1,721,008 research outputs found
Preserving Blunders in Eddic Poems : Formula Variation in Numbered Inventories of Vafþrúðnismál and Grímnismál
Full text linkThe rise of interest in the orality of eddic poetry has tended to view the preserved corpus as oral poems without considering their transition into writing and its potential implications. The present article is an exploratory study of variation in the ordinal inventories of questions and knowledge in Vafþrúðnismál and Grímnismál. Variation in formula usage might reflect individual creativity and a dynamic handling of the poetic system. The two cases in focus, however, show a correlation between the variations and indicators that the expressions or their organization were not ideal. In both cases, indicators in the poem’s text suggest that it is a product of oral presentation transcribed by a second individual. A detailed examination of formulae in Vafþrúðnismál point to difficulties where a b-line for vocalic alliteration is expected, for which the solutions seem to get worse rather than better, leading to the possibility that the presenter was bored or disinterested. Several features point to difficulties at the beginning of Grímnismál’s inventory, while exceptional variation in formula use leads to a possibility that some variation may be linked to the transcriber rather than the presenter. That blunders of presentation have been preserved in both poems rather than revised, either during the initial documentation or in later copying, reflecting ideas of what these texts are in relation to the tradition. https://doi.org/10.33063/diva-439401</p
Rituelle Autoritäten und narrativer Diskurs : Vormoderne finno-karelische Sagenüberlieferungen als analoges Modell für die Annäherung an mittelalterliche Quellen
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Understanding Embodiment through Lived Religion : A Look at Vernacular Physiologies in an Old Norse Milieu [with a Response by Margaret Clunies Ross]
Full text linkThis chapter outlines an approach to how ritual technologies prominent for a person can impact on the development of that person’s body image – i.e. a symbolic and iconic model of what our body is (and is not). Three types of ritual specialists from the Old Norse milieu are explored: berserkir, vǫlur and what are here described as deep-trance specialists. It is argued that all three were likely conceived as having distinct body images linked to the respective ritual technologies that they used. Bringing into focus the relationship between the technology of practice and body image interfaced with it offers insights into how their technologies were imagined to “work”, and also the degree to which they aligned with or diverged from the normative body image identified with non-specialists in society.Peer reviewe
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