Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Page 77

IV “Normal science” - after Grimm
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that the poetic language of the æsir was in reality a simple one. In his de-
scription of Old Norse poetry from a formal point of view from 1786
Jon Olafsson Svefneyingur maintained that the oldest Nordic (Eddie)
poetry was only half metrical; it was cast in a kind of recitative, which
Jon Olafsson named “sung speech” (Syngesproget). This he claimed had
been introduced by the æsir, who talked in a flowing, melodious manner
(Olafsen 1786: 2-6). The historian Jordanes had said of the songs of the
Goths that they were performed “pene historico ritu”, in Jon Olafsson’s
interpretation, “in a quasi historical presentation”, which he took to be a
succinct description of the main character of the “sung speech” of the
poems of our ancestors.21 The later skaldic style he took to be a develop-
ment towards greater complexity; drottkvætt being formed from forn-
yrdislag by adding two syllables to each verse (Olafsen 1786: 15-16).
The implication for the dating of the Eddie poems is that “the age of
these poems is above all established by their general character in the
genuine taste of antiquity”.22
It is easy to point to similar statements in the following period. “The
simplicity in the expressions, the naturalness in the construction, the
vivid but unforced course of narration” show that Prymskvida is one of
the oldest Eddie poems, Grater said in an edition of this poem in 1791.23
Grottasgngr is an “old-simple” song, Wilhelm Grimm said;24 and his
brother contrasted the chaste imagery of the old Eddie poems with the
profligacy of the later skalds.25 In 1830 Ludwig Ettmiiller edited Vglu-
21 “I Betragtning at mange Viser af Forny rd al ag, som sagt, nærme sig meget til Prosa,
kunde man ansee som Beviis for Syngesprogets Ælde et Sted hos Jornandes [...] om Go-
dternes første Udvandring fra vort Norden (Scancia eller Scandinavia ) hvor Auctor be-
raaber sig paa disse Udvandrendes egne Sange, som vare af næsten historisk Foredrag, og
siger, det han taler om, findes der optegnet til almindelig Erindring: qvemadmodum in pri-
scis eorum carminibus pene historico ritu in commune recolitur. Syngesprogets Hoved-Be-
skaffenhed viser sig i denne korte Beskrivelse af vore Fædres Sange” (Olafsen 1786: 11). -
Gustav Ehrismann (1918: 19) translates Jordanes: “fast in historischer Glaubwiirdigkeit”.
22 “Hvad især taler for disse Digtes Ælde, er deres dem egne Beskaffenhed og Forfatning
i Alderdommens ægte Smag [...]” (Olafsen 1786: 11).
23 “Unter den Liedern der alteren Edda scheint mir das Lied von Thrym zwar nicht das al-
teste, aber doch eins der altesten zu seyn. Die Simplicitat des Ausdrucks, die Natur in den
Constructionen, der schnelle aber ungesuchte Wurf der Erzahlung burgen mir dafur”
(Grater 1791: 306).
24 “[...] den alteddischen Miihlengesang [...], ein wichtiges alteinfaches Lied” (W.
Grimm 1820: 2 = 1881-87, vol. 3: 3).
25 “wie keusch sind die alten eddischen lieder im gebrauch ihrer bilder im gegensatz zu
den unenthaltsamen spatem scalden!” (J. Grimm 1812: 2294 = 1864—90, vol. 6: 111).