und die Anfänge der Nordfriesischen Wörterbuchstelle 347
- The name of the rune æsċ: The Transformation of the Common Germanic rune *ansuz to Pre-OE rune æsċ 363
- A far-travelled word: Old Norse skeið ʻracecourse, running trackʼ in early literature and place-names 379
- Þórr and wading 411
- Interdisziplinäre Interpretation: Theoretische Grundlagen und methodische Ansätze 429
- Schriftenverzeichnis Edith Marold 449
- Indices 463