Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Side 71

IV “Normal science” - after Grimm
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of Freyr conquering the wintery northem light, symbolized by GerSr etc.
(Magnusen 1821-23, vol. 1: 133-61; vol. 2: 170-73). To Finnur
Magnusson these interpretations were a proof that the poems were from
the heathen period, of such antiquity that the author of Snorri’s Edda did
not understand the real meaning of, for instance, the twelve heavenly
dwellings (Magnusen 1821-23, vol. 1: 159). Since the poems’ evidence
for the Pre-Christian religion was of paramount interest to Finnur
Magnusson, he was naturally led to defend the antiquity also of some of
the poems Muller had ascribed to the medieval period; Gudrunarkvida
III, for example, was no less from the heathen period than other heroic
poems, he thought, and the ordeal mentioned in it might refer to an age-
old German or Oriental custom.7 Hrafnagaldr Odins is according to
Finnur Magnusson old and genuine,8 whereas Solarljod is Christian, but
from the earliest Christian period - possibly by Sæmundr (Magnusen
1821-23, vol. 3: 189).
Anders Otto Lindfors, who was influenced by Finnur Magnusson,
may be quoted as a representative of the kind of conservative view
which was justifiable in Scandinavia in the first third of the 19th century.
After taking exception to the datings of Goransson and Schimmelmann,
and to the old attribution of Håvamål to OSinn, he affirmed that most
Eddie poems go far back into heathen times, even in their present form,
and he had no objection to the idea that the substance of some of them
might have been taken to the North by our forefathers, and have there-
fore a doser connection to the holy writings of the Persians and Indians
than people had hitherto imagined.9
Another Edda translator, the German Jacob Laurenz Studach, Apos-
tolic Vicar to Sweden and Norway, approved totally of Finnur Magnus-
7 “Er Sangen saaledes hidkommet fra Tydskland, er det ikke underligt, at de der fra Arilds-
tid brugte Ordalier forekomme deri. Skulde dens Urstof soges i Orienten, vare de ligeledes
gjængse der paa den selvsamme Maade” (Magnusen 1821-23, vol. 4: 123).
8 “Jeg tvivler aldeles ikke om dette Digts AEgthed og AElde. Det vise forst og fremmest
dets ældgamle Ord, samt tillige dets fragmentariske Væsen, og især dets ægte mythiske
Aand samt den Omstændighed, at det kun har saare faa Hentydninger til de ellers af Ed-
daer eller Sagaer bekjendte Fortællinger, og synes endog, ved forste Ojekast, at være visse
av dem modstridende” (Magnusen 1821-23, vol. 2: 210).
9 “[...] kan man dock med all sakerhet antaga, att de fiesta, afven i sitt narvarande skick,
stracka sig långt tillbaka i hedendomen, och for min del finner jag ingen orimlighet i den
mening, att grundamnet till några af dem kan vara hitfordt från Asien med våra åldsta
Forfader, och att de således stå i narmare forhållande till Persemas och Indernas heliga
bocker, an man hitintills forestallt sig” (Lindfors 1824: 69).