Applications 19. On the Paroemial Delineation of Character in Grettis saga.
The 6th Annual Fiske Conference on Medieval Icelandic Studies [Norsestock 6]
Cornell University, June 2011. Richard L. Harris, University of Saskatchewan heorot@sasktel.net
This paper is about how the composer of Grettis saga may have used paroemial materials to delineate the character of his subject. Coming at the end of the Age of Saga Writing and considered one of the best in the genre, the extant version of this saga is thought to descend from one or two previous stories of Grettir. It certainly contains three references to what we take to have been an earlier narrative of the outlaw hero written down by Sturla Þórðarson—a text now lost, if it ever existed, but which Árni Magnússon wrote of having once seen—and besides this putative written source the composer must also have had access to an abundance of accretions to this portion of the oral family saga of northern Iceland. [See HANDOUT, below.] What Sturla’s supposed text was like is of course a matter of pure speculation, aside from the data the composer includes seemingly attributing it to this source, and we have no way at all of judging the degree to which the extant version’s proverbs are indebted to him. Thus, for the purposes of this present study, it seems most productive to concentrate on the anonymous compiler of the saga as we have it and to consider what his purposes might have been in using paroemial materials in the places and ways that he did. In particular, it could be of interest to observe how proverbially punctuated utterances attributed to Grettir by the composer provide insight into his character and perhaps signal changes in it.
It should be remarked that the frequency of proverbs and related texts in Grettla is among the highest of any of the sagas in the Old Icelandic corpus, rivalled only by Njála. Maybe the inclusion of such wisdom texts was regarded as more fashionable by the end of the 13th century, or then again their use may simply have suited the needs of composers writing at the time. It might be pertinent to notice that these two works, among the latest to reach their respective extant forms, were also both seriously devoted to examination of character. We might then also observe that the sorts of proverbs placed in the mouths of saga figures can define them as surely as we reveal ourselves through our choices of words and formulaic texts in ordinary speech. Saga composers, where they were not relying upon oral tradition, could use such texts in significant ways in their delineation and reinforcement of character.
In approaching the uses of paroemes in saga literature it is crucial to keep in mind their radical significance in any culture, particularly in those of a pre-literate nature. It is not merely by chance that when people first began writing, proverbial wisdom was among their earliest subjects. And Aristotle himself was of the opinion that proverbs constituted the pre-literate repository of ancient philosophy. The canon of the Old Testament includes books of formulaically expressed wisdom, much of it not by any means religious in its nature, and early law codes incorporate proverbial admonitions. Farther afield today, some African chieftains rule indirectly, by proverbial edict, interpreted for their people by an intermediate class of so-called ‘linguists’, and their litigation takes forms which include argumentation by proverbs and proverbial allusions.
In the first place, it is clear, the proverb constituted the basic linguistic form for the preservation and communication of communal wisdom. So deeply embedded is this fact in our psyches that we recognize proverbial texts without necessarily understanding them—Bartlett J. Whiting said he could sense a proverb by a “tingling” in his fingers, and Archer Taylor, who doubted the possibility of defining a proverb, wrote neverthless of that ‘incommunicable quality’ by which we recognize a particular string as proverbial, both men referring to what is most likely our common recognition of a syntactic structure or set of structures by which we have long been accustomed to expression in this mode.
It should thus come as no surprise to us, given this universal traditional function of the proverb in society, that Guðbrandr Vigfússon wrote in his 1905 discussion of the proverbs in Hrafnkatla, “These saws are to a Saga what the gnomic element is to a Greek play.” In the sagas they are in the first place used as signals of value when uttered by respected figures, representing the communal wisdom on a subject, and thus presumably establishing the composer’s view of an incident or of a character’s behaviour in the narrative. What seem to have been the traditional values of Iceland’s settlers and early society are questioned if not challenged in the later sagas, however, and wisdom texts can then be recruited as tools of subversion. They come to be placed in the mouths of less respected or even untrustworthy people, voicing negative views, critical of society’s traditional values, and, in representing rather the interests of the disenfranchised, giving voice, in fact, to critical social commntary on the part of the composers themselves.
What we might term this ‘subversive mode’ of proverb use is found first in Grettis saga in the infant stories of the hero. Recalling the infant gospel of Thomas in the Greek form, where Jesus uses his divine powers in very human immature ways, these stories reveal in Grettir’s behaviour the innate impulses of his early character. Leading to those frequently expressed assessments of his lucklessness as he makes his way through life, these traits are painfully clear and still unmodified by those adult con/restraints which he to some extent developed and sometimes imposed upon himself in later years. In a reader response-based study of Grettir’s character Robert Cook remarked that by the end of this passage “the reader is not certain whether he has met a tyrannous and unreasonable father, an incorrigible and sadistic ten-year-old, or a budding hero not content with menial tasks,” and I am not sure anyone has reached a happy conclusion in this matter so far. It is interesting, though, to notice the proverbs Grettir uses in this series of confrontations with his father over his assignment of what the youth considers undesirable chores.
Having killed the goslings put into his care because he found them boring—the composer remarks of his limited emotional range that “he had a fairly short temper”—he grins at his father’s fury and celebrates this atrocity with half a lausavisa concluding, “and if the older ones are there as well/I can deal with them single-handed.” Readers could sense a threat of patricide in these lines, which might paint Grettir in too dark a shade. When Ásmund proclaims that he won’t deal with geese anymore his son responds, “A true friend spares others from evil,” a proverb found in Hugsvinnsmál, the Icelandic rendering of the Distichs of Cato. Falling in a category descriptive of friendship obligations, it is of a type such that its use here might be viewed as mock-heroic in ironically placing Ásmund’s geese within his circle of friends. Grettir’s utter lack of sympathy with his father’s efforts is underscored in the next lines when he’s told he’ll be given another task. “The more you try, the more you learn,” he quips, employing a wholesome if self-righteous sentiment, but obviously without the slightest intention either of trying or of learning anything at all!
Turned now to the task of massaging his father’s back by the fire of an evening, he is again chidden: “You ought to shake off that laziness of yours for once, you layabout.” “It’s a bad thing to goad the obstinate,” says Grettir, who then scratches his father’s back with a wool comb. [Orms þáttr discussion] Here, Grettir again draws up on the language of heroes as he pursues conflict with his father, here actually attacking him physically, presumably inflicting some injury.
The story now escalates to Grettir’s destruction of Asmund’s favorite horse, Kengala, for whom his master has an unusually affectionate admiration, oddly reminiscent of Hrafnkel’s for Freyfaxi. The horse, whose abilities in Asmund’s eyes include weather prediction, refuses to go out after Grettir has flayed her back, and Asmund mistakes this for a sign of snow coming. “Wisdom falls short where it is most expected,” comments Grettir—again, with a two-sided thrust—seemingly upon the wisdom of horse and master both! When Asmund approaches Kengala concerned over the horses’ not having fed well that season he is confident in her health—“your back will be as firm as ever, Kengala”. Grettir says, “The foreseeable happens, and also the unforeseeable, too” and when the hide comes off from her back in Asmund’s hand, Grettir grins. The latter part of this bi-partite type proverb is common in the Old Norse paroemial inventory, but the former seems the composer’s own, and one wonders what could have been the expected in this situation, other than Grettir’s lethal sabotage of his horse-keeping job. My students find this passage uncomfortably humorous, but humor, so culturally specific, reflects its society’s values, and the affection of Asmund and Hrafnkell for their respective equine friends seems to have provided a source of amusement for the composers and their audience, in this case with paroemial adornment.
If Grettir’s relations with his parents and the extent and cause of his propensity for ill-natured behaviour and conflict are a mystery, his sense of himself seems initally clear. In near simultaneous publications, the translators of the 1974 Grettir’s saga, in their introduction, and Katheryn Hume, in JEGP, first treated him as an anachronistic hero, with the aristocratic warrior traits of his great-grandfather, Önund Tree-Foot, but caught in a Christian land, a settled society of farmers and merchants, where the hero at one point “sorely regretted not having anything to test his strength against and asked around for a challenge to take up.” When, at the age of 14, he is restrained by adults from killing Auðun, a slightly older relative and playmate who he feels has humiliated him, he insists there’s no need to hold him like a mad dog: “Only a slave takes vengeance at once, and a coward never.” The coldly murderous intent of this utterance, obviously related in concept to the now clichéd Sicilian proverb of the cold dish, is urgently blatant, and its speaker calls upon concepts of vengeance out of place in the context of Grettir’s youth and his surrounding family and the Christian setting. Wherever the present critical view of Grettir as the aristocratic warrior hero born too late may have come from, it is so clearly and productively traceable throughout the entire narrative of his life that one must conclude it was also close to the point of this saga in the composer’s mind, even though that point seems still to elude us.
Glaringly opposed to this tragic and idealistic self-image is the gradually dawning awareness of himself simply as an outlaw, a wolf among men, his hopes of legal redemption at the mercy of his cousin, St Olaf, dashed by a botched ritual ordeal and the king’s observation that it happened through his impetuousness: “Rashness always breeds trouble. If any man has ever been accursed, it must surely be you.” Later, as they lie in bed one morning, his brother Þorsteinn Drómundr, speaks of Grettir’s arms: “I have never seen any man with such arms.” “I would never have accomplished the deeds I have done if I weren’t stoutly built,” he answers. “I would have preferred less muscle and more good fortune,” says Þorsteinn, to which Grettir comments, “No man is his own creator.” And his tragic awareness of himself as the ógæfumaðr of the Norse heroic world is poignantly apparent.
Perhaps the climax of his proverbial expression of this growing perception of himself as an outlaw rather than an aspiring hero can be found in the saga’s movable chapter 52, used also by the composer of Fóstbræðra sagaas his first chapter, preludic there of his narrative’s long examination of how individuals use the powers God has given them. In Grettla, this same incident, in which Þorbjorg the Stout saves Grettir from being hanged by local farmers annoyed by his depredations upon their neighbourhood, serves to emphasize the contrast between the outlaw hero’s nature and origins on the one hand and the unfortunate plight in which his ógæfa has landed him. “Grettir will be more than you men of Isafjord can handle,” she scolds his captors, “because he is a man of renown and great family, even though Fortune does not favour him.” When she asks him how he came to be in the area, troubling her farmers, however, he answers with two consecutive and proverbially signficant strings: “You can’t provide for everything . . . I have to be somewhere.” Guðni Jónsson, in his Íslensk fornrit edition of the saga, caught the allusion of the second sentence to the proverb, “Einhvers staðar verða vondir að vera.” 52. 169. [Bad guys have to be somewhere.], and thus Grettir tacitly accepts his status among the vondir menn of Iceland, no more the utterly independent warrior hero, but rather an outcast, self-isolated by temperament, seeking his home in the desert, followed in the moonlight only by his shadow, like Sigurðr Sigurðsson’s outlaw.
Readers have argued elsewhere over evidence of moral change or spiritual progression in the characters with which the Old Icelandic sagas are peopled, and the now discarded views of Jakob Burckhardt on the medieval theory of personality seem well challenged by at least some of the evidence, as is the case, I think, with the subject of this paper. Although it may be that, as I tried to show several decades ago, the composer of the extant Grettla ironically situates his tragic hero in the narrative pattern of a physical monster in his last scene on Drangey, he seem internally changed by the time of his death. The misplaced aristocratic warrior in constant search of a challenge is much reduced, crippled personally by the curses of Glámr and Þúríðr, and physically by the latter’s sorcery. His appearance is distorted by the gangrenous wound when he is confronted by his slayer in his eyrie refuge, and the saga’s composer employs the ultimate irony in having Þorbjörn Öngull attribute his success to Christ, as if proclaiming his victim a member of the tribe of Cain.
Yet it seems certain that at his death Grettir has progressed from the prickly son of a harsh father, imbued with the irritable impetuosity of his giant kin, to an adult aware of relational value. As the translators of the 1974 English version observe, on Drangey he has treated Glaumr, “the despicable buffoon, with great tolerance.” And he has declared explicitly his familial dependence and thus, at last, his human vulnerability, when, wounded by Þorbjörn, he addresses Illugi, “Bare is the back of a brotherless man.”
Applications 19. Handout. On the Paroemiologicial Delineation of Character in Grettis Saga.
Ég sé þig elta heim í hreysið
við hraunið, -- máni að baki skín,
þinn eigin skugga, auðnuleysið, --
sem eitt hélt tryggð við sporin þín.
“Útilegumaðurinn”, Sigurður Sigurðsson
1. References to Sturla Þórðarson, probably as a written source:
ÍF. VII. 49. 157. Spjótit þat, sem Grettir hafði týnt, fannsk eigi fyrr en í þeira manna minnum, er nú lifa; þat spjót fannsk ófanverðum dögum Sturlu lögmanns Þórðarsonar ok í þeira mýri, er Þorbjörn fell, ok heitir þar nú Spjótsmýrr; ok hafa menn þat til merkja, at Þorbjörn hafi þar drepinn verit, þótt í sumum stöðum segi, at hann hafi á Miðfitjum drepinn verit.
CSI II. 49. 125. [On the spear Grettir lost when he killed Thorbjorn.] The spear that Grettir had lost was not found for a long time, until the days that people still alive can remember. It was found towards the end of Sturla Thordarson the Lawseaker’s life, in the marshland where Thorbjorn was killed, which is no known as Spjotsmyri (Spear-Mire.) This is taken as proof that Thorbjorn was killed there, although some accounts say that he was killed in Midfitjar.
ÍF. VII. 69. 226. Þá hafði hann fimmtán vetr eða sextán í sekð verit, at því sem Sturla Þórðarson hefir sagt.
CSI II. 69. 159. [On the time when Grettir and Illugi went to settle on Drangey; the passage describes living conditions on the island.] By that time he had been an outlaw for fifteen or sixteen years, according to Sturla Thordarson.
ÍF. VII. 93. Hefir Sturla lögmaðr svá sagt, at engi sekr maðr þykkir honum jafnmikill fyrir sér hafa verit sem Grettir inn sterki. Finnr hann til þess þrjár greinir. Þá fyrst, at honum þykkir hann vitrastr verit hafa, því at hann hefir verit lengst í sekð einnhverr manna ok varð aldri unninn, meðan hann var heill; þá aðra, at hann var sterkastr á landinu sinna jafnaldra ok meir lagðr til at koma af aptrgöngum ok reimleikum en aðrir menn; sú in þriðja, at hans var hefnt út í Miklagarði, sem einskis annars íslenzks manns; ok þat með, hverr giptumaðr Þorsteinn drómundr varð á sínum efstum dögum, sá in sami, er hans hefndi.
CSI II. 93. 191. Sturla the Lawspeaker has said that he does not consider any outlaw to have been as distinguished as Grettir the Strong, and justifies this on three grounds. Firstly, he regards him as the wisest, since he spent the longest time in outlawry of any man and was never overcome for as long as he kept his health. Secondly, he was the strongest man in Iceland among his contemporaries, and more capable than others at laying ghosts and visitations to rest. The third reason was that, unlike any other Icelander, he was avenged in Constantinople, and what is more, the man who avenged him, Thorstein Dromund, became so exceptionally favoured by fortune in the last years of his life.
2. Infant Episodes in the Gospel of Thomas, Second Greek Form:
4. And some days after, when Jesus was going through the midst of the city, a boy threw a stone at Him, and struck Him on the shoulder. And Jesus said to him: Thou shalt not go on thy way. And directly falling down, he also died. And they that happened to be there were struck with astonishment, saying: Whence is this child, that every word he says is certainly accomplished? And they also went and reproached Joseph, saying: It is impossible for thee to live with us in this city: but if thou wishest to do so, teach thy child to bless, and not to curse: for he is killing our children, and everything that he says is certainly accomplished. 5. And Joseph was sitting in his seat, and the child stood before him; and he took hold of Him by the ear, and pinched it hard. And Jesus looked at him steadily, and said: It is enough for thee.
3. Proverbs of the Infant Episode in Grettla:
ÍF VII. 14. 38. “Vinr er sá annars, er ills varnar,” sagði Grettir.
CSI II. 14. Grettir when Asmund relieves him from his job of keeping the geese:
65. “A true friend spares others from evil,” Grettir said.
ASB 8. 14. 40. 7. 17. Man beachte die für Grettir charakteristische gnomische ausdrucksweise. Dasselbe sprichwort ist auch aus Dänemark nachgewiesen: Det er en ærlig ven, der varer en ad sin skade (Molbech, Danske ordsprog s. 246).
FJ Proverb word 458. Page 199. vinr – vinr er sás vörnuð býðr Sigv. Bers. 13. ‘Det er en ven som advarer’. Omtrent samme betyder: vinr er sá annars er ills varnar Grett 23 (Boer 40). ‘Den er en ven som advarer en mod det onde’.
TPMA 4. 47. FREUND/ami/friend 3. Art der wahren Freundschaft und des richtigen Verhaltens gegenüber Freunden 3.11. Mut zu berechtigter Mahnung und Verzicht auf falsches Lob 3.11.1. Man tadle und strafe, ermahne und warne seinen Freund zu seinem Besten46 Nord. 788 Vinr ’s sás . . . Vörnuð býðr Derjenige ist ein Freund, der warnt SIGVATR 11, 13 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 458. JÓNSSON 181). 789 Ef þú vin átt, Þann er þér vildr sé, Fýs hann gott at gera, Orða þinna Þótt oþökk kunni, Þó skalt hann við vammi vara Wenn du einen Freund hast, der dir lieb ist, ermahne ihn, Gutes zu tun! Auch wenn dir für deine Worte keinen Dank weiss, sollst du ihn dennoch vor Schande warnen HUGSVINNSMÁL 25. 790 Vinr er sá annars, er ills varnar Derjenige ist des andern Freund, der ihn vom Bösen abhält GRETTIS SAGA 14, 7. 46Vgl. WHITING S 124.
ÍF VII. 14. 38. “Fleira veit sá, er fleira reynir,” sagði Grettir, “eða hvat skal ek nú gera?”
CSI II. 14. Grettir when Asmund says he’ll find him another task:
65. “The more you try, the more you learn,” Grettir replied. “What am I supposed to do now?”
ASB 8. 14. 41. 7.
FJ Proverb word 461. Page 201. vita – . . . fleira veit sá er fleira reynir Grett 23 (Boer 40). ‘Jo mere man prøver, desto mer ved man’. = GJ.
ÍF VII. 14. 38. Grettir segir: “Illt er at eggja óbilgjarnan.”
CSI II. 14. Grettir when Asmund tells him to scratch his back more vigorously:
65. “It’s a bad thing to goad the obstinate,” said Grettir.
ASB 8. 14. 41. 10. 17. óbilgjarn, “unerschrocken”, “furchtlos”, vgl. verðr e-hm bilt, “jemand fängt an sich zu fürchten”. Der Orms þáttr St. (Flat. I, 522, 3) hat die variante: illt er at eggja ofstopamennina; vgl. auch Sig. kv. skamma 21, 1: dælt vas at eggja óbilgjarnan.
FJ Proverb word 297. Page 175. óbilgjarn – ilt er at eggja óbilgjarnan (ofstopamanninn) Grett 24 (Boer 41), FMS III 206. ‘Det er slemt at ægge den der self ikke er til sinds at give efter (den voldsomme)’. I Sig. sk. 21 hedder det: dælt vas at eggja óbílgjarnan. GJ har ordspr., med var.: ofstopamannin.
TPMA 9. 276. REIZEN/provoquer/to provoke 1. Man reize keinen Kühnen (Anmassenden) Nord. 1 Illt er at eggja óbilgjarnan Schlimm ist es, den Kühnen zu reizen GRETTIS SAGA 14, 10 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 297. JÓNSSON 126). 2 Ílt er at eggja ofstopamanninn Schlimm ist es, den Anmassenden zu reizen ORMS ÞÁTTR STÓRÓLFSSONAR 1 (→FMS III, 206 [= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 297]). Anders: Nord. 3 Dælt var at eggja óbilgjarnan Leicht war es, den Kühnen zu reizen SIG. SKAMMA 21, 1 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 297).
ÍF VII. 14. 40-1. Grettir segir: “Skýzk þeim mörgum vísdómrinn, er betri ván er at.”
CSI II. 14. Grettir when Asmund thinks it’s going to blizzard, based on Kengala's behaviour:
66. “Wisdom falls short where it is most expected,” said Grettir.
ASB 8. 14. 44. 19.
FJ Proverb word 459. Page 200. vísdómr – skýzk þeim mörgum vísdómrinn er betri ván er at Grett 25 (Boer 44). ‘Visdommen svigter mange, af hvem man skulde vænte noget bedre (i retning af visdom’).
ÍF VII. 14. 41. “Verðr þat, er varir,” sagði Grettir, “ok svá hitt, er eigi varir.”
CSI II. 14. Grettir when Asmund expects Kengala’s back to be as firm as ever:
66. “The foreseeable happens, and the unforeseeable too,” said Grettir.
ASB 8. 14. 45. 20.
FJ Proverb word 436. Page 197. vara (2) – . . . verðr þat er varir ok svá hitt er eigi varir Grett 26 (Boer 45) ‘Det hændes mange som man mindst vænter’. jfr GJ: margan hendir það hann hugsar ekki (sækir það hann sízt varir).
TPMA 3. 49. ERWARTEN/attendre/to expect 1. Oft tritt ein, was man nicht erwartet Nord. 4 Mart gengr verr, en varir Vieles geht schlechter, als man erwartet HÁVAMÁL 40, 6 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 436. JÓNSSON 174). 5 Margan þat sœkir, Es minst of varir Manchen sucht das heim, was er am wenigsten erwartet SÓLARLJÓÐ 8, 4 (= GERING S. 13). 6 Mart verðr annann veg enn maðrinn ætlar Manches kommt anders, als man erwartet JÓMSVÍKINGA SAGA 47 (→FMS XI, 150 [= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 450. JÓNSSON 178]). 7 Þat er satt, sem mællt er, at margan hendir þat, er minnzst varir Das ist wahr, was man sagt, dass manchem das widerfährt, was er am wenigsten erwartet ORKNEYINGA SAGA 30 S. 83, 4 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 436. GERING S. 13. JÓNSSON 174). 8 Nú verðr sumt þats mangi varir Nun geschieht manches, was niemand erwarter MÁLSHÁTTAKVÆÐI 25, 6 (= GERING S. 13). 9 Mart kann öðru víss til at bera en menn hyggja Manches kann sich anders zutragen, als die Menschen erwarten MÖTTULS SAGA 22 (→JÓNSSON, ARKIV 33 [= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 14]). Ähnlich: Nord. 15 “Verðr þat er varir”, sagði Grettir, “ok svá hitt, er eigi varir” “Das geschieht, was man erwartet”, sagte Grettir, “und ebenso das, was man nicht erwartet” GRETTIS SAGA 14, 20 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 436. JÓNSSON 174).
ÍF VII. 14. 41. “Verðr þat, er varir,” sagði Grettir, “ok svá hitt, er eigi varir.”
CSI II. 14. Grettir when Asmund expects Kengala’s back to be as firm as ever:
66. “The foreseeable happens, and the unforeseeable too,” said Grettir.
ASB 8. 14. 45. 20.
4. With Auðun:
ÍF VII. 15. 44. Grettir kvað ekki þurfa at halda á sér sem ólmum hundi ok mælti þetta, “Þræll einn þegar hefnisk, en argr aldri.”
CSI II. 15. Grettir objects when men hold him back from his fight with Audun:
68. Grettir said there was no need to hold him like a mad dog – “Only a slave takes vengeance at once, and a coward never.”
ASB 8. 15. 48. 7. 4. argr (= ragr), “unmännlich”, “feige”, hier in substantivischer funktion.
ÍF VII. 15. 44. Grettir kvað ekki þurfa at halda á sér sem ólmum hundi ok mælti þetta, “Þræll einn þegar hefnisk, en argr aldri.”1 1Einungis þræll hefnir sín þegar í stað, en ragur maður hefnir sín aldrei. Til samanburðar má minna á orð Hákonar jarls í Njálu (88. kap.), er Hrappur hafði brennt up hof Guðbrands í Dölum og flett goðin: “En goð hefna eigi alls þegar”.
CSI II. 15. Grettir objects when men hold him back from his fight with Audun:
68. Grettir said there was no need to hold him like a mad dog - “Only a slave takes vengeance at once, and a coward never.”
ASB 8. 15. 48. 7. 4. argr (= ragr), “unmännlich”, “feige”, hier in substantivischer funktion.
FJ Proverb word 482. Page 204. þræll – . . . þræll einn þegar hefnisk en argr aldri Grett 28 (Boer 48). ‘Trællen ene hævner sig straks, den feje aldrig’. Synes at antyde, at en træl vil straks hævne sig, medens en fribåren godt kan vænte og vise sin overlegenhed vid udførelsen. GJ har: þrællinn hefnir en argr aldrei, hvilket giver en god mening for sig.
TPMA 9. 177. RACHE/vengeance 8. Verschiedenes Nord. 140 Eigi veit áðr hefndum lýkr Man weiss nich (, wie es ausgeht), bevor die Rache vollzogen ist MÁLSHÁTTAKVÆÐI 18, 6 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 166. JÓNSSON 66). 141 Þræll einn þegar hefniz, en argr aldri Ein Knecht rächt sich schnell, aber ein Feiger nie GRETTIS SAGA 15, 7 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 482. JÓNSSON 190). 142 Fornrar skemðar skal fyrr hefna Alte Schande soll man zuerst (wörtl.: früher) rächen BÆRINGS SAGA 24 S. 111, 26 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 165. JÓNSSON 66).
Ed. note. See Deskis, p. 124, fn 77.
5. With Þorsteinn drómundr Ásmundarson:
ÍF VII. 41. 137. Grettir segir: "Satt er þat, sem mælt er, at engi maðr skapar sik sjálfr.ngi maðr skapar sik sjálfr. Láttu mik nú sjá þína handleggi," segir hann.
CSI II. 41. Grettir to Thorstein, who has said it would have been better if his brother's arms were thinner and somewhat luckier:
114. “I would have preferred less muscle and more good fortune,” said Thorstein. Then Grettir said, “The saying is true: no man is his own creator. Show me your arms then.”
ASB 8. 41. 155. 3. 1. Satt – mælt er, s. zu c. 20, 6.
FJ Proverb word 361. Page 185. skapa – engi maðr skapar sik sjálfr Grett 97 (Boer 155). ‘Ingen skaber (har skabt) sig selv’.
TPMA 3. 42. ERSCHAFFEN/créer/to create 1. Niemand kann sich selbst erschaffen Nord. 1 Satt er þat, sem mælt er, at engi maðr skapar sik sjálfr Wahr ist, was gesagt wird, dass niemand sich selber erschaft GRETTIS SAGA 41, 3 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 361. JÓNSSON 148).
6. With Þorbjörg in digra Óláfsdóttir:
ÍF VII. 52. 169. "Eigi má nú við öllu sjá; vera varð ek nökkur."2 2nökkur: nokkurs staðar, einhvers staðar; sbr., Einhvers staðar verða vondir að vera.
CSI II. 52. Grettir excuses himself to Thorbjorg the Stout, Olaf Peacock's daughter, for causing trouble in her district:
131. “You can’t provide for everything,” said Grettir. “I had to be somewhere.”
ASB 8. 52. 190. 15. 12. Eigi – sjá, vgl. c. 31, 4.
FJ Proverb word 358. Page 184. sjá – eigi má við öllu sjá Grett 119 (Boer 190). ‘Ikke kan man tage sig i agt for alt’. I poetisk form: engi er sá við öllu sér Þrændlur I 48. Også hos GJ.
TPMA 10. 373. SEHEN/voir/to see 9. Gut schauen, aufpassen 9.4. Man kann nicht aug alles achten (Rücksicht nehmen) Nord. 152 Ekki verðr við öllu sèt Man kann nicht auf alles achten (wörtl.: Es wird nicht auf alles geachtet) HRÓLFS SAGA KRAKA 49 (→FAS I, 99). 153 Má eigi fyrir öllu sjá Man kann nicht auf alles achten GRETTIS SAGA 31, 4. 154 Eigi má nú (jetzt) öllu sjá EBD. 52, 15 (=JÓNSSON, ARKIV 358. JÓNSSON 146). 155 Ekki má fyrir ollu sjá EBD. 81, 8 (= GERING S. 12). 156 Eigi mun nú fyrir öllu verða umsèð Man kann jetzt nicht auf alles achten (wörtl.: Es kann jetzt nicht auf alles geachtet werden) EINDRIÐA ÞÁTTR 1 (→FMS V, 306). 157 Ekki verðr (nú) vilð öllu sét GUNNARS SAGA KELDUGNÚPSFÍFLS47, 28 (→GERING S. 12).
ÍF VII. 52. 169. "Eigi má nú við öllu sjá; vera varð ek nökkur."2 2nökkur: nokkurs staðar, einhvers staðar; sbr., Einhvers staðar verða vondir að vera.
CSI II. 52. Grettir excuses himself to Thorbjorg the Stout, Olaf Peacock's daughter, for causing trouble in her district:
131. “You can’t provide for everything,” said Grettir. “I had to be somewhere.”
ASB 8. 52. 190. 15. 12. Eigi – sjá, vgl. c. 31, 4.
Ed. note. Proverbial allusion: Einhvers staðar verða vondir að vera. Íslenzkir Málshættir 364, citing JÁÞjóðs I 138, 140.
7. Grettir’s Death Scene:
ÍF VII. 82. 260. Þá mælti Grettir: “Berr er hverr á bakinu, nema sér bróður eigi.”
CSI II. 82. Grettir, to Illugi, while under attack:
176. Then Grettir said, “Bare is the back of a brotherless man.” Illugi threw a shield over Grettir and protected him so valiantly that everyone praised his defence.
ASB 8. 82. 283. 13.
FJ Proverb 25. Page 66. bak – berr er hverr á bakinu nema sér bróður eigi Grett 185 (Boer 283). ‘Enhver er bar på ryggen (værgeløs bagfra) medmindre han har sig en broder’. Også i GJ med udeladelse af sér.
Saxo (Kallstenius) 20. 17. nudum habere tergum fraternitatis inopem, referebat, s. 13519. – Bar er broderløs Bag, Vedel s. 8911. Se vidare D n:r 395 med komm., Rosenberg a. a. II s. 601 not, Gering Ark 32 s. 6 och JR II n:r 169 (s. 19).
TPMA 2. 128. BRUDER/frère/brother 1. Ein Bruder ist wertvoll und von grossem Nutzen 1.3. Wer keinen Bruder hat, ist nackt (ungeschützt) Mlat. 9 Nudum habere tergum fraternitatis inopem, referebat (scil. Ericus) Er (Ericus) rief, dass der Bruderlose einen ungeschützten Rücken habe SAXO GRAMM. 135, 19. Nord. 10.11 Berr er hverr á bakinu (NJÁLS SAGA: at baki), nema sér bróður eigi Jeder ist am Rücken nackt, ausser demjenigen, der einen Bruder hat GRETTIS SAGA 82, 13 (= JÓNSSON, ARKIV 25. GERING S. 6. JÓNSSON 22). NJÁLS SAGA 152, 5. 12 Fratribus orbatus est pro nudo reputatus. – Bar ær brodherløss man Jemand, der seiner Brüder beraubt ist, wird als nackt angesehen. – Ein bruderloser Mann ist nackt LÅLE 395. Variiert: Nord. 13 Opt kømr mér Mána brúþar (H.s.: bjarnar2) Í byrvind Brœþraleyse; Hyggjomk umb, Es hildr þróask Oft kommt mir der Mangel an Brüdern in den Sinn (wörtl.: in den Fahrtwind der Mondbraut [des Mondbären]); ich denke darüber nach, wenn der Kampflärm anschwillt EGILL, SONATORREK 13, 1 (→EGILS SAGA S. 305).
In the Middle Ages both sides of human consciousness—that which was turned within as that which was turned without—lay dreaming or half awake beneath a common veil. The veil was woven of faith, illusion, and childish prepossession, through which the world and history were seen clad in strange hues. Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation—only through some general category. In Italy this veil first melted into air; an objective treatment and consideration of the State and of all things of this world became possible. The subjective side at the same time asserted itself with corresponding emphasis; man became a spiritual individual, and recognized himself as such.
Jakob Burckhardt. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Part II. The Development of the Individual. Chapter I. The Italian State and the Individual. 143.
For pertinent data see The Distribution of Proverbs Attributed to Grettir in his saga.
Bibliography
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