Málaháttr

The Málaháttr is an Old Norse meter rhyming with bars . It is characterized by a relatively fixed number of five syllables in front and back and is thus differentiated from the mostly four-syllable Fornyrðislag .

etymology

Málaháttr is composed of the old Norse words for speech (mál) and meter (háttr). According to its name, it is the meter for solemn, pompous speech, which also goes well with its slow and heavy character.

construction

The Málaháttr, like the Fornyrðislag, is made up of several long lines , consisting of upside and downside. The verses are connected by the alliance . The most important differentiating criterion for the Fornyrðislag is the relatively fixed five-syllable of the antitheses and verses in the Málaháttr.

H jú gerðu h vílu sem þeim h ægst þótti; k ennd var K ostbera, k unni hon skil rúna, i nnti o rðstafi at e ldi ljósum; g æta varð hon tungu í g óma báða, v áru svá v illtar, at var v ant at ráða. Atlamál , 9

Anvers, Langzeile 1 Abvers Anvers, Langzeile 2 Abvers Anvers, Langzeile 3 Abvers Anvers, Langzeile 4 Abvers Anvers, Langzeile 5 Abvers structure

The husbands prepared the bed, as it seemed best to them. Kostbera was knowledgeable, she knew the runes, she named the word sticks by the bright fire; she weighs her tongue in the mouth: They (the runes) were so tangled it was difficult to interpret. Translation (Arnulf Krause)

Except for lines 4, 7 and 10, all verses in our example consist of exactly five syllables. The exceptions mentioned only deviate from this rule by one syllable. The bars are also regularly according to the scheme 1 2 || 3 4 distributed over the four elevations of a long line . Only line 10 deviates from the rule with its illegal two bars in the abverse.

use

There is only one song in the Edda, which is almost exclusively composed in the Málaháttr - the Atlamál , the younger Atli song. In the heroic songs Atlakviða , Hamðismál and Völundarkviða he alternates with the Fornyrðislag , in the Scaldic price songs (which are called Eddish because of their meter measures ) Haraldskvæði , Eiríksmál and Hákonarmál together with the Ljóðaháttr . The only fragmentary skald song Bjarkamál , however, is completely in the Málaháttr.

See also

• Germanic poetry

literature

• Klaus von See: Germanic verse art ; Metzler Collection M 67; Stuttgart (1967) p. 57 ff.
• Edith Marold : Málaháttr . In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde Vol. 19. (2nd edition) Berlin, New York 2001.
• Seiichi Suzuki: The Meters of Old Norse Eddic Poetry. (= Supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , 86) de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-033500-2 .