The Hávamál ("Words of the High One") is a circa 900 A.D. text from the Viking era that survives in a single document, the Icelandic Codex Regius written down circa 1270 A.D. It presents itself as being the sayings of Oðinn (Odin). Along with The Poetic Edda, it constitutes the bulk of what we know about the myths of the Vikings.
Dr. Jackson Crawford (Ph.D., Scandinavian Studies, currently at The University Of Colorado, Boulder) has dedicated his education and his teaching career to the study of Old Norse (He has a website here and a YouTube channel, both worth your time, if for no other reason than he has one of those deep voices that I could listen to forever and the backdrop for his videos are the Rocky Mountains) and part of his career involves translating different texts. Today's consideration: The Wanderer's Hávamál.
The book is divided into five sections: A rather complete introduction including the history of the text, notes on the translation, a pronunciation guide, and further reading, the text of the Hávamál itself (all 164 stanzas) followed by footnotes and some supporting materials from other sagas.
The Hávamál (argues the translator) is as much a commentary on living life in the Viking Age as it is a a religious text. It has suggestions on hospitality, drinking, measures of wealth, situational awareness, and life and death - all relevant in an age where life was a struggle and death came quickly.
The stanzas themselves are organized in such a way that the Old Norse and translation are side by side. An example:
Hávamál Stanza 36
In the notes, Jackson explains how he arrived at certain meanings - and (the sign of a good translator) explains in some ways why he translated it differently in an earlier text but how he has come to change his mind.
An added bonus at the end is The Cowboy Hávamál, where Jackson translates the sayings into a form of modern cowboy English (he states that the Hávamál sayings reminded of advice his grandfather would give him). For example, here is his "translation" of Stanza 36:
I, for one, am definitely interested in this book. I've been reading Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series and have learned that my English ancestors likely had a good measure of Danish blood somewhere along the line. A possible genealogical connection always heightens the interest.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I think that (given the time) that was not at all uncommon: the Danes were a strong force in England from the 900's through to 1042, when Edward the Confessor was "gehalgod to cinge" (proclaimed King) - in fact, if history had gone a little differently England would have been part of a North Sea empire instead of the Anglo-Norman empire.
DeleteThe book itself is just so well put together and enjoyable. Crawford is a fine and impressive craftsman (and, might I say, a prime example of how to take your passion in life and find a way to make a living at it).
Apparently we have Alfred the Great to thank for that! I just put this book on my wish list.
DeleteLeigh, I think you will really enjoy the book. I have a shorter copy called The Pocket Havamal which I liken to a Gideon Bible: the content is there, but not the richness.
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