Sigrdrífumál
Sigrdrífumál(also known asBrynhildarljóð[1]) is the conventional title given to a section of thePoetic Eddatext inCodex Regius.
It followsFáfnismálwithout interruption, and it relates the meeting ofSigurðrwith thevalkyrieBrynhildr,here identified asSigrdrífa( "driver to victory" ).[2] Its content consists mostly of verses concerned withrunic magicand generalwisdom literature,presented as advice given by Sigrdrífa to Sigurd. Themetreis differing throughout the poem. Most staves are wrote inljóðaháttr,but there are also some infornyrðislagand a few ingaldralag.
The end is inthe lost part of the manuscriptbut it has been substituted from younger paper manuscripts. TheVölsunga sagadescribes the scene and contains some of the poem.
Name
[edit]The compoundsigr-drífameans "driver to victory"[2](or "victory-urger", "inciter to victory"[3]) It occurs only inFáfnismál(stanza 44) and in stanza 4 of theSigrdrífumál. InFáfnismál,it could be a common noun, a synonym ofvalkyrie,while inSigrdráfumálit is explicitly used as the name of the valkyrie whose name is given asHildrorBrynhildrin the Prose Edda.[2] Bellows (1936) emphasizes thatsigrdrífais an epithet of Brynhildr (and not a "second Valkyrie" ).[4]
Contents
[edit]TheSigrdrífumálfollows theFáfnismálwithout break, and editors are not unanimous in where they set the title. Its state of preservation is the most chaotic in the Eddaic collection. Its end has been lost in theGreat Lacunaof theCodex Regius.The text is cut off after the first line of stanza 29, but this stanza has been completed, and eight others have been added, on the evidence of the much later testimony of paper manuscripts.
The poem appears to be a compilation of originally unrelated poems. However, this state of the poem appears to have been available to the author of theVölsungasaga,which cites from eighteen of its stanzas.
The basis of the text appears to be a poem dealing with Sigurd's finding of Brynhild, but only five stanzas (2-4, 20-21) deal with this narrative directly. Stanza 1 is probably taken from another poem about Sigurd and Brynhild. Many critics have argued that it is taken from the same original poem as stanzas 6-10 ofHelreid Brynhildar.
In stanzas 6-12, Brynhild teaches Sigurd the magic use of therunes.To this has been added similar passages on rune-lore from unrelated sources, stanzas 5 and 13-19. This passage is the most prolific source about historicalrunic magicwhich has been preserved.
Finally, beginning with stanza 22 and running until the end of the preserved text is a set of counsels comparable to those inLoddfáfnismál.This passage is probably an accretion unrelated to the Brynhild fragment, and it contains in turn a number of what are likely interpolations to the original text.
The valkyrie's drinking-speech
[edit]The first three stanzas are spoken by Sigrdrífa after she has been awoken by Sigurd (stanza 1 in Bellows 1936 corresponds to the final stanza 45 of Fáfnismál in the edition of Jonsson 1905).
What is labelled as stanza 4 byBellows(1936) is actually placed right after stanza 2, introduced only byHon qvaþ( "she said" ), marking it as the reply of the valkyrie to Sigmund's identification of himself in the second half of stanza 1.
The following two stanzas are introduced as follows:
- Sigurþr settiz niþr oc spurþi hana nafns. Hon toc þa horn fult miaþar oc gaf hanom minnisveig:
- "Sigurth sat beside her and asked her name. She took a horn full of mead and gave him amemory-draught."
Henry Adams Bellowsstated in his commentary that stanzas 2-4 are "as fine as anything inOld Norse poetry"and these three stanzas constituted the basis of much of the third act inRichard Wagner's operaSiegfried. This fragment is one of the few direct invocations of the Norse gods which have been preserved, and it is sometimes dubbed a "pagan prayer".[5]
The first two stanzas are given below in close transcription (Bugge 1867), in normalized Old Norse (Finnur Jónsson 1932) and in the translations by Thorpe (1866) and of Bellows (1936):
Heill dagr (ed. Bugge 1867)[6] |
Hęill dagr, (ed. Finnur Jónsson 1932)[7] |
Hail Dag, (Thorpe 1866)[8] |
Hail,day! (Bellows 1936)[10] |
Runic stanzas
[edit]Stanzas 5-18 concernrunic magic,explaining the use of runes in various contexts.
In stanza 5, Sigrdrífa brings Sigurd ale which she has charmed with runes:
Biór fori ec þer / brynþings apaldr! |
Beer I bring thee, tree of battle, |
Stanza 6 advises to carve "victory runes" on the sword hilt, presumably referring to thetrunenamed forTyr:[11]
Sigrúnar þú skalt kunna, |
Victory runes you must know |
The following stanzas addressØlrunar"Ale-runes "(7), biargrunar"birth-runes" (8), brimrunar"wave-runes" (9), limrunar"branch-runes" (10), malrunar"speech-runes" (11), hugrunar"thought-runes" (12). Stanzas 13-14 appear to have been taken from a poem about the finding of the runes byOdin. Stanzas 15-17 are again from an unrelated poem, but still about the topic of runes. The same holds for stanzas 18-19, which return to the mythological acquisition of the runes, and the passing of their knowledge to theæsir,elves,vanirandmortal men.
Allar váro af scafnar / þer er váro a ristnar, |
18. Shaved off were the runes that of old were written, |
Gnomic stanzas
[edit]Stanzas 20-21 are again in the setting of the frame narrative, with Brynhild asking Sigurd to make a choice. They serve as introduction for the remaining part of the text, stanzas 22-37 (of which, however, only 22-28 and the first line of 29 are preserved inCodex Regius), which aregnomicin nature. LikeLoddfáfnismál,the text consists of numbered counsels, running from one to eleven. The "unnumbered" stanzas 25, 27, 30, 34 and 36 are considered interpolations by Bellows (1936).
Editions and translations
[edit]- Benjamin Thorpe(trans.),The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned,1866online copy, at northvegr.orgArchived2016-08-19 at theWayback Machine
- Sophus Bugge,Sæmundar Edda,1867 (edition of the manuscript text)online copy
- Henry Adams Bellows(1936) (translation and commentary)online copy, at sacred-texts
- Guðni Jónsson,Eddukvæði: Sæmundar-Edda,1949 (edition with normalized spelling)online copy
- W. H. Audenand P. B. Taylor (trans.),The Elder Edda: A Selection,1969
References
[edit]- ^ The titleBrynhildarljóðis used especially in reference to those parts of theSigrdrífumálwhich are quoted in theVölsunga saga.See Pétursson (1998), I.460f.
- ^abcsigrdrífaoccurs both as a common noun, a synonym ofvalkyrja,and as a proper name of the valkyrie named Hild or Brynhild in the Prose Edda. H. Reichert, "Sigrdrifa (Brynhildr)" in: McConnell et al. (eds.),The Nibelungen Tradition: An Encyclopedia,Routledge (2013),p. 119. H. Reichert, "Zum Sigrdrífa-Brünhild-Problem" in: Mayrhofer et al. (eds.),Antiquitates Indogermanicae(FS Güntert), Innsbruck (1974), 251–265.
- ^Orchard (1997:194). Simek (2007:284).
- ^ "Even its customary title is an absurd error. The mistake made by the annotator in thinking that the epithet" sigrdrifa ", rightly applied to Brynhild as a" bringer of victory ", was a proper name has already been explained and commented on (note on Fafnismol, 44). Even if the collection of stanzas were in any real sense a poem, which it emphatically is not, it is certainly not the" Ballad of Sigrdrifa "which it is commonly called." Ballad of Brynhild "would be a sufficiently suitable title, and I have here brought the established name" Sigrdrifumol "into accord with this by translating the epithet instead of treating it as a proper name". "Victory-bringer: the word thus translated is in the original 'sigrdrifa.' The compiler of the collection, not being familiar with this word, assumed that it was a proper name, and in the prose following stanza 4 of the Sigrdrifumol he specifically states that this was the Valkyrie's name. Editors, until recently, have followed him in this error, failing to recognize that" sigrdrifa "was simply an epithet for Brynhild. It is from this blunder that the so-called Sigrdrifumol takes its name. Brynhild's dual personality as a Valkyrie and as the daughter of Buthli has made plenty of trouble, but the addition of a second Valkyrie in the person of the supposed" Sigrdrifa "has made still more". (Bellows 1936)[clarification needed]
- ^Steinsland & Meulengracht 1998:72
- ^Sophus Bugge,Sæmundar Edda(1867). Cursive type indicates expansions from scribal abbreviations.
- ^Finnur Jonsson (1932), De gamle Eddadigte, digitalized atheimskringla.org
- ^Benjamin Thorpe (trans.), Rasmus B. Anderson (ed.),The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigufsson,Norroena Society (1906).
- ^Bellow's translation "her daughter" is based on the interpretation of the text as referring toJörd.
Sophus Bugge(1867) has argued against this interpretation, as the Earth is addressed directly in the following stanza.
The literal meaning ofniptis "female relative" more generally and may refer to a sister, daughter or sister's daughter.
The translation byBenjamin Thorperenders the word as a proper name, asNipt. - ^Henry Adams Bellows,The Poetic Edda(1936)
- ^Enoksen, Lars Magnar.Runor: Historia, tydning, tolkning(1998)ISBN91-88930-32-7
- ^abJansson; 1987: p.15
- ^Bellows (1936). In brackets are the lines considered "spurious additions" to stanza 19 by this editor, who however cautions that "the whole stanza is chaotic".
- Jansson, Sven B. F. (Foote, Peter;transl.)(1987).Runes in Sweden.ISBN91-7844-067-X
- Steinsland, G.& Meulengracht Sørensen, P. (1998):Människor och makter i vikingarnas värld.ISBN91-7324-591-7
- Einar G. Pétursson,Hvenær týndist kverið úr Konungsbók Eddukvæða?,Gripla 6 (1984), 265-291[1]
- Einar G. Pétursson,Eddurit Jóns Guðmundssonar lærða: Samantektir um skilning á Eddu og Að fornu í þeirri gömlu norrænu kölluðust rúnir bæði ristingar og skrifelsi: Þættir úr fræðasögu 17. aldar,Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi, Rit 46 (1998), vol I, pp. 402–40: introduction to Jón's commentary on the poem Brynhildarljóð (Sígrdrífumál) in Völsunga saga; vol. II, 95-102: the text of the commentary.
| Individual valkyries |  | |
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| Poems about valkyries | ||
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