[gothic-l] Haliurunnas = Haljoruna ?

[Philip Rusche]

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, I should let you know that the word
occurs several times in Old English.  I've been working on and off on an
article on it and wasn't aware of its occurence in Gothic.  It also occurs
in OHG as "helliruna" (though I don't know where). Does anyone know of a
cognate in ON?

It occurs in Beowulf, at line 163 (helrunan), apparently an n-stem
3 times in the Cleopatra Glossaries, helrun (twice) as a gloss to "pithonis"
and helrynegu as a gloss to "pithonissa".  In the Cleopatra entries, it
doesn't refer to the witch so much as to the witch's "familiar spirit"
through which she contacts the dead (the context is the story of the Witch
of Endor from 1 Kings 28.7).
It also appears elsewhere as "hellerune".

The Beowulf line is "se æglæca [Grendel] ehtende wæs, / deorc deaþscua,
duguþe ond geogoþe, / seomade ond syrede,  sinnihte heold / mistige moras;
men ne cunnon / hwyder helrunan hwyrftum scrithath", where it clearly means
some type of evil spirit too, analagous to Grendel. (If the OE letters
present problems for anyone's email system let me know and I can resend it
without them).

The OE dictionaries translate it something like "one skilled in the
mysteries of hell."

Does anyone have access to the text of Jordanes which they could type out.
The library here doesn't have a copy.

Philip Rusche

----- Original Message -----
From: "M." <mcarver at csulb.edu>
To: <gothic-l at egroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 3:21 PM
Subject: [gothic-l] Haliurunnas = Haljoruna ?


Hails

In response to Justin's suggestion, I recall here what Koebler says on the
subject (GW p. 257):

"hal-jo'-ru'-n-a* 1?, got., st. F.(o') nhd. Hexe, Zauberweib; ne. witch,
magician (F.); lat. maga mulier; I.: Lues. ? lat. maga mulier; Q.: Jordanes
XXIV (S.89 Zeile 11), (6. Jh.); E.:germ. *haljo', st. F., Ho:lle; *ru'no',
F., Raunen, Beratung, Geheimnis, Rune; vgl. idg. *kel- (4), V., bergen,
verhu:llen, Pk 553; B.: magas mulieres quas patrio sermone haliurunnas is
ipse cognominat Jordanes XXIV S. 89, 11"

in a separate entry, ru'na F(o') has the meaning "secret, secret plan,
secret council, secret consultation, secret counsel, mystery".

Matþaius



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