August 1, 2025

Old English Elene 54a hleowon and Old Norse Grímnismál 29,9 hlóa; two texts, one verb

Key Points

The emendation of the Old English text changes 'ran' to 'blared', identifying a new example of the verb.
Only one known strong preterit example of *hlō(j)anan is found in Germania, enhancing the significance of this finding.
Identifying the verb in Old Norse supports its mythological connections and challenges longstanding assumptions.
The study calls for reevaluating the representation of this verb in standard dictionaries, as current definitions are inadequate.

Abstract

Abstract This article reconsiders the Germanic verb *hlō(j)anan ‘to low’, as the standard view of this lexeme is inaccurate and incomplete. The review is prompted by realization that MS hleopon hornboran ‘hornbearers ran’ in line 54a of the Old English poem Elene should be emended to hleowon hornboran ‘hornbearers blared’ and recognized as an instance of the verb. The emendation provides the only example of a (class 7) strong preterit to *hlō(j)anan in the whole of Germania. It is proposed that another instance of the lexeme is found as the last word of strophe 29 of the Old Norse mythological lay Grímnismál: heilug vǫtn hlóa ‘the sacred waters roar’, the only direct attestation in this branch. This involves opposing a long tradition that regards the verb-form as meaning ‘are warm’, but upholds a minority view. A number of North Germanic mythological names and hydronyms are plausibly derived from a verb of the relevant shape and meaning, supporting the ‘roar’ analysis. Neither of these two poetic examples is currently considered to be a token of the verb, which is not recognized as strong in Seebold’s standard dictionary of Germanic strong verbs of 1970.

Perguntar à IA

Bookmark