įurthermore, the sight of ravens immediately following a sacrifice to Odin was taken as a sign that the god had accepted the offering. The poets occasionally use Munin’s name in the same way, but Hugin’s is far more common. The warrior in battle is “the reddener of Hugin’s claws” ( fetrjóðr Hugins) or “the reddener of Hugin’s bill” ( munnrjóðr Hugins). Sometimes kennings use “Hugin” as a substitute for “raven.” Blood is designated as “Hugin’s sea” ( Hugins vör) or “Hugin’s drink” ( Hugins drekka). In the same vein, ravens are called “the greedy hawks of Odin” ( átfrekir Óðins haukar), or else his “swan” ( Yggs svanr), his “seagull” ( Yggjar már), or – showing how far the bird equivalencies could be stretched – his “cuckoo” ( Gauts gaukr). (A kenning is a common Old Norse literary device that uses images from a body of traditional lore to refer to something rather than calling it by its everyday name.) Odin is called the “raven-god” ( Hrafnaguð or Hrafnáss), the “raven-tempter” ( Hrafnfreistuðr), or “the priest of the raven sacrifice” ( Hrafnblóts Goði this is surely a poetic way of describing fallen warriors as “sacrifices” to the ravens and other carrion birds, with Odin as a decider of who lives and who dies in battle). The skaldic poetry of the Viking Age often uses kennings involving ravens to refer to Odin, and vice versa. Already in the sixth and seventh centuries AD – well before the beginning of the Viking Age in the late eighth century – visual depictions of Odin on helmets and jewelry frequently picture him accompanied by one or more ravens. The connection between Odin and ravens is very old and very deep.
Snorri’s main source for this passage seems to be an evocative stanza in the Eddic poem Grímnismál, in which Odin says: Thus, he finds out many new things and this is why he is called ‘raven-god’ ( hrafnaguð). He sends them out in the morning to fly around the whole world, and by breakfast they are back again. Two ravens sit on his (Odin’s) shoulders and whisper all the news which they see and hear into his ear they are called Huginn and Muninn. According to the medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, Hugin and Munin (pronounced “HOO-gin” and “MOO-nin” Old Norse Huginn and Muninn, the meaning of which will be discussed below) are two ravens in Norse mythology who are helping spirits of the god Odin.
#Hugin pronunciation how to
The Old Norse Language and How to Learn It.The 10 Best Advanced Norse Mythology Books.The Vikings’ Conversion to Christianity.
0 kommentar(er)
