The Saws in the Sagas: Proverbiality in Old Norse

Session Coordinator: Tom Shippey
Saint Louis University
shippey@slu.edu

The Crafty Creator of Grettis saga and his Sophisticated Use of Proverbs

The author of Grettis saga was clearly extremely fond of proverbs, maxims, and sententious sayings, with the incidence of such material in his saga occurring at a much higher rate than in any other Icelandic saga. Grettis saga contains 57 proverbs by B. J. Whiting’s count, almost half of them from the title character. Strangely, Grettir is much more proverbial in his youth, though typically it is older characters whose speeches are sprinkled with sententious remarks. Stranger still, Grettir becomes less proverbial the older he gets; while some of the proverbs used by other characters turn out to be wrong, i. e. not appropriate for the situation. We see in Grettis saga something quite remarkable: a medieval writer keenly aware of the pliable nature of gnomic wisdom, a literate author exploiting both the power and weakness of oral tradition.

Graham Johnson
Saint Louis University
johnsogp@slu.edu

Proverbial Speech and Proverbious Speakers in Hrafnkels saga

At least four proverbs are used, and are identified as proverbial within the text, during the course of Hrafnkels saga. The saga also contains sayings which have all the appearance of proverbs, used by speakers sometimes to cap or round off speeches; while some speakers also appear to speak quasi-proverbially. This paper will suggest, first, that one of the characteristics of a living proverbial tradition is freedom to vary the wording or indeed the direction of proverbial statements, instead of treating them as fixed phrases (as now); but second, that this freedom is a dangerous one, which should only be exercised by those in full command of inherited cultural wisdom. Some of the speakers in the saga possess this, and prove it by their actions, others only expose themselves as fools, or as “sub-proverbious.”

Tom Shippey
Saint Louis University
shippey@slu.edu

Speak No Evil, See No Evil: Speech Acts, Fate and the Quarrel of the Queens in the Nibelungenlied, V ö lsunga saga, and Gisla saga

The proverbial statements in Gisla saga have long been regarded as especially weighty, especially Gisli’s resigned comment to his wife at the end of chapter 9, “The Words of fate will be spoken by someone” – by which he means, in effect, “Do not blame yourself.” But possibly Aud should blame herself (unless, as claimed in other sagas, “the trolls have got her tongue”), for it is her conversation with Asgerth her sister-in-law which starts a chain of killings. This paper will consider the critical conversation in the light of pragmatic linguistics, and will, firstly, contrast it with the very similar conversation known as “the quarrel of the queens” in the Nibelungenlied, in the Volsunga saga, and in the accounts derived from Eddic poetry; and secondly, see if it is illuminated by other elliptical and proverbial conversations elsewhere in the Gisla saga.

Eric Bryan
Saint Louis University
bryanes@slu.edu