Gripla - 20.12.2013, Blaðsíða 66

GRIPLA66
While the author of the old norse homily clearly depended on Absalon
of springiersbach, a comparison of the two texts reveals a great deal
of originality in his adaptation. In addition to the changes discussed in
the footnotes above (nn. 62, 65, and 66), he frequently introduces allit-
erative phrases, which are perhaps the most striking element of his style.
notable instances include “mey ok móður” (fol. 12v, ll. 2–3), “himneskrar
hafnar” (fol. 12v, l. 10), “bylgjum ok boðum” (fol. 12v, l. 11), “mótgang ok
mei<n>gerðir” (fol. 13r, l. 3), “g<ó>ðs ok gæfu” (fol. 13r, ll. 18–19), and “mát-
tar ok miskunnar” (fol. 13r, l. 19). none of these have any precedent in the
Latin source. one cannot help but be reminded of the style of the old
english homilists, especially Wulfstan, whose two-stress prose rhythm and
penchant for alliteration often achieve a similar effect: “eac sceal apsringan
wide ⁊ side sacu ⁊ clacu, hol ⁊ hete ⁊ rypera reaflac, here ⁊ hunger, bryne ⁊
blodgyte ⁊ styrnlice styrunga, stric ⁊ steorfa ⁊ fela ungelimpa.”73 similarities
to the Wulfstanian style have been noticed in other old norse homilies,
and old english works likely influenced the genre from its beginnings,74
but there is no reason to attribute the alliterative style in this homily to a
foreign source. such verbal ornamentation could have suggested itself to
anyone with a knowledge of old norse poetic traditions or even of a high
Latin prose style.75
despite his relative obscurity, it is not surprising that at least one of
the works of Absalon of springiersbach came to influence an old norse
73 The Homilies of Wulfstan, ed. dorothy Bethurum (oxford: Clarendon, 1957), 140, ll.
102–104.
74 see especially Abram, “Anglo-saxon Homilies,” 438. A more recent but highly problematic
study of Wulfstan’s influence on old norse homilies is olav tveito, “Wulfstan av york og
norrøne homilier,” in Vår eldste bok, 187–215.
75 for an example of part of an old norse homily that can be scanned as verse, see Mcdougall,
“Homilies,” 290. for a discussion of alliteration in the Icelandic and norwegian Homily
Books and its possible vernacular and Latin models, see david Mcdougall, “studies in the
Prose style,” 26–42, 98–127. on the various types of old norse prose style and the influ-
ence of Latin, see Þorleifur Hauksson and Þórir óskarsson, Íslensk stílfræði (Reykjavík: Mál
og menning, 1994), 169–82. for a discussion of the style of the Icelandic Homily Book,
see pp. 197–209 of the same volume. on alliterative couplets in medieval Icelandic prose,
see especially Þorleifur Hauksson and Þórir óskarsson, Íslensk stílfræði, 192, 201, 208,
231. on the popularity and logic of such variations in old norse religious prose, see also
Astås, Old Norse Biblical Compilation, 111–12; Laura tomassini, “Latin Influence on old
norse Religious Prose style: Hypothesis on the Composition and textual tradition of the
Homily Nativitas Sancte Marie,” Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni 61 (1995): 353–54.