ВОПРОСЫ ОНОМАСТИКИ | PROBLEMS OF ONOMASTICS

Tatyana Vladimirovna Toporova
Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

OLD NORSE HEIMR ʻWORLDʼ AND ITS TOPONYMIC DERIVATIVES IN THE POETIC EDDA

For citation
Toporova, T. V. (2024). Old Norse Heimr ʻWorldʼ and its Toponymic Derivatives in the Poetic Edda. Voprosy onomastiki, 21(1), 152–168. https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2024.21.1.007

Received on 13 March 2023
Accepted on 11 December 2023

Abstract: The article examines the mythopoetic concept of the ‘world’ (Old Norse heimr) and its derivatives — toponyms with the suffix -heimr in the Poetic Edda. It involves a thorough analysis of their meanings and their significance in the Eddic mythopoetic framework. The methodology for studying this lexical unit and its derivatives is based on a thesaurus description of folk terminology, alongside an exploration of polysemy within epic texts and lexicological investigations of key concepts in the Rigveda. Employing an integrated approach, the analysis considers various factors such as statistical distribution, grammatical case paradigms, syntactical functions of predicates, etymology to understand semantic motivations, mythology to reveal connections to mythological elements, poetic devices like alliteration and repetitions, and the relationship between linguistic signs and referents in the extralinguistic world. The predominance of singular forms (28) over plural forms (8) suggests two significant points: the existence of multiple worlds in the Eddic mythopoetic model initially, and an evolutionary progression from a collection of similar objects towards a unified whole. This semantic evolution is exemplified by the transition from ‘dwellings of giants’ (plural iǫtna heimar) to ‘Dwelling of giants’ = ‘World of Giants’ (singular Iǫtun-heimr). The Old Norse term heimr is associated with the universal world model depicted as a world tree (nine worlds = nine roots of Iggdrasill in Völuspá). It contributes to the construction of the Eddic chronotope in which the world tree, along with its roots (representing worlds), is described as located “under the earth,” signifying its origin. It also demonstrates temporalization, being linked with the temporal concept of age (Old Norse ƍld) and exhibits anthropocentric orientation.

Keywords: Old Norse; Poetic Edda; toponym; compound; context; semantics; syntax; poetics; etymology; mythopoetic model of the world

References

Elizarenkova, T. Ya. (1999). Slova i veshchi v Rigvede [Words and Things in Rigveda]. Moscow: Vostochnaia literatura.

Garcia Lopez, I. (2015). Mythic and Real Spaces in the Hávamál (Project Presentation). In J. Glauser et al. (Eds.), The Sixteenth International Saga Conference: Sagas and Space (9–15 August 2015, University of Zurich and University of Basel): Preprints of Abstracts (p. 103). Zürich: Universität Zürich.

Gardiner, A. H. (1940). The Theory of Proper Names. A Controversial Essay. London: Oxford University Press.

Gvozdetskaya, N. Yu. (2003). Prolegomeny k tekstotsentricheskomu opisaniiu semantiki drevneangliiskogo poeticheskogo slova [Prolegomena to a Text-centric Description of the Semantics of the Old English Poetic Word]. In B. S. Zharov (Ed.), Philologica Scandinavica: sb. st. k 100-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia M. I. Steblin-Kamenskogo [Philologica Scandinavica: Collected Papers to the 100th Anniversary of Mikhail I. Steblin-Kamensky] (pp. 28–42). St Petersburg: SPbGU.

Khrolenko, A. T. (Ed.). (1994). Fol’klornaia leksikografiia [Folklore Lexicography] (Vol. 1). Kursk: KGPI.

Leech, M. (Ed.). (1972). Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

Nikitina, S. E. (1997). O mnogoznachnosti, diffuzii znachenii i sinonimii v tezauruse iazyka fol’klora [On Polysemy, Diffusion of Meaning, and Synonymy in the Thesaurus of the Language of Folklore]. In L. P. Krysin (Ed.), Oblik slova: sbornik statei pamiati D. N. Shmeleva [The Look of the Word: Collected Papers in Memory of Dmitri N. Shmelev] (pp. 360–373). Moscow: IRIa im. V. V. Vinogradova RAN.

Smirnitskaya, O. A. (1989). O mnogoznachnosti epicheskogo teksta (Vvodnye zamechaniia). Kommentarii k “Grenlandskoi pesni ob Atli” [On the Polysemy of the Epic Text (Introductory Remarks). Commentary on the Greenland Lay of Atli]. In O. A. Smirnitskaya, I. G. Matyushina, & E. A. Gurevich (Eds.), Epos Severnoi Evropy. Puti evoliutsii [The Epic Tradition of Northern Europe. Paths of Evolution] (pp. 158–175). Moscow: Izd.-vo MGU.

Steblin-Kamensky, M. I. (1963). Starshaia Edda [Poetic Edda]. In A. I. Korsun, & M. I. Steblin-Kamensky (Eds.), Starshaia Edda. Drevneislandskie pesni o bogakh i geroiakh [Poetic Edda. Old Norse Songs about Gods and Heroes] (pp. 181–257). Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo AN SSSR.

Sturtevant, A. M. (1916). Semological Notes on Old Norse heim- in Compounds. Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, 3(3), 253–264.

Toporov, V. N. (2004). Issledovaniia po etimologii i semantike [Research on Etymology and Semantics] (Vol. 1). Moscow: Iazyki slavianskoi kul’tury.

Toporova, T. V. (2006). Printsipy opisaniia epicheskogo slova: kontsept gory v “Starshei Edde” [Principles of Describing an Epic Word: The Concept of a Mountain in the Poetic Edda]. Moscow: Akademiia gumanitarnykh issledovanii.

Vries J., de. (1970). Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte (Vol. 1). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.