Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1967, Page 66

HAUKUR BÖÐVARSSON:
Understatement in Old English
and Old lcelandic
Understatement — an assertion
suggesting more than it states liter-
ally — is a rather common rhetori-
cal device in both Old English and
Old Icelandic, as is still true of cer-
tain authors in the respective
modern languages. One may specu-
late that the use of understatement
amongst the writers of old is a
logical consequence of certain cul-
tural attitudes common to early
Germanic peoples. As people were
quick to take offense and retaliate
violently whenever they felt insult-
ed, there was a real danger in over-
stating what one had to say. People
were extremely sensitive to boastful
utterances; loss of face was inevit-
able if one was unable to fulfill his
boast. Jómsvíkinga Saga dramatizes
the consequences of immoderate
boasts made in drunkenness. Háva-
mál contains an explicit warning,
in a moralizing tone, that it is not
wise to indulge in careless talk. A
similar element of gnomic wisdom
appears in Old English in “The
Wanderer” where it is seen desir-
able not to be "gielpes ió georn."
In comparing Old English and
Old Icelandic texts, as regards the
use of understatement, it seems
convenient to place the examples
in three categories on the basis of
the degree of emphasis that is
achieved through this rhetorical
device. In its least emphatic form,
an understatement may be casual
and conventional to the point of
being merely a cliché. A stronger,
yet subdued, effect may be observed
when an understatement occurs in
remarks made by an omniscient
narrator, in an aside, as it were. An
even more striking effect is achieved
when the understatement occurs in
the utterances of actual characters
in tense dramatic situations.
Examples of understatement in
its simplest, least emphatic form
abound in both Old English and Old
Icelandic texts. It is doubtful wheth-
er any special effect, beyond a
figure of speech, is intended in “The
Battle of Brunanburh,” when it is
stated that five young princes lay
on the battlefield sweordum ás-
wefede — “put to sleep by swords.1
Another part of the description of
the carnage in the same battle runS
as follows:
Þær læg secg mænig / gárum
ágéted guma norþerna, / ofer
scild scoten, swilce Sciitisc
éac / wérig, wíges sæd (There
lay many a warrior, northern
man, pierced by spears, shot
above the shield; likewise the
Scottish, weary, sated with
slaughter).
It is possible to argue that some
effect is achieved here through re'
ferring to the fallen as “weary” anC*
“sated with slaughter,” but if preS'