Editing Hávamál

{{Short description|Old Norse poem}}
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[[Image:The Stranger at the Door.jpg|thumb|"The Stranger at the Door" (1908) by [[W. G. Collingwood]]]]
'''''Hávamál''''' ({{IPAc-en|lang|pron|ˈ|h|ɒː|v|ə|ˌ|m|ɒː|l}} {{respell|HAW|və-mawl}}; [[Old Norse]]: ''Hávamál'',<ref group=note>Unnormalised spelling in the [[Codex Regius]]:<br />''Title'': hava mal<br />''Final stanza'': Nv ero Hava mál q''ve''ðin Háva hꜹ''l''lo i [...]</ref> <small>classical pron.</small> {{IPA|non|ˈhɒːwaˌmɒːl|}}, <small> Modern Icelandic pron.</small> {{IPA|is|ˈhauːvaˌmauːl̥|}}, ‘Words of Hávi [the High One]’) is presented as a single poem in the [[Codex Regius]], a collection of [[Old Norse]] poems from the Viking age. A scholarly estimate of Hávamál's age dates the poem to between 900 and 1000 A.D. The poem, itself a combination of numerous shorter poems, is largely [[gnomic poetry|gnomic]], presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom. It is considered an important source of [[Old Norse philosophy]].

The verses are attributed to [[Odin]]; the implicit attribution to Odin facilitated the accretion of various mythological material also dealing with the same deity.<ref>Bellows (1936), introductory note.</ref>

For the most part composed in the [[Meter (poetry)|metre]] [[Alliterative verse#Ljóðaháttr|''ljóðaháttr'']], a metre associated with wisdom verse, ''Hávamál'' is both practical and philosophical in content.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Df3NAAAAMAAJ&q=havamal+reviewed&pg=PA283|title=The Church Review|last1=Richardson|first1=Nathaniel Smith|last2=Boggs|first2=Edward Brenton|last3=Baum|first3=Henry Mason|date=1872|publisher=Bassett and Bradley|language=en}}</ref>
Following the gnomic  "''Hávamál'' proper" comes the ''Rúnatal'', an account of how Odin won the [[rune]]s, and the ''Ljóðatal'', a list of magic chants or [[galdr|spells]].<ref name=LARRINGTON14>Larrington, Carolyne. (Trans.) (1999) ''The Poetic Edda'', p. 14. [[Oxford World's Classics]] {{ISBN|0-19-283946-2}}</ref>

== Name ==
The [[Old Norse]] name ''Hávamál'' is a [[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] of the [[Genitive case|genitive]] form of ''Hávi'', which is the [[Old Norse morphology#Weak declension and weak inflection of active participles|inflexionally weak]] form of [[List of names of Odin|Odin's name]] ''[[Hár and Hárr|Hár]]'' ('High One'), and the [[plural]] noun ''mál'' (from older ''mǫ́l''), and means 'Song (or Words) of the High One'.{{Sfn|Orchard|1997|p=|pp=74–75}}{{Sfn|Lindow|2002|pp=164, 212}}

==Textual history==
The only surviving source for ''Hávamál'' is the 13th century [[Codex Regius]], with the exception of two short parts.<ref group=note>The first stanza is also found in the manuscripts of the ''[[Prose Edda]]'' (in slightly different versions), and three lines of a later stanza are also found in the manuscripts of ''[[Fóstbrœðra saga]]'' (again in slightly different versions).</ref> 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.

To the [[gnomic poetry|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 ''Hávamál'' has been described as a 10th-century poem in some sources.<ref>''Vendel Period Bracteates on Gotland'' p. 37</ref>

==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 [[gnomic poetry|gnomic]] 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 poetry]] 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]]'', 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''.

==Contents==

===''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 [[manners]] and other behavioral relationships between hosts and guests and the sacred [[Folklore|lore]] of [[Norm of reciprocity|reciprocity]] and [[hospitality]] to the [[Norse paganism|Norse pagans]].

The first stanza exemplifies the practical behavioral advice it offers:

"Gattir allar,<br />
aþr gangi fram,<br />
v''m'' scoðaz scyli,<br />
v''m'' scygnaz scyli;<br />
þviat ouist e''r'' at vita,<br />
hvar ovin''ir'' sitia<br />
a fleti f''yr''."<ref group=note>Quoted after the [[Codex Regius]].</ref>

''All the entrances, before you walk forward,''<br />
''you should look at,''<br />
''you should spy out;''<br />
''for you can't know for certain where enemies are sitting,''<br />
''ahead in the hall''<ref name=LARRINGTON14/>

Number 77 is possibly the most known section of ''Gestaþáttr'':

"Deyr fę,<br />
d''eyia'' f''rǫndr'',<br />
deyr sialfr it sama;<br /> 
ec veit ei''nn''<br />
at aldri deýr:<br />
do''m''r v''m'' dꜹþan hv''er''n."

''Cattle die,''<br />
''kinsmen die,''<br />
''all men are mortal;''<br />
''but words of praise will never perish''<br />
''nor a noble name.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Poetic Edda: The Heroic Poems|last=Bellows|first=Henry Adams|publisher=Dover Publications|year=2012}}</ref>

===On women===
[[File:Billingr's girl, bitch, and Odin by Frølich.jpg|thumb|Billingr's girl watches on while Odin encounters the bitch tied to her bedpost (1895) by [[Lorenz Frølich]].]]
Stanzas 83 to 110 deal with the general topic of [[romantic love]] 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 [[Billingr|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).

===''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]].

===''Rúnatal''===
[[Image:Odin's Self-sacrifice by Collingwood.jpg|thumb|"Odin's Self-sacrifice" (1908) by W. G. Collingwood.]]
[[File:Jelling gr Stein 3.JPG|thumb|The younger [[Jelling stone]] (erected by [[Harald Bluetooth]] c. 970) shows the [[crucifixion of Christ]] with the victim suspended in the branches of a tree instead of on a cross.<ref>cf. Patton 2009:271.</ref>]]
'''''Rúnatal''''' or '''''Óðins Rune Song''''', ''Rúnatáls-þáttr-Óðins'' (stanzas 139–146) is a section of the ''Hávamál'' where Odin reveals the origins of the [[runes]].
In stanzas 139 and 140, Odin describes his sacrifice of himself to himself:


"Vęit ec at ec hecc<br />
vindga meiði a<br />
nętr a''l''lar nío,<br />
geiri vndaþ''r''<br />
''oc'' gefi''nn'' Oðni,<br />
sialfr sialfo''m'' m''er'',<br />
a þei''m'' meiþi,<br />
er mangi veit,<br />
hvers h''ann'' af róto''m'' re''nn''.

Við hleifi mic seldo<br />
ne viþ hórnigi,<br />
nysta ec niþ''r'',<br />
na''m'' ec vp rv́nar,<br />
ǫpandi na''m'',<br />
fę''l''l ec aptr þatan."


''I know that I hung on a windy tree''<br />
''[[Numbers in Norse mythology|nine]] long nights,''<br />
''wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,''<br />
''myself to myself,''<br />
''on that tree of which no man knows from where its roots run.''

''No bread did they give me nor a [[Drinking horn|drink from a horn]],''<br />
''downwards I peered;''<br />
''I took up the runes,''<br />
''screaming I took them,''<br />
''then I fell back from there.''<ref name=LARRINGTON34>Larrington, Carolyne. (Trans.) (1999) ''The Poetic Edda'', p. 34. [[Oxford World's Classics]] {{ISBN|0-19-283946-2}}</ref>


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) also appears in 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 a Pagan influence on Christianity, has been discussed by scholars such as [[Sophus Bugge]].<ref>a sketch of the problem is given by  Kimberley Christine Patton, ''Religion of the gods: ritual, paradox, and reflexivity'' Oxford University,  {{ISBN|978-0-19-509106-9}}, chapter 7 "Myself to Myself: The Norse Odin and Divine Autosacrifice".</ref>

The persistence of Odin's self-sacrifice in Scandinavian folk tradition was documented by Bugge (1889) in a poem from [[Unst]] on the [[Shetland Islands]]:

''Nine days he hang' pa de rütless tree;''<br />
''For ill wis da folk, in' güd wis he.''<br />
''A blüdy mael wis in his side —''<br />
''Made wi' a lance — 'at wid na hide.''<br />
''Nine lang nichts,  i' de nippin rime,''<br />
''Hang he dare   wi' his naeked limb.''<br />
''Some dey leuch;''<br />
''Bid idders gret''.<ref name=bugge>[https://runeberg.org/bsheltsagn/1/0318.html Bugge, Sophus. (1889) ''Studier over de nordiske gude- og heltesagns oprindelse'', p. 308f.]</ref><br />

===''Ljóðatal''===
The last section, the '''''Ljóðatal''''' enumerates eighteen songs (''ljóð''), sometimes called "charms", prefaced with (stanza 147):

"Lioþ ec þꜹ ka''nn'',<br />
er ka''nn''at þioðans kóna<br />
''oc'' ma''nn''zcis mꜹgr"

''The songs I know''<br />
''that king's wives know not''<br />
''Nor men that are sons of men.''

The songs 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.<ref>Bellows separates the "seventeenth" item into stanzas 163 and 164. There is a gap in stanza 163, and some editors have also combined 163 and 164 into a single stanza.</ref>

There is no explicit mention of runes or [[runic magic]] in the ''Ljóðatal'' excepting in
the twelfth song (stanza 158), which takes up the motif of Odin hanging on the tree and its association with runes:

"sva ec rist<br />
''oc'' i rv́no''m'' fác"

''So do I write''<br />
''and color the runes''

Nevertheless, because of the ''Rúnatal'' preceding the list, modern commentators sometimes reinterpret the ''Ljóðatal'' as referring to 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 songs (16th to 18th) taken as late and obscure additions.

==Influence==
[[Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson]], leader of the Icelandic ''[[Ásatrúarfélagið]]'', published his performance of a number of Eddaic poems, including the Hávamál,  chanted in [[rímur]] style.<ref>"Edda", Current 93 (1991)</ref>{{better citation needed|date=December 2021}} 

The opera ''[[Gunlöd (opera)|Gunlöd]]'' by [[Peter Cornelius]] takes its plot from the ''Hávamál''; detailing Odin's theft of the mead of poetry.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H-xEDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Weimar%22+%22Gunlöd%22+opera+1891&pg=PA201|title=Operas in German: A Dictionary|page=200-201|first=Margaret Ross|last= Griffel|year= 2018|isbn=9781442247970|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]]}}</ref>

The German [[viking metal|viking]]-[[pagan metal]] band [[Falkenbach]] formed in 1989 and recorded their first demo, titled ''Hávamál'', and incorporate lines from the poem into lyrics.<ref name="heesch">Florian Heesch, Reinhard Kopanski. 2017. "Klang - Text - Bild: Intermediale Aspekte der Black Metal-Forschung". ed. Sarah Chaker, Jakob Schermann, Nikolaus Urbanek. ''Analyzing Black Metal - Transdisziplinäre Annäherungen an ein düsteres Phänomen der Musikkultur''. Transcript Verlag. pp. 31-32. {{ISBN|978-3-8376-3687-1}}</ref>

==Editions and translations==
*editio princeps: Peder Hansen Resen, ''Edda. Islandorum an. Chr. 1215 islandice conscripta'', 1665 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=72k_AAAAcAAJ 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 ([https://archive.org/details/denldreeddasaml00muncgoog Internet Archive])
*[[Benjamin Thorpe]], ''Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða: The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned'', 1866 ([http://www.northvegr.org/the%20eddas/the%20poetic%20edda%20%20-%20thorpe%20translation/preface.html online transcription] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213656/http://www.northvegr.org/the%20eddas/the%20poetic%20edda%20%20-%20thorpe%20translation/preface.html |date=2016-03-03 }}).
*[[Sophus Bugge]], ''Sæmundar Edda hins fróða''. 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.&nbsp;61–111([https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/havamal.html online transcription]).
*H. A. Bellows, ''The Poetic Edda'', 1936, "Hovamol: The Ballad of the High One" ([http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm online edition]).
*[[Carolyne Larrington]], ''The Poetic Edda'', Oxford University Press, 2006.
*[[Jackson Crawford]], ''The Poetic Edda'', Hackett Publishing  Company, Inc., 2015.
*[[Jackson Crawford]], ''The Wanderer's Hávamál'', 2019

==See also==
*''[[Nine Herbs Charm]]''
* [[Noleby Runestone]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

=== Bibliography ===

* {{Cite book|last=Lindow|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC|title=Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-983969-8|language=en|author-link=John Lindow}}
* {{Cite book|last=Orchard|first=Andy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uIujQgAACAAJ|title=Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend|date=1997|publisher=Cassell|isbn=978-0-304-34520-5|language=en|author-link=Andy Orchard}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|The Poetic Edda (tr. Bellows)/Hovamol|Hávamál}}
{{commonscatinline}}
* {{cite web
  | title = Havamal – Translation by Benjamin Thorpe
  | url = http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poetic2/006_01.php 
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080515235133/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poetic2/006_01.php
  | archive-date = 2008-05-15
  }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050912100548/http://vta.gamall-steinn.org/havamal.htm Hávamál]  Translation by [[W. H. Auden]] and P. B. Taylor
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060202014047/http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/havamal.html Hávamál]  Translation by Olive Bray
* [http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/H%C3%A1vam%C3%A1l Hávamál] Original text
* [https://wordandsilence.com/2019/03/27/the-great-myths-49-odin-sacrifices-himself-norse/ Parallel versions of Odin's "Rune Song"] with the Bellows, Hollander, Larrington and Orchard translations

{{Poetic Edda}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Havamal}}
[[Category:Eddic poetry]]
[[Category:Wisdom literature]]
[[Category:Old Norse philosophy]]
[[Category:Latin script texts with ideographic runes]]