Imagem: primeira página do Beowulf
Jorge Luis Borges entreteve-se a aprender Old Norse, e a decifrar as elaboradas metáforas das Sagas Nórdicas, que são celebrações do espirito guerreiro e de aventura, tão bloqueado nos dias de hoje. Assim J-L- Borges estudou os kennings. Sem querer imitá-lo, o que seria muito borgiano - ele que imitava imitar, e construía contos como se fossem doutro? - tentemos por nossa vez mergulhar no "vinho das batalhas".
Tomemos uma entre as várias definições do guerreiro: Feeder of the Raven. A tradução possível seria: Aquele que sustenta os corvos. Há aqui uma ironia implícita, a carnificina do campo de batalha traz proveito aos bandos de corvos. A imagem é de uma poesia sinistra: o campo de batalha assim que esta termina está juncado de cadáveres,entretanto, a grasnar e a saltitar no meio dos corpos uma onda negra de pássaros grasna com alarido. Eu defendo que o kenning é o mais curto dos hai-kais.
Tomemos outro kenning: Battle-Sweat, o suor da batalha, é o sangue. Aqui a batalha é vista como um corpo único, um corpo orgânico. As hostes adversárias formam um só e único corpo que sua sangue. Poderosa imagem que funde os opostos num só, e todos os corpos no mesmo organismo. A amálgama é total. Se os construtores do Golem e o Dr. Jekill sonhavam construir um corpo não humano, mas orgânico, ao que parece as batalhas nórdicas já o tinham feito. Uma batalha era a construção de um Corpo Único Gigante composto de mil braços e pernas que suava sangue.
Odin, o deus nórdico da guerra, mais tarde recuperado pelo romantismo alemão e ainda mais tarde pela ala mais "espiritual" (leia-se Ernest Junger e Julius Evola) do nazismo entre outros epítetos merece este : The Hanged God, O Deus Enforcado. Os homens pelos vistos não toleram muita divindade. Tem que lhes pôr alguns e sérios entraves. Se os que desafiam os deuses como Sísifo e Átis não tem grande futuro (a não ser na blogosfera que é um mundo anemiado, virtual, em segundo grau, hipostático) (qual seria o kenning para a net: Linfa Eléctrica, Sanguessuga do Espírito?) os próprios deuses sofrem azares. Vulcano é coxo, Cristo crucificado, Odin enforcado.
Nós nas artes marciais aprendemos que a "espada é a alma do guerreiro." Se esta não estiver imbuída do Ki do praticante não passa de um banal instrumento. Mas se a arte for desenvolvida e o Ki ou Chi circular sem impedimentos a espada mais do que supletiva integra a essência, torna-se a própria essência do guerreiro. Aqui no kenning The Sleep of the Sword, o Sono da Espada, significa a morte do guerreiro. A alma com a morte adormece. Belo e curtíssimo hai-kai. Aqui o que adormece no entanto fica em gestação. Como será o despertar da espada?
Ainda a espada é definida com sarcasmo negro : Blood worm, verme do sangue. Tão gulosa do sangue alheio é que se torna parasita, verme - Nos nossos dias em que a espada só se ouve tinir nos dojos de artes marciais, onde não corre sangue, talvez se pudesse aplicar este kenning â Banca em geral. Vermes do Nosso sangue são os banqueiros, de facto. Essa gente atrás de balcões, essa gente eminentemente sentada, quiemada pela luz do ecrã dos monitores.
O mar é The Whales Way, o Caminho das Baleias. Imagine-se a pessoa num drakkar, a quantidade de baleias que se veria? Hoje o mar é um auto-estrada sinistra de navios de contentores. O Mar dos Sargaços é uma área monumental cheia de lixo. As baleias estão em vias de extinção caçadas por super-baleeiros nipónicos. A nossa era não produz kennings inspirados sobre o mar. Era de Decadência e de Morte das Espécies, teme as batalhas individuais, teme o único, o Individual.
O Sol é chamado Glory of the Elves. Glória dos Elfos. Hoje O Sol é a glória dos toldos de praia e dos bronzeadores. Não há magia possível no mar nem na terra. Expulsámos os elfos. Um Sol utilitário, que se paga, e que não nasce para ninguém, ilumina sonetos perdidos, enterrados nos mares de um inconsciente cada vez mais gigantesco. Até quando? Até à erupção mias vulcânica de todas: a do Inconsciente suprimido pela Hiper-racionalidade.
Entretanto, guardada nos lábios de Grimnir a torrente da poesia emigrou para o lado escuro do Sol.
Kennings
Kennings | Primary meaning | Secondary/implied/allusive meaning | Source languages | Documents and sources |
| Ægir's daughters | waves | Ægir had nine daughters called billow maidens who were personifications of the waves. | N |
|
| bait-gallows | hook |
| Ic | Flateyjarbok |
| Baldur's bane | mistletoe | The kenning derives from the story in which all plants and creatures swore never to harm Baldur, save the mistletoe which was overlooked and which Loki used to bring about Baldur's death by tricking Hodur. | N |
|
| battle-sweat | blood | One reference for this kenning comes from the epic poem, Beowulf. As Beowulf is in fierce combat with Grendel's Mother, he makes mention of shedding much battle-sweat. | N |
|
| blood-ember | axe |
| N |
|
| blood-worm | sword |
| N |
|
| breaker of rings | King or chieftain | Alludes to a ruler breaking the golden rings upon his arm and using them to reward his followers. | AS | Beowulf |
| brow-stars | eyes |
| IC | Gylfaginning |
| breaker of trees | wind |
| N |
|
| father of the sea thread | Loki, the father of Jörmungandr, the Midgard serpent |
| N | Þórsdrápa |
| Feed the eagle | kill enemies | Killing enemies left food for the eagles | S | Gripsholm Runestone |
| feeder of ravens | warrior | Ravens feed on dead bodies left after a battle. | N |
|
| flame-farewelled | death | Implicitly honourable death | N |
|
| Freyja's tears | gold, sometimes amber | Derived from the story of when Freyja could not find Óðr, her husband, the tears she shed were gold, and the trees which her tears fell upon were transmuted into amber. | N |
|
| glory-of-elves | sun: Alfrodull |
| N | Skírnismál |
| Grímnir's lip-streams | poetry | Grímnir is one of the names of Odin | N | Þórsdrápa |
| Gunn's horse | wolf | Gunn is a valkyrie | S | Rök Stone |
| Hanged god | Odin | Odin hung on the Tree of Knowledge for nine days in order to gain wisdom. | N |
|
| Hrugnir's slayer | Thor's hammer, Mjollnir |
| N | Lokasenna |
| Kraki's seed | gold | Hrólf Kraki spread gold on the Fyris Wolds to distract the men of the Swedish king. Can also be used to imply generosity; q.v. Hrólf Kraki | N | Skáldskaparmál |
| Lord of the gallows | Odin |
| N |
|
| Mountain of the hawk | arm | in falconeering, the hawk rests on the arm of its master | N |
|
| Onion of war | Sword |
| N |
|
| raven harvest | corpse | battle-field corpses | N |
|
| sea-steeds | Ships |
| N | Skáldskaparmál |
| seeds of the Fyris Wolds | gold | Hrólf Kraki spread gold on the Fyris Wolds to distract the men of the Swedish king | N |
|
| serpent's lair | gold | Serpents (and dragons) were reputed to lie upon gold in their nests | N | Skáldskaparmál |
| Sif's hair | gold | Derived from the story of when Loki cut off Sif's hair. In order to amend his crime, Loki had the dwarf Dvalin make new hair for Sif, a wig of gold that grew like normal hair. | N |
|
| slaughter-dew | blood |
| N |
|
| slayer of giants | Thor | felli fjörnets goða flugstalla (source: Thorsdrapa), is a compound kenning. Literally feller of the life webs (fjörnets) of the gods of the flight-edges, i.e. slayer of giants, life webs (fjörnets) is a kenning in its own right since it refers directly to the operations of the Norns in severing lives, flight-edges (flugstalla) being the high and dangerous places inhabited by eagles and hawks, i.e. the icy mountains of Jotunheim. | N | Thorsdrapa |
| sleep of the sword | death |
| AS | Beowulf |
| spear-din | battle |
| N | Skaldskaparmal |
| steed of the billows | ship |
| N |
|
| valley-trout | serpent |
| N | Skaldskaparmal |
| weather of weapons | war |
| N | Skaldskaparmal |
| whale-road | the sea |
| N,AS | Beowulf: "In the end each clan on the outlying coasts beyond the whale-road had to yield to him and begin to pay tribute" |
| whale's way | the sea |
| N,AS | Beowulf |
| wolf's father | Loki | an allusion to Loki's fathering of Fenrir | N | Lokasenna |
| wolf's-joint | wrist | An allusion to Tyr's loss of his hand when fettering the wolf Fenrir | Ic - úlfli›r | Gylfaginning |
Likely kenning| Beowulf (bee-wolf) | Bear | A very likely kenning for Bödvar Bjarki whose name means "battle bear", and who is the analogue of Beowulf in Scandinavian sources |
| AS | Beowulf |
In literature, a kenning is a poetic phrase, a figure of speech, substituted for the usual name of a person or thing. Kennings work in much the same way as epithets and verbal formulae, and were commonly inserted into Old English poetic lines.
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Snorri Sturluson[1] (1178 – September 23, 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet and politician. He was twice lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing.
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The second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Skáldskaparmál or "language of poetry" (c. 50,000 words) is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, Ægir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of
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Daughters of Ægir are the nine daughters of Ægir and Rán, a giant and goddess who both represent the sea in Norse mythology. They are sometimes called billow maidens. Their names are poetic terms for different characteristics of ocean waves.
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Daughters of Ægir are the nine daughters of Ægir and Rán, a giant and goddess who both represent the sea in Norse mythology. They are sometimes called billow maidens. Their names are poetic terms for different characteristics of ocean waves.
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Flatey Book, (in Icelandic the Flateyjarbók 'Flat-island book') is one of the most important medieval Icelandic manuscripts. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and Codex Flatöiensis. Sometimes Anglicized as Flateyjarbok.
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Baldr (modern Icelandic and Faroese Baldur, Balder is the name in modern Norwegian, Swedish and Danish and sometimes an anglicized form) is, in Norse Mythology, the god of innocence, beauty, joy, purity, and peace, and is Odin's second son.
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In cryptography, LOKI89 and LOKI91 are block ciphers designed as possible replacements for the Data Encryption Standard (DES). The ciphers were developed based on a body of work analysing DES, and are very similar to DES in structure.
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Höðr (often anglicized as Hod[1]) is the blind brother of Baldr in Norse mythology. Guided by Loki he shot the mistletoe missile which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr.
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Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic[1] poem of anonymous authorship whose dating is uncertain. Its creation is typically assigned by scholars either to the period 700–750 AD, or to the time of composition of the only manuscript, circa 1010.
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Grendel's mother (Old English: Grendles modor) is one of three antagonists (along with Grendel and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (c. 700-1000 AD); she is never given a name in the text.
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Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic[1] poem of anonymous authorship whose dating is uncertain. Its creation is typically assigned by scholars either to the period 700–750 AD, or to the time of composition of the only manuscript, circa 1010.
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Gylfaginning, or the Tricking of Gylfi (c. 20,000 words), is the second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda after Prologue. The Gylfaginning
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In cryptography, LOKI89 and LOKI91 are block ciphers designed as possible replacements for the Data Encryption Standard (DES). The ciphers were developed based on a body of work analysing DES, and are very similar to DES in structure.
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Jörmungandr ['jœrmuŋgandr], alternately referred to as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent, is a sea serpent of the Norse mythology, the middle child of the giantess Angrboða and the god Loki.
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Þórsdrápa (Thorsdrapa, Lay of Thor) is a skaldic poem by Eilífr Goðrúnarson, a poet in the service of Jarl Hákon Sigurðarson. The poem is noted for its creative use of kennings and other metaphorical devices, as well as its labyrinthine complexity.
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Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya) is a major goddess, sister of the fertility god Freyr and daughter of the sea god Njörðr. She is described as the fairest of all goddesses,[1] and often seen as a Norse fertility goddess.
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Óðr (Ódr), in Norse Mythology, is the husband of goddess Freyja and is father of Hnoss and Gersemi. Although the precise mythological meaning of the name is uncertain, the word itself means "wit, soul, spirit".
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GOLD refers to one of the following:
- GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade).
- GOLD (parser) is an open source BNF parser.
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Álfröðull (Alfrodull) or "glory-of-elves" is a term and common kenning in Norse mythology. It is ambiguous, referring both to the rider and to the sun-chariot of Sol and pulled by two horses, Arvak and Alsvid. The chariot is pursued by the wolf Skoll.
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Skírnismál (Sayings of Skírnir) is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. It is preserved in the 13th century manuscripts Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to but may have been originally composed in heathen times.
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Odin series
Origins
Regional traditions
Other
..... Click the link for more information. Þórsdrápa (Thorsdrapa, Lay of Thor) is a skaldic poem by Eilífr Goðrúnarson, a poet in the service of Jarl Hákon Sigurðarson. The poem is noted for its creative use of kennings and other metaphorical devices, as well as its labyrinthine complexity.
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valkyries (Old Norse Valkyrja "Choosers of the Slain") are dísir, minor female deities, who served Odin. The valkyries' purpose was to choose the most heroic of those who had died in battle and to carry them off to Valhalla where they became einherjar.
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The Rök Runestone (In Swedish Rökstenen) (Ög 136) is one of the most famous rune stones, featuring the longest known runic inscription in stone. It is placed by the church in Rök (
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Odin series
Origins
Regional traditions
Other
..... Click the link for more information. - THOR (Tracing Habitability, Organics, and Resources) is a proposal by researchers at Arizona State University to drop a copper ball from orbit onto the surface of Mars in order to study the composition of the first few meters of the surface. http://www.newscientistspace.
..... Click the link for more information. Mjolnir (also spelled Mjölnir, Mjöllnir, Mjollner, Mjølnir, Mjølner, or Mjölner) (IPA pronunciation: [mjolnər]) is the hammer of Thor.
Etymology
"Mjolnir" simply means "mealer" referring to its pulverizing effect.
..... Click the link for more information. Lokasenna (Loki's flyting, Loki's wrangling, Loki's quarrel) is one of the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda. In this poem the gods trade insults with Loki.
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