Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Another Morguhn verse (or Two Couplets Revised)

Good morning! Last summer after my annual vacation at the Pennsic Wars, I wrote a post that has two couplets I wrote while on vacation. It is time for revision of these verses into a full verse.

The couplets with the translations I provided are as follows:
Verse One

haslaði á holm-gang
holinn-menn fyrir gull-hringr

Challenged (he) to holm-gang
bragging-men for gold-ring-the

Verse Two

röskar Morghun rauð-harr
ræti hamingja leitinn

brave Morguhn red-haired
rode (his) fortune seeking
When I looked at these couplets, I saw definite strengths, but considerable weaknesses in three areas: internal rhymes in the first lines, syllable counts, and inflections. These three are difficult, but can be overcome with practice. That caused me to revise these couplets and to expand them into a full verse. That verse follows.

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On Morguhn


Old Norse Verse Word-by-Word Translation Prose-Order Translation
Rǫskr Morguhn rauð-harr
ræti auðna leitinn;
létta skellihlátr
lǫngun ofan ǫnda.
Skora karpinn sverðum
á sártíð fyrir dýrðum
sjaufjald krúnas sinnum
sló menn inni hǫsldala.
Brave Morguhn red-haired
rode fortune seeking
lightened roaring laughter
longing up spirits.
Challenged bragging swords
to wound-hours for treasure;
seven crown's times
slew men in hazel-dale.
Brave red-haired Morguhn
rode seeking (his) fortune;
Roaring laughter lightened
longing spirits up.
Bragging swords (he) challenged
to wound-hours for treasure;
Seven times (he) slew men
in the crown's hazel-dale.


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Kennings Used


karpinn sverðum > bragging swords > FIGHTERS
sártíð > wound-hours > BATTLES
hǫsldala > hazel-dale > LIST FIELD

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Comments

As always, I hope I got the grammar right. There are times when the inflections I use may be inadvertently incorrect. If you see a mistake, please let me know.

I keep coming back to this theme, The Legend of Morguhn, because it has some universal truths in it: chivalry, courtesy, prowess, and fate. I only know that these verities bear further consideration. If you have suggestions on different topics I can use to explore these ideas, please let me know through comments.

Finally, any other comments you have - questions, remarks, likes and dislikes - are very important to me. You can use the box below, or you can e-mail me.

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