2017, Volume 14, Issue 2
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Tatiana V. Toporova Proper Name as a Marker of a Cosmogonic Song
Voprosy onomastiki, 2017, Volume 14, Issue 2, pp. 55–70 Received 12 February 2017 Abstract: The purpose of this article is to show the internal integrity of the Eddic Grímnismál (Sayings of Grímnir), putting forward that the proper name is the key element for understanding the structure and meaning of this Eddic song. The name with transparent semantic motivation can both explicate the key features of denotata in thulas that represent comprehensive classification schemes, and implicate them (cf. the multiplicity of names of Odin, concealing his true name and nature). The author considers the end of the song, when Odin unveils his identity, rejects his false names and uses a true one (I, Odin), as a marker of Odin’s special ecstatic state revealing the knowledge about the origin and the structure of the universe, as well as the true essence of Odin. The opposition of the names explicating the properties of named objects (personalized elements of the universe in the concept of cosmogenesis: rivers, deers, etc.) and subjects (i.e. actors, like Valkyries or Odin himself), on the one hand, and the names implicating them, on the other, is neutralized in the act of sacrifice when Odin comprehends the origin and the structure of the universe. Proper names are, thus, interpreted as a clip uniting the two parts of Grímnismál — the prose frame and the main poetic part of the song. The author argues that Grímnismál represents an ideal model of the universe embodied by the first and best proper name. Keywords: Poetic Edda, Old Norse language, proper name, inner form of the name, explicatory and implicatory names, cosmogonic song, ideal model of the universe References Dulzon, A. P. (1968). Ketskii iazyk [The Ket Language]. Tomsk: Izd-vo Tom. un-ta. Falk, Hj. (1924). Odensheite [Odin’s Names]. Kristiania: J. Dybwad. Gurevich, E. A. (1989). Kharakterizuiushchee kheiti v tulakh i ego prototipy (k probleme “skal'dicheskaia sinonimika i mifologicheskaia nominatsiia”) [Characterizing Heiti in Thulas and their Prototypes]. In N. S. Chemodanov (Ed.), Epos Severnoi Evropy. Puti evoliutsii [The Epic Tradition of Northern Europe. Ways of Evolution] (pp. 96–118). Moscow: Izd-vo MGU. Gutenbrunner, S. (1957). Eddastudien III. Über ek und hon in der Völospa [Edda Studies III. On the ek and hon in Völuspá]. Arkiv för nordisk filologi, 72, 7–12. Krappe, A. H. (1933). Odin entre les feux [Odin between the Fires]. Acta philologica scandinavica, 8, 136–145. Olsen, M. (1933). Fra Eddaforskningen: Grímnismál og den höiere textkritikk [From the Studies of Edda: Grímnismál and other Text Criticism]. Arkiv för nordisk filologi, 49, 263–278. Schneider, H. (1948). Eine Uredda [An Elder Edda]. Halle: Max Niemeyer Verlag. Starý, J. (2012). Veni, Vidi, Mori: The Eddic Poem Grímnismál as a Dramatic and Mythological Unity. Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Philologica 1 / Germanistica Pragensia XXI, 7–35. Steblin-Kamensky, M. I. (1963). Starshaia Edda [The Elder Edda]. In M. I. Steblin-Kamensky (Ed.), A. I. Korsun (Transl.), Starshaia Edda. Drevneislandskie pesni o bogakh i geroiakh [The Elder Edda. Old Icelandic Songs of Gods and Heroes] (pp. 181–213). Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo AN SSSR. Tokarev, S. A. (Ed.). (1980–1982). Mify narodov mira: entsiklopediia [Myths of the Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia] (Vols. 1–2). Moscow: Sovetskaia entsiklopediia. Toporov, V. N. (1998). Predystoriia literatury u slavian. Opyt rekonstruktsii (Vvedenie k kursu istorii slavianskikh literatur) [The Pre-History of the Slavs’ Literature. An Attempt of Reconstruction (An Introduction to the History of Slavic Literatures]. Moscow: Izd-vo RGGU. Toporova, T. V. (1996). Iazyk i stil' drevnegermanskikh zagovorov [Language and Style of Old Germanic Spells]. Moscow: Editorial URSS. Vries, J. de (1934). Om Eddaens Visdomsdigtning [On Eddic Wisdom Poetry]. Arkiv för nordisk filologi, 50, 1–59. |
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