Re: Stahlgewitter=staalstorm is in the Edda

[Bertil Haggman <bertil.haggman@helsingborg.se>]

Rebing wrote:
> 
> 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 (Kųbenhavn 1912). This book lists on p. 534 no less than three kennings which
> translate exactly as "thunderstorm of steel":
> 
> stįla thrymr (Thorkell Gislasson 12)
> stįla thrima (Thorthr Sjįreksson 3)
> stįla 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! 

Guenther,

No need to apologize, yet. You may well
be right. Yesterday I tried Siebzig Verweht I
on the Iceland journey with FGJ and some others.
And lo and behold, there was a statement by EJ
that he found "Stahlgewitter" in Egils Saga.

Research is now ongoing on Iceland and hope
to solve the question soonest. Think this
is important, as I feel EJs debt to the
Icelandic sagas and the poetry should
be established.

For your info, an article by me has been
published, an In Memoriam on EJ, in a leading
Ukrainian cultural journal. Think it is
important to look both to the East and the
West in the quest to provide more info on EJ.
EJ is German culture at its best.