Notes on Alliteration in the Poetic Edda

• Authors: Tadao Shimomiya
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The Berlin Anglicist and linguist Martin Lehnert (1955: 33) says that there are some 30,000 alliterative lines in Old English, 7,300 Eddic long lines, 6,000 and 335 in Old Saxon (Heliand and Genesis) and 200 in Old High German (Hildebrandslied, Muspilli etc.). The following contains some notes on alliteration in the Poetic Edda. The three main types of alliteration ([a] for alliterating, [x] for not alliterating stave) are [aa/ax] [ax/ax] and [xa/ax]. There are, however, a number of cases where the principal stave (Hauptstab, hofuðstafr, Snorri Sturluson, c.1220, quoted from A. Heusler 1918-1919, §35) is not in the normal place. Moreover, there are also several lines where no alliteration is available, and where, although I am not a medieval Icelandic poet, I would compose the line to make it more alliterative. Toward the end of the article is given a select list of 50 alphabetically arranged alliterations from the Poetic Edda.

Keywords

EN

Old Norse; Poetic Edda; alliteration

• Publisher: Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk
• Journal: Lingua Posnaniensis
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 79-84

Dates

published

2010-01-01

online

2011-02-16

Contributors

author

Tadao Shimomiya

• Tokorozawa City, Kamiarai 4-73-24, Japan 359-1142

References

• Bellow Henry Adams (tr.). 1923. The Poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. (Dover Publications, New York, 2004 contains the first part, Lays of the Gods, only).
• Gering Hugo. 1892. Die Edda. Übersetzt und erläutert von Hugo Gering. Leipzig und Wien (Meyers Klassiker-Ausgaben in 150 Bänden).
• Gering Hugo. 1903. Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda. Reprint Hildesheim 1971.
• Gordon E. V. (second edition revised by A. R. Taylor, 1957). An Introduction to Old Norse. Oxford University Press.
• Heusler Andreas. 1918-1919. "Stabreim." In: Hoops 1918-1919: 231-240.
• Hoops Johannes (ed.). 1918-1919. Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. Bd. 4. Strassburg.
• Kuhn Hans (ed.). 1962-1968. Edda. Die Lieder des Codex regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. I. Text. Dritte, umgearbeitete Auflage. II. Kurzes Wörterbuch. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
• La Farge Beatrice, Tucker John (eds.). 1992. Glossary to the Poetic Edda. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
• Larrington Carolyne (trans.). 1999. The Poetic Edda. Oxford: The World's Classics. [The translation is text faithful and reader friendly].
• Lehnert Martin. 19553. Altenglisches Elementarbuch. (Sammlung Göschen Bd. 1125). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. [Prof. Lehnert (1910-1992) of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin was one of my first teachers through books which taught me what Germanic and historical linguistics is].
• Möbius Theodor. 1963. Altnordisches Glossar. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (reprint of Leipzig 1866).
• Nygaard Marius. 1964. Gammelnorsk lesebok for gymnasiet. 16de utgave ved Trygve Knudsen. Bergen. Ed. B. Giertsen.
• Ranke Friedrich. 1937. Altnordisches Elementarbuch. (Sammlung Göschen Bd. 1115). Berlin und Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter.
• Ranke Friedrich, Hofmann Dietrich. 1967. Altnordisches Elementarbuch. (Sammlung Göschen Bd.1115/a/b) Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
• Shimomiya Tadao (forthcoming). Alliteration in the Poetic Edda.
• Simrock Karl. 1987. Die Edda. Essen, Phaidon Verlag, 2. Aufl. The first edition of Simrock's translation is 1851.
• Vries Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2. Aufl. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10122-010-0015-9