Pagan words and Christian meanings / / Richard North.

• Superior document: Costerus New Series ; 81
• VerfasserIn: North, Richard, 1961-
• Place / Publishing House: Amsterdam, Netherlands ;, Atlanta, Georgia : : Rodopi,, [1991]; ©1991
• Year of Publication: 1991
• Language: English
• Series: Costerus New Series ; 81.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (214 pages)

An evolution of attitudes towards pre-Christian custom in , North-West Europe, as shown in early .medieval word-fields and texts in Old English and Old Icelandic literature, is represented in six variously focussed studies. The first three chapters, Pagan Words , form a network of research on pre-Christian concepts of mind and soul as they survived, still active, in Christianized heroic poetry. This was part of. the heathen matrix through which the first expressions of Christianity in Old English and Icelandic literature were possible. The second half of this book, Christian Meanings , shows .how the same Christian literature produced reinterpretations of paganism. The literary range stretches from the earliest epic formulae to the polished genealogical novels of thirteenth-century Iceland- An ancient tradition of augury is invoked by the poet of The Seafarer to illustrate a believer's passage to heaven. In Havamal , an artificially pagan creed of ritual teaching and responses is compiled in Iceland as an antiquarian entertainment, perhaps on a Christian model. The last chapter shows a variety of Christian interpretations of, paganism in four sagas of Icelanders from the early to late thirteenth century. Overall where paganism was concerned, the tendency was first to cast off a way of life, then later, when that life was lost forever, to reinvent it for the imagination.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- PREFACE -- Table of Contents -- Abbreviations -- PAGAN WORDS -- I INTRODUCTION -- i. Hints of the pagan background -- ii. The English Conversion -- iii. The German missions -- iv. Denmark, Norway and Iceland -- v. Settlement and literature of Iceland -- vi. Problem and method -- II PSYCHIC INTERVENTION -- i. Introduction -- ii. Caedmon's genre -- iii. The world of the irrational -- iv. Poetry divinely given -- The Mead of Poetry -- Drink and inspiration -- The 'unflawed gift' -- v. Psychic interventions -- Homeric âté and menos -- OIce munr -- The munir of Skírnismál -- Munr in Hávamál -- At mun banda in Vellekla -- At mun flagǒi in Hamǒismál -- vi. OE myne witan -- OE myne -- Grendel's isolation -- The Wanderer's myne and Odysseus' menos -- III POETIC SOUL -- i. Introduction to giedd -- Giedda gemyndig -- Morphology of giedd and geǒ -- Giedd and woǒ -- Geǒ and óǒr -- Hypothesis on giedd -- ii. Egill's geǒ and íprótt -- Three 'poetry' kennings -- Viǒris mun-strandar marr -- Hildar Hjaldr-gegnis geǒ-fjarǒar lá -- Óǒ-[h]røris hafs alda -- Geǒ as 'poetic soul' in Háv 13-14 -- Egill and Starcatherus -- iii. Interpretation of giedd wrecan -- OE wrecan and OIce reka -- Purgation in wrecan -- Semantic development of giedd wrecan -- 'Purging the soul' -- iv. The pagan genre -- Egill's elegy -- Gelimer's ode -- Hreǒel's exemplum -- IV THE PHYSICAL MIND -- i. Introduction -- Field of research -- Soul and Body in the vernacular -- Heorte, mod and Norse parallels -- Other words for mind -- Compounds and non-compounds -- ii. Hyge and modsefa -- Apparent interchangeability -- The anatomy of hyge, sefa and heorte -- 'Know the mind' constructions with hyge and sefa -- iii. Emerging disparity -- Method of classification -- Alliterative phrases -- Non-alliterative phrases.

iv. Attributes of hyge and (mod-)sefa -- Thinking -- Dimensions and containment -- Strengthening -- Revealing -- Malleability and movement -- Positive experience -- Negative experience -- v. Disparity between hyge and (mod-)sefa -- Hyge -- (Mod-)sefa -- Emergent hyge and hidden sefa -- vi. The balanced mind -- Active hyge and passive sefa -- Purpose and perception -- Sefa as memory -- Male and female mind in Genesis B -- Conclusion -- CHRISTIAN MEANINGS -- V AUGURY IN THE SEAFARER -- i. Introduction -- Scheme of The Seafarer -- Text and interpretation of Sea 58-64 -- The Latin sources -- The flying mind -- ii. Analogues for the flight of mind -- Huginn and Muninn: birds of prey -- Shamanism and manna hugir -- Classical and Germanic augury -- News of present import -- Prophesying birds -- iii. Augury in Sea 58-64 -- Muninn and mantic knowledge -- English augury -- Augury in Cynewulf's Christ -- Pagan words with Christian meaning -- VI HÁVAMÁL - A CONTRIVED PAGANISM -- i. Hypothesis -- Growth of Hávamál -- Treatment of Hávamál -- ii. Problem -- Established work on Hávamál -- Scribal markings in the manuscript -- Problems of definition -- iii. Fragments of Hávamál -- Interpretations of date -- iv. Method -- Outline of the poem -- Disparity of authorship -- The first division: Háv 1-79 and 111-164 -- v. Growth of Hávamál proper -- Development of Háv 111-164 -- Internal unity of Háv 138-45 -- Loddfáfnismál and Ljóǒatal -- Introduction and Farewell: Háv 111 and 164 -- Evolution of Háv 111-164 -- vi. Completion of Hávamál -- The bridge and a road over it: Háv 80(-110) -- Themes of trust and delusion: Háv 81-90 -- Óðinn, Billings mœr and Gunnlǫǒ: Háv 91-110 -- Evolution of Háv 1-164 -- vii. The grand artifice -- The literary cult of Óǒinn -- Who speaks where -- Performance of Hávamál -- VII LITERARY PAGANISM IN FOUR SAGAS -- i. Introduction.

ii. Scholarly interest in Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar -- Monstrous forebears in Norway -- Egill's childhood in Iceland -- Egill and Óǒinn -- Egill's 'brow' -- 'Dedicating to Óǒinn' -- 'Óǒinn's pledge' -- The impact of Sonatorrek -- iii. Moral opposition in Eiríks saga Rauǒa -- A dying faith -- The evil of paganism -- iv. Romantic pity in Laxdœla saga -- A despairing faith -- The pathos of paganism -- v. Moral admiration in Brennu-Njáls saga -- Paganism as narrative colour -- Gunnarr the noble pagan -- Gunnarr's 'guardian spirit' -- Njáll and the myth of Ragnarǫk -- vi. The moral rehabilitation of paganism -- Bibliography -- i. Texts and editions -- ii. Critical studies -- Index -- i. Word index -- ii. Textual references -- iii. Name index.