Hávamál
Encyclopedia
Hávamál is presented as a single poem in the Poetic Edda
, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking age. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, is largely gnomic
, presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom.
The verses are attributed to Odin
, much like the biblical Book of Wisdom
is attributed to Solomon
. The implicit attribution to Odin facilitated the accretion of various mythological material also dealing with Odin.
For the most part composed in the metre
Ljóðaháttr, a metre associated with wisdom verse, Hávamál is both practical and metaphysical in content.
Following the gnomic "Hávamál proper" follows the Rúnatal, an account of how Odin won the runes, and the Ljóðatal, a list of magic chants or spells
.
. The part dealing with ethical conduct (the Gestaþáttr) was traditionally identified as the oldest portion of the poem by scholarship in the 19th and early 20th century.
Bellows (1936) identifies as the core of the poem a "collection of proverbs and wise counsels" which dates to "a very early time", but which, by the nature of oral tradition, never had a fixed form or extent.
Von See (1981) identifies direct influence of the Disticha Catonis on the Gestaþáttr, suggesting that also this part is a product of the high medieval period and casting doubt on the "unadulterated Germanic character" of the poem claimed by earlier commentators.
To the gnomic
core of the poem, other fragments and poems dealing with wisdom and proverbs accreted over time. A discussion of authorship or date for the individual parts would be futile, since almost every line or stanza could have been added, altered or removed at will at any time before the poem was written down in the 13th century.
Individual verses or stanzas nevertheless certainly date to as early as the 10th, or even the 9th century. Thus, the line deyr fé, deyja frændr ("cattle die, kinsmen die") found in verses 76 and 77 of the Gestaþáttr can be shown to date to the 10th century, as it also occurs in the Hákonarmál
by Eyvindr skáldaspillir
.
The poems in Hávamál is traditionally taken to consist of at least five independent parts,
Stanzas 6 and 27 are expanded beyond the standard four lines by an additional two lines of "commentary". Bellow's edition inverses the manuscript order of stanzas 39 and 40. Bellow's stanza 138 (Ljóðalok) is taken from the very end of the poem in the manuscript, placed before
the Rúnatal by most editors following Müllenhoff. Stanzas 65, 73-74, 79, 111, 133-134, 163 are defective.
Stanzas 81-84 are in málaháttr
, 85-88 in fornyrðislag. The entire section of 81-102 appears to be an ad hoc interpolation. Stanza 145 is also an interpolation in málaháttr.
and other behavioral relationships between hosts and guests and the sacred lore
of reciprocity
and hospitality
to the Norse pagans
.
The first stanza exemplifies the practical behavioral advice it offers:
Number 77 is possibly the most known section of Gestaþáttr:
and the character of women.
It is introduced by a discussion of the faithlessness of women and advice for the seducing of them in stanzas 84-95, followed by two mythological accounts of Odin's interaction with women also known as "Odin's Examples" or "Odin's Love Quests". The first is an account of Odin's thwarted attempt of possessing the daughter of Billing
(stanzas 96-102), followed by the story of the mead of poetry
which Odin won by seducing its guardian, the maiden Gunnlöð (stanzas 103-110).
Rúnatal or Óðins Rune Song, Rúnatáls-þáttr-Óðins (stanzas 138-146) is a section of the Hávamál where Odin reveals the origins of the runes.
In stanzas 138 and 139, Odin describes his sacrifice of himself to himself:
The "windy tree" from which the victim hangs is often identified with the world tree Yggdrasil
by commentators. The entire scene, the sacrifice of a god to himself, the execution method by hanging the victim on a tree, and the wound inflicted on the victim by a spear, is often compared to the crucifixion of Christ as narrated in the gospel
s.
The parallelism of Odin and Christ during the period of open co-existence of Christianity and Norse paganism in Scandinavia (the 9th to 12th centuries, corresponding with the assumed horizon of the poem's composition) is also evident from other sources. To what extent this parallelism is an incidental similarity of the mode of human sacrifice
offered to Odin and the crucifixion, and to what extent Christianity exerted direct influence on the mythology associated with Odin, is a complex question on which scholarly opinions vary.
The charms themselves are not given, just their application or effect described.
They are explicitly counted from "the first" in stanza 147, and "a second" to "an eighteenth" in stanzas 148 to 165, given in roman numerals in the manuscript.
There is no explicit mention of runes or runic magic
in the Ljóðatal excepting in
the twelfth charm (stanza 158), which takes up the motif of Odin hanging on the tree and its association with runes,
Nevertheless, because of the Rúnatal preceding the list, the Ljóðatal has been associated with the runes, specifically with the sixteen letters of the Younger Futhark
.
Müllenhoff takes the original Ljóðatal to have ended with stanza 161, with the final three charms (16th to 18th) taken as late and obscure additions.
vs. eighteen charms in the Ljóðatal has notably motivated proponents of Germanic mysticism
to expand the row by two extra runes. The best-known attempt to this effect are the Armanen runes
by Guido von List
(1902).
Various proponents of Germanic Neopagan
groups place an emphasis on Hávamál as a source of a Norse pagan ethical code of conduct. The "Nine Noble Virtues
", first compiled by Odinic Rite
founder John "Stubba" Yeowell in the 1970s are "loosely based" on the Hávamál.
The Northvegr Foundation cites the Hávamál among other Old Norse and Old English sources to illustrate "the ethical ideal of the Northern spiritual faith of Heithni."
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson
, leader of the Icelandic Ásatrúarfélagið, published his performance of a number of Eddaic poems, including the Hávamál, chanted in rímur
style.
Poetic Edda
The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends, and from the early 19th century...
, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking age. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, is largely gnomic
Gnomic poetry
Gnomic poetry consists of sententious maxims put into verse to aid the memory. They were known by the Greeks as gnomes, from the Greek word for "an opinion".A gnome was defined by the Elizabethan critic Henry Peacham as...
, presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom.
The verses are attributed to Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
, much like the biblical Book of Wisdom
Book of Wisdom
The Book of Wisdom, often referred to simply as Wisdom or the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon, is one of the deuterocanonical books of the Bible. It is one of the seven Sapiential or wisdom books of the Septuagint Old Testament, which includes Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon ,...
is attributed to Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
. The implicit attribution to Odin facilitated the accretion of various mythological material also dealing with Odin.
For the most part composed in the metre
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
Ljóðaháttr, a metre associated with wisdom verse, Hávamál is both practical and metaphysical in content.
Following the gnomic "Hávamál proper" follows the Rúnatal, an account of how Odin won the runes, and the Ljóðatal, a list of magic chants or spells
Galdr
Galdr is one Old Norse word for "spell, incantation", and which was usually performed in combination with certain rites. It was mastered by both women and men and they chanted it in falsetto .-Etymology:...
.
Textual history
The only surviving source for Hávamál is the 13th century Codex RegiusCodex Regius
Cōdex Rēgius is an Icelandic manuscript in which the Poetic Edda is preserved. It is made up of 45 vellum leaves, thought to have been written in the 1270s. It originally contained a further 8 leaves, which are now missing...
. The part dealing with ethical conduct (the Gestaþáttr) was traditionally identified as the oldest portion of the poem by scholarship in the 19th and early 20th century.
Bellows (1936) identifies as the core of the poem a "collection of proverbs and wise counsels" which dates to "a very early time", but which, by the nature of oral tradition, never had a fixed form or extent.
Von See (1981) identifies direct influence of the Disticha Catonis on the Gestaþáttr, suggesting that also this part is a product of the high medieval period and casting doubt on the "unadulterated Germanic character" of the poem claimed by earlier commentators.
To the gnomic
Gnomic poetry
Gnomic poetry consists of sententious maxims put into verse to aid the memory. They were known by the Greeks as gnomes, from the Greek word for "an opinion".A gnome was defined by the Elizabethan critic Henry Peacham as...
core of the poem, other fragments and poems dealing with wisdom and proverbs accreted over time. A discussion of authorship or date for the individual parts would be futile, since almost every line or stanza could have been added, altered or removed at will at any time before the poem was written down in the 13th century.
Individual verses or stanzas nevertheless certainly date to as early as the 10th, or even the 9th century. Thus, the line deyr fé, deyja frændr ("cattle die, kinsmen die") found in verses 76 and 77 of the Gestaþáttr can be shown to date to the 10th century, as it also occurs in the Hákonarmál
Hákonarmál
Hákonarmál is a skaldic poem which the skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir composed about the fall of the Norwegian king Hákon the Good at the battle of Fitjar and his reception in Valhalla. This poem emulates Eiríksmál and is intended to depict the Christian Hákon as a friend to the pagan gods...
by Eyvindr skáldaspillir
Eyvindr Skáldaspillir
Eyvindr Finnsson skáldaspillir was a 10th century Norwegian skald. He was the court poet of king Hákon the Good and earl Hákon of Hlaðir. His son Hárekr later became a prominent chieftain in Norway.His preserved works are:...
.
Structure
The Hávamál is edited in 165 stanzas by Bellows (1936). Other editions give 164 stanzas, combining Bellow's stanzas 11 and 12, as the manuscript abbreviates the last two lines of stanzas 11. Some editors also combine Bellow's stanzas 163 and 164. In the following, Bellow's numeration is used.The poems in Hávamál is traditionally taken to consist of at least five independent parts,
- the Gestaþáttr, or Hávamál proper, (stanzas 1-80), a collection of proverbs and gnomicGnomic poetryGnomic poetry consists of sententious maxims put into verse to aid the memory. They were known by the Greeks as gnomes, from the Greek word for "an opinion".A gnome was defined by the Elizabethan critic Henry Peacham as...
wisdom - a dissertation on the faithlessness of women (stanzas 81-95), prefacing an account of the love-story of Odin and the daughter of Billingr (stanzas 96-102) and the story of how Odin got the mead of poetryMead of poetryIn Norse mythology, the Poetic Mead or Mead of Poetry , also known as Mead of Suttungr , is a mythical beverage that whoever "drinks becomes a skald or scholar" to recite any information and solve any question. This myth was reported by Snorri Sturluson...
from the maiden Gunnlöð (stanzas 103-110) - the Loddfáfnismál (stanzas 111-138), a collection of gnomic verses similar to the Gestaþáttr, addressed to a certain Loddfáfnir
- the Rúnatal (stanzas 139-146), an account of how Odin won the runes, introductory to the Ljóðatal
- the Ljóðatal (stanzas 147-165), a collection of charms
Stanzas 6 and 27 are expanded beyond the standard four lines by an additional two lines of "commentary". Bellow's edition inverses the manuscript order of stanzas 39 and 40. Bellow's stanza 138 (Ljóðalok) is taken from the very end of the poem in the manuscript, placed before
the Rúnatal by most editors following Müllenhoff. Stanzas 65, 73-74, 79, 111, 133-134, 163 are defective.
Stanzas 81-84 are in málaháttr
Málaháttr
Málaháttr is a poetic metre in Old Norse poetry, which is usually described as "conversational style". It is similar to fornyrðislag except in that there are more syllables in a line, usually five.Poems with verses in this metre:* Atlakviða...
, 85-88 in fornyrðislag. The entire section of 81-102 appears to be an ad hoc interpolation. Stanza 145 is also an interpolation in málaháttr.
Gestaþáttr
The first section Gestaþáttr, the "guest's section". Stanzas 1 through 79 comprise a set of maxims for how to handle oneself when a guest and traveling, focusing particularly on mannersManners
In sociology, manners are the unenforced standards of conduct which demonstrate that a person is proper, polite, and refined. They are like laws in that they codify or set a standard for human behavior, but they are unlike laws in that there is no formal system for punishing transgressions, the...
and other behavioral relationships between hosts and guests and the sacred lore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
of reciprocity
Norm of reciprocity
The norm of reciprocity is the social expectation that people will respond to each other in kind—returning benefits for benefits, and responding with either indifference or hostility to harms. The social norm of reciprocity often takes different forms in different areas of social life, or in...
and hospitality
Hospitality
Hospitality is the relationship between guest and host, or the act or practice of being hospitable. Specifically, this includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, resorts, membership clubs, conventions, attractions, special events, and other services for travelers...
to the Norse pagans
Norse paganism
Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
.
The first stanza exemplifies the practical behavioral advice it offers:
- All the entrances, before you walk forward,
- you should look at,
- you should spy out;
- for you can't know for certain where enemies are sitting,
- ahead in the hall
Number 77 is possibly the most known section of Gestaþáttr:
|
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On women
Stanzas 84 to 110 deal with the general topic of romantic loveRomantic love
Romance is the pleasurable feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.In the context of romantic love relationships, romance usually implies an expression of one's love, or one's deep emotional desires to connect with another person....
and the character of women.
It is introduced by a discussion of the faithlessness of women and advice for the seducing of them in stanzas 84-95, followed by two mythological accounts of Odin's interaction with women also known as "Odin's Examples" or "Odin's Love Quests". The first is an account of Odin's thwarted attempt of possessing the daughter of Billing
Billingr
In Norse mythology, Billingr is the father of a maiden desired by Odin. According to stanzas 96-102 of the poem Hávamál from the Poetic Edda, Odin was told by the maiden to meet her after nightfall when it would be safest and she would give herself to him, but when Odin returned he found the path...
(stanzas 96-102), followed by the story of the mead of poetry
Mead of poetry
In Norse mythology, the Poetic Mead or Mead of Poetry , also known as Mead of Suttungr , is a mythical beverage that whoever "drinks becomes a skald or scholar" to recite any information and solve any question. This myth was reported by Snorri Sturluson...
which Odin won by seducing its guardian, the maiden Gunnlöð (stanzas 103-110).
Loddfáfnismál
The Loddfáfnismál (stanzas 111-138) is again gnomic, dealing with morals, ethics, correct action and codes of conduct. The section is directed to Loddfáfnir ("stray-singer").Rúnatal
In stanzas 138 and 139, Odin describes his sacrifice of himself to himself:
|
Numbers in Norse mythology The numbers three and nine are significant numbers in Norse mythology and paganism. Both numbers appear throughout surviving attestations of Norse paganism, in both mythology and cultic practice.... long nights, |
|
|
Drinking horn A drinking horn is the horn of a bovid used as a drinking vessel. Drinking horns are known from Classical Antiquity especially in Thrace and the Balkans, and remained in use for ceremonial purposes throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period in some parts of Europe, notably in Germanic... , |
The "windy tree" from which the victim hangs is often identified with the world tree Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...
by commentators. The entire scene, the sacrifice of a god to himself, the execution method by hanging the victim on a tree, and the wound inflicted on the victim by a spear, is often compared to the crucifixion of Christ as narrated in the gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s.
The parallelism of Odin and Christ during the period of open co-existence of Christianity and Norse paganism in Scandinavia (the 9th to 12th centuries, corresponding with the assumed horizon of the poem's composition) is also evident from other sources. To what extent this parallelism is an incidental similarity of the mode of human sacrifice
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
offered to Odin and the crucifixion, and to what extent Christianity exerted direct influence on the mythology associated with Odin, is a complex question on which scholarly opinions vary.
Ljóðatal
The last section, the Ljóðatal enumerates eighteen charms (songs, ljóð), prefaced with- Ljóð eg þau kann / er kann-at þjóðans kona / og mannskis mögur
- "The songs I know / that king's wives know not / Nor men that are sons of men" (stanza 147).
The charms themselves are not given, just their application or effect described.
They are explicitly counted from "the first" in stanza 147, and "a second" to "an eighteenth" in stanzas 148 to 165, given in roman numerals in the manuscript.
There is no explicit mention of runes or runic magic
Runic magic
There is some evidence that, in addition to being a writing system, runes historically served purposes of magic. This is the case from earliest epigraphic evidence of the Roman to Germanic Iron Age, with non-linguistic inscriptions and the alu word...
in the Ljóðatal excepting in
the twelfth charm (stanza 158), which takes up the motif of Odin hanging on the tree and its association with runes,
- svo eg ríst / og í rúnum fá'g
- "So do I write / and color the runes"
Nevertheless, because of the Rúnatal preceding the list, the Ljóðatal has been associated with the runes, specifically with the sixteen letters of the Younger Futhark
Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...
.
Müllenhoff takes the original Ljóðatal to have ended with stanza 161, with the final three charms (16th to 18th) taken as late and obscure additions.
Germanic Neopaganism
The difference of sixteen runes of the Younger FutharkYounger Futhark
The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...
vs. eighteen charms in the Ljóðatal has notably motivated proponents of Germanic mysticism
Ariosophy
Armanism and Ariosophy are the names of ideological systems of an esoteric nature, pioneered by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', meaning wisdom concerning the Aryans, was first coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915 and...
to expand the row by two extra runes. The best-known attempt to this effect are the Armanen runes
Armanen runes
The Armanen runes, or Armanen 'Futharkh' as Guido von List referred to them, are a row of 18 runes that are closely based in shape on the Younger Futhark...
by Guido von List
Guido von List
Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...
(1902).
Various proponents of Germanic Neopagan
Germanic Neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
groups place an emphasis on Hávamál as a source of a Norse pagan ethical code of conduct. The "Nine Noble Virtues
Nine Noble Virtues
The Nine Noble Virtues or NNV are a set of moral and situational ethical guidelines codified by John Yeowell and John Gibbs-Bailey of the Odinic Rite in the 1970s....
", first compiled by Odinic Rite
Odinic Rite
The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...
founder John "Stubba" Yeowell in the 1970s are "loosely based" on the Hávamál.
The Northvegr Foundation cites the Hávamál among other Old Norse and Old English sources to illustrate "the ethical ideal of the Northern spiritual faith of Heithni."
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson , a native of Iceland, was instrumental in helping to gain recognition by the Icelandic government for the pre-Christian Norse religion...
, leader of the Icelandic Ásatrúarfélagið, published his performance of a number of Eddaic poems, including the Hávamál, chanted in rímur
Rímur
In Icelandic literature, a ríma is an epic poem written in any of the so-called rímnahættir . They are rhymed, they alliterate and consist of two to four lines per stanza...
style.
Editions and translations
- editio princeps: Peder Hansen Resen, Edda. Islandorum an. Chr. 1215 islandice conscripta,1665 (google books).
- Peter Andreas Munch, Carl Rikard Unger, Den Ældre Edda: Samling af norrøne oldkvad, indeholdende Nordens ældste gude- og helte-sagn, Christiania: P. T. Malling, 1847 (google books)
- Benjamin ThorpeBenjamin ThorpeBenjamin Thorpe was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon.-Biography:After studying for four years at Copenhagen University, under the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask, he returned to England in 1830, and in 1832 published an English version of Caedmon's metrical paraphrase of portions of the...
, Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða: The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned, 1866 (online transcription). - Sophus BuggeSophus BuggeSophus Bugge was a noted Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scientific work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runic alphabet and the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda. -Background:Elseus Sophus Bugge was...
,Sæmundar Edda. Christiania: P. T. Malling, 1867. - Olive Bray , The Elder or Poetic Edda, commonly known as Sæmund's Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems, London: Printed for the Viking Club, 1908, pp. 61–111.
- H. A. Bellows, The Poetic Edda, 1936, "Hovamol: The Ballad of the High One" (online edition)
External links
- Hávamál Translation by W. H. AudenW. H. AudenWystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
and P. B. Taylor - Hávamál Translation by Olive Bray
- Hávamál Original text