Re: Stahlgewitter=staalstorm is in the Edda

[Rebing@t-online.de (Rebing)]

Bertil, you are probably right and I was rash with my conclusion that EJ fell victim to a 
lapse of memory when he said he found "Stahlgewitter" in the Edda. Only after I had posted 
my mail I realised my conclusions were based on an inadequate knowledge of Old Icelandic. In 
the meantime I have tried to enlist the help of someone who knows Old Icelandic, and lo and 
behold, the situation looks different now and there is again some hope to solve the riddle. 

The authoritative reference work for Old Norse kennings seems to be Sveinbjörn Egilsson's 
LEXICON POETICUM ANTIQUAE LINGUAE SEPTENTRIONALIS - ORDBOG OVER DET NORSK-ISLANDSKE 
SKJALSDSSPROG (København 1912). This book lists on p. 534 no less than three kennings which 
translate exactly as "thunderstorm of steel":

stála thrymr (Thorkell Gislasson 12)
stála thrima (Thorthr Sjáreksson 3)
stála thrima (Egil Skallagrimsson Lausavisa 11)

The last entry made me look through DIE GESCHICHTE VOM SKALDEN EGIL in the Thule series. 
There are in fact about sixty of Egil's poems scattered throughout the narrative text of the 
saga, but Felix Niedner's translation nowhere has "Stahlgewitter". Perhaps your Swedish 
translation has "staalstorm"? Anyway, the hunt is on again. Soon I am going to make use of 
the resources of the Nordische Abteilung of Germanistisches Seminar of Bonn University. I 
will also try and contact the Edda institute in Frankfurt that you mentioned. From the 
outside this may look like much ridiculous ado about nearly nothing - but gosh! i think it's 
great fun! Günter

Bertil Haggman schrieb:
> Rebing wrote:
>
> as to the origin of "Stahlgewitter":
> > Your hint it might come from a skald called Egil made me look through DIE
>  GESCHICHTE VOM
> > SKALDEN EGIL but to no avail. If EJ in fact found the word in the German
>  translation of the
> > Eddas (there are two of them, the poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson's prose
>  Edda) or of one
> > of the Icelandic sagas it is probably not just a word in the text but a
>  kenning. Webster's
> > definition of kenning: "A metaphorical compound word or phrase used
>  especially in Old
> > English and Old Norse poetry. ('Germanic verse... laid stress upon the
>  trope known as
> > kenning: the ocean is the"whale's bath", the "foaming fields", the "sea
>  street"'...) In fact
> > there are quite a few kennings, all meaning "fight" or "battle", similar to
>  "Stahlgewitter"
> > in the poetic stanzas occasionally inserted in those great Icelandic
>  stories called sagas. I
> > have found "storm of arrows", "storm of spears", "storm of arms", "rain
>  from the clouds of
> > battle". The saga of Egil contains more than fifty such interspersed
>  stanzas, there is even
> > "tempest (Unwetter) of weapons" and "storm of spears", but no
>  Stahlgewitter, thunderstorm of
> > steel (the translation "Storms of Steel" of the book's title is not quite
>  exact).
> > 
> > Instead of tackling the daunting task of searching all German translations
>  of Nordic
> > literature prior to 1920, when EJ chose his title, I turned to a dictionary
>  of kennings. And
> > indeed there is listed one single occurrence of "stala thrymr" which means
>  exactly
> > "thunderstorm of steel". It is supposed to be found in a poem by Thorkell
>  Gislasson about
> > whom hardly anything is known. So far I have failed to locate his poem.
> > 
> > I am presumptuous enough to believe that if I have such problems finding
>  the word in a
> > university library EJ never found it but invented it, inspired by similar
>  kennings he
> > encountered while reading the Thule edition of the Edda and the sagas which
>  was in the
> > course of being published while he wrote his first book. It is possible
>  that the entire set
> > of 24 volumes was published before the end of WWI. An ad of Eugen
>  Diederichs Verlag in Jena
> > in my copy of DIE GESCHICHTE VOM SKALDEN EGIL reads: "Die ersten 13 Bände
>  liegen 1915
> > vollständig vor. Bei einem Abonnement auf wenigstens 10 Bände ist der Preis
>  um zirka 10 bis
> > 15% ermäßigt...Die weiteren Bände werden 1916 in Angriff genommen. Die
>  Schnelligkeit des
>
> > Erscheinens hängt vom Wachsen des Interesses an der germanischen Vorzeit
>  ab." EJ, the avid
> > book collector, must have been tempted by this offer. His interest in
>  Germanic prehistory
> > and his knowledge probably of both Eddas is documented in the texts Bertil
>  Haggman has just
> > posted.
> > 
> > So at this point of this perplexing quest I challenge all who love like me
>  such occasional
> > games of nit-picking to prove me wrong: I believe that EJ did not find the
>  word
> > "Stahlgewitter" but invented it well in the spirit of the Edda and the
>  sagas.
>
> Guenter,
>
> Must disagree with your theory. The kenning
> "Stahlgewitter" exists in Swedish translations
> of the Poetic Edda. Similar kennings like
> "storm of arrows" for instance are not uncommon.
>
> Like to refer you to _Den poetiska Eddan_ (i oever-
> saettning av Bjoern Collinder), andra omarbetade
> upplagan, ny tryckning 1993. In the wordlist
> on page 345 there is:
>
> staalstorm = strid, drabbning.
>
> It fits perfectly and I believe EJ
> is honest.
>
> There is a special Edda institute or similar
> in Germany publishing commentaries and
> translation of the Edda. I believe it is
> at the University of Frankfurt/Main. I had
> a good contact there but lost the address.
> Should not be too hard to find. Will also
> make a try to find a list dedicated to the
> Edda, subscribe and see what can be found.
>
> Take care or as it says in Havamaal:
>
> 1 Man skall ingenstans gaa in genom doerren
>   utan att se sig om
>   utan att utforska allt,
>   ty ovisst aer det var ovaenner
>   sitta paa salens baenk.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Bertil
>
>