[gothic-l] Gothic rel. & mag. 1a

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Hi Jeff!
Thank you for this reference!
You wrote:
>        It is interesting to note, that the word > Haljorunas < makes 
>it first earliest appearance in Jordanes, and yet it surfaces again, 
>used in the same semantic field, in the later Beowulf poem:
>Line 63 - 64 > "
..men ne cunnon hwyder helrūnan hwyrftum scrīþað=
>
>."
>"
..men cannot know where whispering demons, such warlocks glide."  < 
>H.D. Chickering Jr. trans.

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Your Beowulf quote did not get through very well at my end.
I just got myself a copy of the Beowulf poem, and naturally
I am eager to compare notes. My copy has the following text
in lines 149-163 (my copie's numbering differs):

       Forðam secgum wearð, 
150    ylda bearnum,         undyrne cuð, 
       gyddum geomore,         þætte Grendel wan 
       hwile wið Hroþgar,         heteniðas wæg, 
       fyrene ond fæhðe         fela missera, 
       singale sæce,         sibbe ne wolde 
155    wið manna hwone         mægenes Deniga, 
       feorhbealo feorran,         fea þingian, 
       ne þær nænig witena         wenan þorfte 
       beorhtre bote         to ban(an) folmum.|| 
       (Atol) æglæca         ehtende wæs, 
160    deorc deaþscua,         duguþe ond geogoþe, 
       seomade ond syrede,         sinnihte heold 
       mistige moras.         Men ne cunnon,
       hwyder helrunan         hwyrftum scriþað. 

{I included a larger portion of the text, in order to see the context}

Here is an English translation of these lines that I found on the net:

{Anonymous Translator Francis B. Gummere 
 P.F. Collier & Sons, New York 1910 
 Harvard Classics, Volume 49, edited by Charles W. Eliot}

 "There came unhidden 
  tidings true to the tribes of men, 
  in sorrowful songs, how ceaselessly Grendel 
  harassed Hrothgar, what hate he bore him, 
  what murder and massacre, many a year, 
  feud unfading, -- refused consent 
  to deal with any of Daneland's earls, 
  make pact of peace, or compound for gold: 
  still less did the wise men ween to get 
  great fee for the feud from his fiendish hands. 
  But the evil one ambushed old and young 
  death-shadow dark, and dogged them still, 
  lured, or lurked in the livelong night 
  of misty moorlands: men may say not 
  where the haunts of these Hell-Runes be."

The sentence wherein the word "helrunnan" occurs is 
 "Men ne cunnon, hwyder helrunan hwyrftum scriþað."

    Words:
      man = man
      ne = not
      cunnan = to know 
      hwyder = whither (where)
      helrune = "advisoress of hell", witch, demon, monster. (helrunan = Nom. pl.)
      hwyrft = movement, wandering. (hwyrftum = Dat. pl.)
      scriðan = to move, walk, step. (scriþað = pres. pl.)

And so we obtain the literal translation 
"Men know not whither [these] monsters go wandering".

Holthausen has OE "hell" (f.) = infernum (Hölle), 
and OE "rune" (f.) = witch (Hexe).
But he does not list the word helrune itself.
The reason must be that it is a composite, as 
indicated.

Best regards
Keth



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