Hávamál 11-14: about beer drinking
Georges Dumézil wrote a book called Le
Festin d’immortalité (‘Banquet of Immortality’, 1924) that he later
disowned. In this book, he tried to prove that Indo-European mythologies
include a common theme as follows. The Gods are looking for a miraculous food
(or drink) that will protect them from death, and they get it after a number of
events the details of which vary within each I-E civilization. As expected in
view of its later rejection, the argumentation of this book is full of holes.
For instance, it does not take into account Iđunn’s apples when it speaks of
our mythology. Dumézil is however able to put together otherwise seemingly
disjoint of our myths by considering that bier is the ingredient of the
Germanic banquet. Analyzing his argumentation, a first conclusion is that our
mythology reduced the immortality myth to an eternal youth myth for the obvious
reason of Ragnarök. As a second conclusion, we can reasonably hypothesize that
the legends relative to immortality have been transferred to creativity (also
called myth of poetical inspiration) of which Óđinn is a central character.
With these two variations, all of Dumézil’s arguments suddenly fall in place.
As we shall see, the creativity myth is included in so-called Gunnlöđ’s section
of Hávamál
(verses 103-110).
The verses below have been mostly looked upon
as good advice about beer drinking. In view of Dumézil theory and Gunnlöđ’s section
in Hávamál,
and knowing that alcoholic beverages are so often presented a source of
poetical inspiration in German/Northern civilizations, I looked on them as a
possible trace of the I-E myth, in its Germanic ‘creativity carrier’ version.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation, 11-14
11.
Byrđi betri Better
load
berr-at mađr brautu at ‘not-’carries
the human on a road [braut: a road going
through wilderness]
en sé mannvit mikit; but
would be inborn good sense much; [mannvit = inborn good
sense, as opposed to acquired or scholarly good sense]
vegnest verra way-food
worse
vegr-a hann velli at move-not
he (who) on the field [velli = dat. of völlr=field]
en sé ofdrykkja öls. that
would be a super-draught of bier.
[Worse traveling-food is a lot of bier-drinking (because) he does not
change place (who drinks so much)]
Note that
11 starts exactly as 10 ends.
12.
Er-a svá gótt Is-not
thus good
sem gótt kveđa as
good to say [svá sem = like as]
öl alda sonum, bier
to the sons of ages,
[It is not good to say bier is good to the children of time (humans)]
ţví at fćra veit because,
at less I know
er fleira drekkr who
more drinks
síns til
geđs gumi of his until [here=to] spirit of man.
[… because I know who the more drinks, the less the man (has) of his spirit.]
Speaking of
humans as being the ‘children of time’ is a classical kenning. It emphasizes
the brevity of their lives.
13.
Óminnishegri heitir [Ó-minnis-hegri=no-memory-heron] Oblivious heron is named
sá er yfir ölđrum ţrumir; who
at drinking-parties hangs around;
hann stelr geđi guma; he
(= it) steals (their) spirit to men;
ţess fugls fjöđrum Thus
(of
the) fowl (to its) feathers [thus, to the fowl’s
feathers]
ek fjötrađr vark I
fettered ‘self-’was
í garđi
Gunnlađar. in the yard of Gunnlöđ.
[Oblivion-Heron hovers above drinking-parties. It steals men’s spirit. I
have been fettered to the fowl’s feathers in Gunnlöđ’s home.]
14.
Ölr ek varđ, Drunk
I have been,
varđ ofrölvi have
been totally drunk
at ins fróđa Fjalars; at learned Fjalarr’s; [name of a giant who is said to be Suttungr, here]
ţví er ölđr bazt, because
is a drinking-party best
at aftr um heimtir when
later comes up to
hverr sitt geđ gumi. what
controls the spirit of man.
[In Fjalarr the
Learned home I have been drunk, deeply drunk; (and this happened) because drinking is (for the) best when what controls the spirit of man comes back home.]
Bellows’ translation
11-14
For wanderings wide than wisdom;
Worse food for the journey | he
brings not afield
Than an over-drinking of ale.
12. Less good there lies | than most
believe
In ale for mortal men;
For the more he drinks | the less
does man
Of his mind the mastery hold.
[12. Some editors
have combined this stanza in various ways with the last two lines of stanza it,
as in the manuscript the first two lines of the latter are abbreviated, and, if
they belong there at all, are presumably identical with the first two lines of
stanza 10.]
13. Over beer the bird | of
forgetfulness broods,
And steals the minds of men;
With the heron's feathers | fettered
I lay
And in Gunnloth's house was held.
14. Drunk I was, | I was dead-drunk,
When with Fjalar wise I was;
'Tis the best of drinking | if back
one brings
His wisdom with him home.
Commentaries about the
meaning of 11-14
Reminder.
In case you have forgotten it, I recall the relevant
part of ‘Óđinn’s
creativity-bier stealing’ myth. We are at the point of the myth where Giant
Suttungr is the owner of this creativity-bier, usually called ‘mead of poetry’.
Bier or mead, or a kind of honeyed bier as still prepared in
Commentaries.
Verse 11:
Plain understanding. A traveler should not carry bier
with him because over-drinking prevents from moving.
Understanding.
The first three lines repeat the last three
ones of 10. This repetition explains why the plain understanding of the whole
verse is wrong. It says: During a travel (including or even specially the
travel of your life) never forget to carry with you your inborn good sense (hinting
that the scholarly one is useless in these circumstances) otherwise any
attempt to become creative through drinking (e.g. in order to obtain poetical
inspiration) will pin you where you are.
Verse 12:
Plain understanding. It is what my word for word
translation says: “It is not good to say bier is good for humans because I know who the more he
drinks, the less the man has good sense,” summarized to “Over-drinking is bad
for humans because it makes them lose their spirits.”
Understanding.
The so-called ‘mead of poetry’ (I take to be
creative thinking) is dangerous to humans.
Note that the poet says ‘I know’, a first
recall of who is hidden behind the skald, namely Óđinn. Thus, this verse says that the God Óđinn refuses to say that alcohol-induced
creativity is good because he knows it is dangerous for humans. Their inborn
good-sense is easily destroyed by too much drinking.
Verse 13:
Plain understanding is almost impossible. The images of
a hovering Oblivion-Heron and Óđinn
being fettered in the middle of a mountain are essentially not obvious. Forgetting
this ‘details’ can lead to something like: We can imagine that a kind of bird
participates in drinking-parties in order to steal de drinkers’ spirits.”
Understanding.
In this verse, Óđinn uncovers himself again, he says “I me-was fettered’, where
I try to render the agglomerative form vark.
By this way of speech, Óđinn
says that he somewhat accepted this fettering. Another point is that he
confesses his own human weakness by letting himself entangled in the feathers
of Oblivion-Heron. He means to warn humankind: “Me-was I overwhelmed by the
huge draughts I had to swallow in order to steal the creativity-beverage.
Remember you are much weaker than I!”
Note also that these four stanzas do not speak
of the sexual part of Óđinn’s
adventure. A garđr Gunnlađar in the last line simply hints at it.
Verse 14:
Plain understanding. Again, forgetting some ‘details’
of the verse, it may mean: “I have been drinking too much in my past. From
that, I learned that the best part of drinking takes place when you come back
to your senses.”
Understanding.
At first, Óđinn insists on the depth of his drunkenness in Gunnlöđ’s yard. It is quite possible that this
insistence underlines a possible role of Gunnlöđ herself in it: he was drunk with both alcohol and love. Read again
the last three lines: They do say that the best part of a drinking-party is its
sobering up phase! Whoever has been a bit drunk – not to speak of deeply drunk
– knows this statement is deeply wrong. The head-and stomach-ache you receive are
known for being almost unbearable. Either Óđinn is joking or he is alluding to something completely
different from common drinking. This is why I understand this 14th verse as a
gnomic one for poets: “When you drug yourself to get out of yourself, when you
wish to share with me the madness my name carries (óđr means frantic),
the best time to become creative is this painful time when your are still drunk
while your spirit comes back to you (óđr also means ‘mind, wit,
poetry’).
In parallel with this lesson, note that Óđinn qualifies Fjalarr by fróđr. This is a classical way of
qualifying a Giant. This word means exactly ‘learned’ but it often carries more
meaning than designating someone who acquired much knowledge. It can designate
a
wizard (who has much magical knowledge) as when it is said that Finns are fróđastir. It can carry respect as when
our Venerable Bede is called in Icelandic Bede Fróđi.
Using the name of Dwarf Fjalarr, whom the ‘mead
of poetry’ has been stolen in a preceding episode of the myth, is a clever heiti to speak of Giant Suttungr, whom
the same thing is presently stolen by Óđinn.
Evans’ Commentaries verses 13 and 14
13
1 óminnishegri -
the
heron does not appear to be connected with forgetfulness elsewhere, and the
exact point of the expression is unclear. FJ points out that the heron's habit
of standing motionless for long periods, in seeming oblivion, might account for
the image, though he surely goes too far in proposing that this oblivion could
have been thought to infect the beholders. Von Hofsten 25-6 asserts that what
is emphasized here is not forgetfulness
per se but rash actions under the influence of alcohol, and connects this
with the way in which the heron, after waiting motionless, can suddenly strike
out with his terrible ‘harpoon’. But this does not sort well with the actual
word óminni in the
text. Dronke points out that the heron, in fact and in modern proverbial lore,
is associated with vomiting, which (though not in herons) is often a
consequence of excessive drink; but it is again some way to the óminni of the text.
Holtsmark 1 believes the reference is to an ale-ladle in the form of a heron and
renders ‘yfir ölđrum ţrumir’ ‘floats on the surface of the ale’. Ölđr can mean both ‘ale’ (as in 137 below)
and ‘ale-party’ (which
is how most editors take it here); in the former sense it is normally singular,
but the plural occurs in a verse of Egill (ölđra dregg Skj. í 50). Ladles in the form of birds (öland,
ölgás, ölhane)
are known in
3
guma is probably acc., not gen.; for the construction cp. stela mik eign minni
Laxdoela saga ch. 84 (
IF V 239).
6
Gunnlöđ known in Norse legend only as the daughter of the giant Suttungr, who had acquired the sacred mead of poetry from
the dwarfs Fjalarr and Galarr;
Óđinn wins the mead by seducing her. The story is related in 104-110 below, and
in Snorri's Prose Edda (Skáldskaparmál ch. 5-6). Presumably this is the story referred to here and
in st. 14, and ek
must accordingly be Óđinn; but if so it is clearly a variant version,
for nothing is told elsewhere of Óđinn's being drunk
nor of his visiting Fjalarr. St. 14 reads most
naturally as though in this version Fjalarr, not Suttungr, was the narne of
Gunnlöđ’s giant father, and Fjalarr is indeed
recorded as a giant-name (Hárb. 26, and in a Ţula, Skj.
í 659).
14
3
For Fjalarr see on 13 above.
4
ţví is correctly
explained by Fritzner 2 s.v.
ţví 4 as ‘i det Tilfćlde’, that is ‘in this case’: the best sort of drinking party
is one which is not excessive, one where everyone leaves still in possession of
his right senses, or easily able to reclaim them. (So also Schneider 63): ‘nur das Gelage taugt, von dem der Mann seine Sinne mit heimbringt’.) Many editors
take ţví as ‘therefore, for this
reason’ (thus FJ: ‘It is ale’s best quality that
everyone recovers his senses’) but this contradicts the context and gives
feeble sense in itself.
5 The particle of
is written vf in CR here, as also in
67 below and in Grímnismál 34; sirnilarly
for of prep. in Guđrúnarkviđa II 2.