A Passion for Rings

In The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki there is a ring that is coveted greatly. The passion for this ring and the terms in which it is spoken of is similar to The One Ring from The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien.

The story of this ring begins thus: "A ring owned by King Helgi was a widely famed treasure. Both brothers wanted it, and so too did their sister Signy."

King Hroar offered to give his brother, King Helgi, his share of the kingdom in exchange for the ring, saying, "I want the ring, the one that is the best treasure in your possession and that both of us would like to own." Basically, Hroar saw this ring as worth half a kingdom.

Helgi agreed to this deal, "after such a speech, nothing else is fitting but that you should have the ring."

However, that is not the end of the episode. Hrok, with the encouragement of his mother Signy, also decided he wanted the ring. He demanded that King Helgi (his uncle) give him a third of the kingdom or "the great ring." Helgi informed him that Hroar had the ring and that his claims were arrogant.

Isildur and The One Ring

Hrok then went to Hroar, and asked for the ring. Hroar replied, "I have given so much to get this ring that I will by no means part with it."

Hrok then asked to see it, saying he wanted to know if it was really "as much a treasure as it is claimed." Hroar readily showed it too him and Hrok threw it into the sea after saying, "I have never seen a comparable treasure, and the reason you esteem the ring so highly is obvious. The best solution, it seems to me, is that neither of us, or, for that matter, anyone else should enjoy it." He had no right to such an action. His claim on the ring was small enough, and Hroar had traded half the kingdom for it. Hroar chopped of Hrok's foot in response. After healing, Hrok assembled an army with which he defeated and killed Hroar. Helgi then defeated Hrok and instead of slaying him, broke all his limbs so that he was a cripple the rest of his life. And this was all between family! Many people searched the waters for the ring and Hroar's son, Agnar, finally found it after diving for it.

So, that's a summary of the ring episode. Although this ring was not imbued with the magical and evil properties that The One Ring possessed, it was coveted in much the same way, resulting in wars and the loss of limbs (Frodo lost his finger, Hrok, his foot). Hrok referred to it as "the great ring," giving it a title, much like, "The One Ring."  In The Lord of the Rings, it was suggested the the ring be thrown into the sea, but that idea was rejected because it could be found again eventually.

However, Hroar's ring could have been an arm ring and not a finger ring like The One Ring.
 
The Saga of Hrolf Kraki. Translated by Jesse L. Bylock. Published by Penguin Books, 1998.

A thousand years ago feels like yesterday

I felt like they were my neighbors, my relations, my community, these Icelanders from a thousand years ago.

I think it was the style in which their sagas were written.

Many authors these days take an over-the-shoulder, inside-the-soul, point of view with their characters, telling you exactly what the character is thinking and feeling in every excruciating detail. I like that. However, the sagas were not written that way, they were written in a rather external fashion. Yet I felt close to the people.

They seemed real because the lens through which I saw them was as if I were a part of the community. I am told a bit of what they are feeling, I hear of their actions, I know who is best friends with who and how they are related. Just like in real life. In real life I don't know every thought, every pleasure, every pain that passes through my friends, let alone acquaintances that I see frequently.  And so the sagas, by being distant, seem real because I see a community functioning, like my home school co/op, like my extended family, like my Christian community. I see the major events that take place and I hear a little of the inside scoop through those more directly involved.

Additionally the descriptions of people are sometimes vivid, so it's like you can see them. I can see their face and external appearance (physique, clothing), but I can't see their mind. Like real life.

Interestingly, books written in first person or with a very over-the-shoulder view often  leave you guessing as to the person's looks.

They were so human, driven by their feelings of greed, anger, ambition, brokenheartedness and by what was acceptable in their culture.  The women were not meek sheep in the kitchen. A number had strong characters and were driving forces in the stories as they struggled for revenge. And they often manipulated/strong-armed their husbands into getting their way.

And so the sagas easily bridge the gap between then and now, despite culture and language barriers.

Icelandic Sagas - A Cultural Glossary and Location Illuminator

Although the sagas are translated to English they may use words that are not as familiar to us. The translation I'm reading currently uses some lesser known vocabulary and archaic terms. Below is a list of some that I found in The Story of Burnt Njal, The Laxdoela Saga, and The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow (although the latter is not a saga, it is written in that style and uses many of the same words and places.)

Icelandic place names tend to be descriptive of the place, and are often translated into English, which, although they make it easier for us to understand, does make it harder if you're trying to find a place on a map.

Glossary

The Althing/the Thing - Icelandic parliament/court system which began in 930 A.D.

Boun - to make or get ready. Or as an adverb: ready, prepared, destined. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Boun)

Busk - to make ready, prepare. A Scot's word from Old Norse būask.  (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Busk)

Combe - a deep narrow valley, or a valley on the side of a hill. A British word. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/combe)

Dale - a valley

Easterling - a person from Norway. (From notes in The Story of Burnt Njal)

Ell - a term of measurement. For the Icelanders at the time of the sagas it was 18 inches long. "The Viking ell was the measure from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, about 18 inches. The Viking ell or primitive ell was used in Iceland up to the 1200s." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ell)

Fell - a high barren field or moor. From Middle English, from Old Norse fell, fjall mountain. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fell)

Fey - 1. fated to die, having a premonition of death. 2. able to see the future, having an otherworldly demeanor, crazy. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fey?show=0&t=1363108715)

Firth - a long narrow inlet of the sea.  A Scots word, from Middle English furth from Old Norse fjördhr (The Free Dictionary.)  Notice how the Old Norse word is close to fjord, which also means a narrow inlet of the sea, but refers specifically to those that are a "long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between steep slopes;" it comes from the same Old Norse word fjördhr . (The Free Dictionary. ) The Icelandic word for firth is  fjörđur (Dicts).

Vetch - a name that refers to a family of plants used for fodder or plant bed cover. Grows 1-4 feet tall. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vetch)

Westfirther - I think this means someone from the Westfjords. The Icelandic word for this location is Vestfirðir. The eth (the funny symbol) is pronounced like "th" in "the." So the word is roughly "vest-feer-theer" similar to "westfirther."  Also, (and I think this is the real reason) "er" can be added to a place name to make it into a people group name. Examples: Iceland, Icelander. Michigan, Michigander.  "Firth" is very close to the word "fjord" in origin, and somehow we got Westfirthers instead of Westfjorders. Perfectly plausible. 

Locations mentioned in these two works

Broadfirth - is Breiðifjörður.  It is a exactly what it's name means: A broad firth. It's the northernmost of the two largest bays on the western face of Iceland. Reykjavik is located on the southern one (Faxafloi).
See Wikipedia for more information. 

Hawkdale - is Haukadalur, and it is a name shared by three valleys.  One is in the Westfjords, one is in Snæfellsnes, and the third is a popular tourist destination, containing geysers, including the famous Geysir.
(Hawksdale locations listed on Wikipedia)

Hvammfirth - the southern inlet of Breiðifjörður (see map below).

Pentland firth - the strait between the Orkneys and Scotland (Wikipedia).

Snowfellsness - Snæfellsnes/snjófellsnes, the promontory dividing Breiðifjörður and Faxafloi.

Thingvellir - Icelandic: Þingvellir. The meeting place of the Althing. A valley with big rifts in it. See my post, Þingvellir - That Great Wonder of Iceland   for a description using photos to illustrate.

Westfjords - Vestfirðir. The large peninsula above Breiðifjörður. Maps available here: Westfjords, Wikipedia

Map of Iceland

Western Iceland

Resources:

I found the translation for Broadfirth and Snowfellness in The Saga Library, edited by William Morris and Eiríkr Magnússon 
This link will take you to "Broadfirth" in the Index, where you can then search for other names.

The Story of Burnt Njal, translated by Sir George Webbe Dasent. J.M. Dent & Sons LTD, London, England. Published 1911. Reprinted 1960.

~This post will be updated as I continue reading the sagas. I am also working on a map with major places labeled, including Thingvellir.~

Iceland and Middle-Earth

I recently started reading The Story of Burnt Njal, an Icelandic saga translated by Sir George Webbe Dasent. I'm not even half-way through and I found several points of comparison between this tale, Beowulf, and The Lord of the Rings.

 Here is one quote I found particularly striking: "How the Lord of rings bereft thee." The notes say that "Lord of rings" is a "periphrasis for a chief"  (The Story of Burnt Njal).  As an interesting side note: the man of whom this speaks was also called a "gold-bestower" like something from Beowulf.  Additionally, Beowulf speaks of  good lords as those who give gifts to their followers, namely rings among gifts of gold and armor. There is a huge emphasis on rings as gifts in Beowulf.

The phrase "crack of doom" appears in The Story of Burnt Njal. In a viking's interpretation of a dream, he said, "But when ye heard a great din, then ye must have been shown the crack of doom, and ye shall all die speedily."  In the Lord of the Rings, "the cracks of doom" is the name of the place in Mount Doom (a volcano) were the ring must be cast to destroy it.

Some names from The Story of Burnt Njal and The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow bear similarities to those of the dwarves of Middle-Earth (a land created by Tolkien).

The name "Thrain" is found in The Story of Burnt Njal and The Hobbit.
"Thorarin" from the saga is similar to "Thorin" from The Hobbit.

In The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow one finds the names "Frodi, Gisli, Snorri, Kari, and Flosi." These names end in "i" and "ri" like these dwarves in the Hobbit: Dori, Nori, and Ori. Also "Frodo" is like to "Frodi."  However, Tolkien was not imitating these specific names for the dwarves' names stem from The Poetic Edda. Christopher Tolkien wrote, "It is at any rate well-known that he derived the names of the dwarves in The Hobbit  from the first of the poems in the Edda, the Völuspá. 'the prophecy of Sibyl' " (Christopher Tolkien, Forward, in The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún).

I saw the word "Gimli" on a building in Iceland, and it is also the name of a dwarf in The Lord of the Rings.

"Easterling" in The Story of Burnt Njal refers to a person from Norway. This term is used of a people group in Middle-Earth.

"The Mark" is a location in Iceland and Middle-Earth. The phrase: "The men of the mark" appears in both.

One must note that The Story of Burnt Njal, as I am reading it, is a translation. There are probably other acceptable ways to translate some of these terms I mentioned above; these are not the original Icelandic.

For example: several place names include "holt" in The Story of Burnt Njal and at least once in Middle-Earth (Dimholt)."Holt" is just a word for "wood" or "wooded hill" and is an English word, not Icelandic, it's just interesting that Dasent and Tolkien used it. Dasent could have said "XXXXwood" instead of "XXXXholt" but he didn't do that. 

Anyhow, it's quite exciting to stumble across these similarities between the tales!

For more comparisons between Iceland and Middle-Earth see:
The Icelandic horse and its home
Volcanoes, Geysers, and Trolls, oh my!