Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/55

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OLD NORSE LITERATURE.

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(metaphors) which must have at least two, but may have more members. Thus we find for instance that gold is called Freyjas's tears (referring to the myth in which Freyja is said to have wept golden tears when she was deserted by her husband Od); that the gallows are called Hagbard's steed (referring to the legend according to which the young Norwegian hero, the lover of the Danish princess, was hung); that a warrior is called the wielder of the sword; a sword, the fire of the shield; a shield, the war-roof; so that, instead of warrior, we may say, the wielder of the fire of the war-roof. The interpretation becomes still more difficult from the fact that when two things have the same name, then a metaphor that stands for the one can represent the other as well. Thus the word lind means both a ship and a shield, and consequently every metaphor used for a shield may be applied to a ship, and vice versa. How far this may be carried is illustrated by a skald who, instead of the word flake (fioki — snow-flake), used the word tree (trè). His right to do so appears from the following analysis: Instead of floki one may say sky (cloud); instead of sky, hrafn (raven); instead of hrafn, hestr (steed); instead of hestr, marr (mare); instead of marr, sær (sea); instead of sær, viðir (ocean); instead of viðir, viðr (wood); instead of viðr, bein (bone); instead of bein, teinn (twig); and instead of teinn, trè.^[1]

↑ In order to convey a more distinct idea of how these metaphors appeared in the verses of the skalds, we refer our readers to the example of a Dróttkvæði, which we gave on page 36. The stanza is taken from the Icelandic skald Gunlaug Ormstunga (the serpent-tongued). We here append a literal translation, with notes on the metaphors: "The moon of the eye-brows¹ of the white-clad goddess of the onion soup² shone beaming on me as that of a falcon from the clear heaven of the eye-brows,³ but the beaming splendor from the moon of the eyelids⁴ of the goddess of the gold ring⁵ causes since then the unhappiness of me and of the goddess of the ring." ⁶
¹The moon of the eye-brows, the eye. ²The goddess of the onion soup, i.e., the one who prepares the onion soup is a "poetical" (!) metaphor for woman. ³The heaven of the eye-brows, the forehead. ⁴The moon of the eye-lids, the eye. ⁵The goddess of the gold ring, and ⁶the goddess of the ring, are expressions for woman.
In prose this would then mean: "The eye of the white-clad woman shone beaming as that of a falcon on me from her forehead, but the beaming splendor of her eye causes mine and the woman's unhappiness.

[1] In order to convey a more distinct idea of how these metaphors appeared in the verses of the skalds, we refer our readers to the example of a Dróttkvæði, which we gave on page 36. The stanza is taken from the Icelandic skald Gunlaug Ormstunga (the serpent-tongued). We here append a literal translation, with notes on the metaphors: "The moon of the eye-brows¹ of the white-clad goddess of the onion soup² shone beaming on me as that of a falcon from the clear heaven of the eye-brows,³ but the beaming splendor from the moon of the eyelids⁴ of the goddess of the gold ring⁵ causes since then the unhappiness of me and of the goddess of the ring." ⁶
¹The moon of the eye-brows, the eye. ²The goddess of the onion soup, i.e., the one who prepares the onion soup is a "poetical" (!) metaphor for woman. ³The heaven of the eye-brows, the forehead. ⁴The moon of the eye-lids, the eye. ⁵The goddess of the gold ring, and ⁶the goddess of the ring, are expressions for woman.
In prose this would then mean: "The eye of the white-clad woman shone beaming as that of a falcon on me from her forehead, but the beaming splendor of her eye causes mine and the woman's unhappiness.

[1]