Surf-swine

As I’m on holiday and I have lots of free time, I’ve started reading Poetic Edda again. There was a bit of a break when I was too tired to do much of anything.

Anyhow, according to the translator’s notes of Poetic Edda:

Surf-swine: the whales.

Now, I might be the only one who finds this funny but in Japan there’s a wild boar which is also known as yama kujira. This literally translates as “mountain whale”.

I just thought that was the funniest coincidence.

But I also made a joke about the Japanese word 好き in a fan fiction which I’m pretty sure no one noticed. So, you know.

And now I probably need to go to sleep because my head is killing me.

10

For the fellow’s chin-forest | frozen was.

Chin-forest. Ha ha, that’s the cutest word for beard I’ve ever heard. I need to start using it.

Elivagar

(“Stormy Waves”): possibly the Milky Way.

If it’s a sky reference, wouldn’t the aurorae make more sense?

Ægir

Ægir: a giant who is also the god of the sea.

Mountain-dweller: the giant (Ægir).

The Arnamagnæan Codex has “Ægir” instead of “Egil,” but, aside from the fact that Thor had just left Ægir’s house, the sea-god can hardly have been spoken of as a goat-herd.

But it’s totally normal to speak of the sea-god as a mountain-dweller?

40

Gerth spake:
Barri there is, | which we both know well,
A forest fair and still . . .

[40. Barri: “The Leafy.”]

A forest named The Leafy. Oh my god that is the cutest and dumbest thing ever.

133

Of scarcely he knows | who sits in the house

What kind is the man who comes;

None so good is found | that faults he has not,

Nor so wicked that nought he is worth.

122

Exchange of words | with a witless ape

Thou must not ever make.

121

Care eats the heart | if thou canst not speak

To another all thy thought.

⋅ Nota Bene ⋅

(Or as Yoshida Kenkō put it in the 13th-century Japan: “If you constantly have to beware of disagreeing with someone, in the end it feels as if you are quite alone.”)

119

If a friend thou hast | whom thou fully wilt trust,

Then fare to find him oft;

For brambles grow | and waving grass

On the rarely trodden road.

⋅ Nota Bene ⋅

(You know, I was recently re-reading Suuri Hupsu by Ryokan Taigu, and it was amazing how in the past people would write to each other and visit each other across miles. In the contemporary world of instant messaging, you’re lucky if you’ll hear from someone in six months if that. Which is why I’ve always thought that maintaining friendships isn’t about distance or time or the lack of it, it’s about want.

Also, I’ve noticed that it’s nearly impossible to maintain friendships with someone who doesn’t share any of your values or sense of decorum.)

115

Seek never to win | the wife of another,

Or long for her secret love.

⋅ Nota Bene ⋅

(Not an exact quote; the first few lines are just “Odin talking to Loddfafnir” and it repeats throughout this section. You’re not missing anything but you know where to check if you want.)

94

Fault with another | let no man find

For what touches many a man;

Wise men oft | into witless fools

Are made by mighty love.

91

Clear now will I speak, | for I know them both,

Men false to women are found;

When fairest we speak, | then falsest we think,

Against wisdom we work with deceit.

89

Hope not too surely | for early harvest,

Nor trust too soon in thy son;

The field needs good weather, | the son needs wisdom,

And oft is either denied.

⋅ Nota Bene ⋅

(I didn’t laugh. *looks away shiftily*)

84

A man shall trust not | the oath of a maid,

Nor the word a woman speaks;

For their hearts on a whirling | wheel were fashioned,

And fickle their breasts were formed.

77 & 78

Cattle die, | and kinsmen die,

And so one dies one’s self;

But a noble name | will never die,

If good renown one gets.

∞

Cattle die, | and kinsmen die,

And so one dies one’s self;

One thing now | that never dies,

The fame of a dead man’s deeds.

76

Among Fitjun’s sons | saw I well-stocked folds,–

Now bear they the beggar’s staff;

Wealth is as swift | as a winking eye,

Of friends the falsest it is.

63

To question and answer | must all be ready

Who wish to be known as wise;

Tell one thy thoughts, | but beware of two,–

All know what is known to three.

19. After the Fight

Arnkel was a charming host, always good-tempered. He wanted others to be as happy as himself, and often told Thorarin he should cheer up and not worry so much. He said the widow of Frodriver, so he heard, was taking her loss remarkably well, ‘and she’ll think it silly of you if you don’t act like a man’.

18. Hostilities

‘It’s true what they say about you, Thorarin,’ she said. ‘You’re more like a woman than a man, putting up as you do with all Thorbjorn’s insults. I can’t think what I ever did to have a son like you.’

⋅ Nota Bene ⋅

(Ouch. Talk about harsh.)

15. Snorri The Priest

Snorri was of medium height and rather slight build, a handsome, regular-featured man with a fair complexion, flaxen hair, and a reddish beard.

∞

He was so anxious not to get involved in things, his enemies said there was as much of the woman in him as there was man.