Dear Lazyweb...

[lwood]

In Old Norse (Modern Icelandic, etc.), how would one cobble together a by-name for Odin on a train? In the spirit of "Vegtam" (Way-Tame), I was thinking one could do tolerably well with "Iron Horse Rider".

Thoughts?

-- Lorrie

Comments

[dr-beowulf.livejournal.com]

Járnhestariði, I think. riði, "rider", isn't in the standard dictionary, but it pops up in god-names: Einriði, "Best Rider", for Thor, or Atriði, "One who rides out", for Freyr.

Just a quick guess. More later if I think of anything. . .

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Brilliant and appreciated, as always...

[lwood.livejournal.com]

I have no doubt as to the accuracy of your translation, although the length makes it almost German-like in its unwieldiness.

Would Járnhestam for "Iron Horse Tamer" be an acceptable compound-with-elision, as you understand the, er, not really rules more like guidelines?

-- Lorrie

[dr-beowulf.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not much longer than Hrosshársgrani (Horsehair-Mustache), which is Odin's _nom de guerre_ in _Gautreks saga_ -- the one where he gets Starkad to stage a mock sacrifice of King Vikar, and then the sacrifice suddenly turns real. I'm currently working on a translation of that. . .

I looked up words for "horseman" and found reiðmaðr and riddari -- although riddari more usually means "knight". You could do Járnriddari, I guess, but that implies that the knight himself is iron, rather than a rider on an iron horse.

In modern Icelandic, "railroad" is járnbraut, "iron road" -- maybe Járnbrautariði, "Iron Road Rider"?

[dasubergeek.livejournal.com]

Járnhestareiðmaður is the literal translation (six syllables vs. AE five). You could use járnhestaknap instead but that means iron horse jockey, which is probably not the thing to call a god in an invocation.

[dr-beowulf.livejournal.com]

Oh, and as best I understand Norse grammar -- that is, "still kind of muddling through, really" -- you can't elide "hestr" and "tamr" as "Hestamr", on the model of "Vegtamr"; it would have to be "Hesta-tamr".

"Tamr", the cognate to English " tame", usually means something closer to "accustomed to" or "ready for" -- so "Vegtamr" connotes "one who is accustomed to the road" or "one who is ready to travel". "Hesta-tamr" would mean, not so much "horse tamer", but "accustomed to horses". Which may or may not be what you want -- "Járnhestatamr"?

Bear in mind that I'm still learning this stuff, and may well have committed some dreadful Nordic solecisms.

[baldurrising.livejournal.com]

Why is it that the first thing I think of is "Odin on a Plane!"

How about Steel Horse Rider? My old motorcycle was named Sleipnir... Why the train? You working on special blues or something?

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

It's ok, I went there too.

("I have had it with these motherfucking jotnar on this motherfucking train!")

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Jötnar wouldn't scan.

Wyrms, now, would not only scan but be in the ballpark. 8-)

-- Lorrie

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* So it would, so it would. That's what I get for trying to be literary-creative after hours of debugging on very little sleep.

Though! Have you seen Serpentes on a Shippe?

[lwood.livejournal.com]

I have! I love Chaucer's blog!

Even more fun is having dpaxson read the entries in her very best Middle ENglish accent: her MA in Medieval Lit. is suddenly useful. 8-)

-- Lorrie

[keristor.livejournal.com]

??!?!?!??!!??!??!?!!!???!???!!!

(As Woodstock would say...)

No way am I going to read that at worke ore whyn othyre folkes be aronde, yt ys too funy!

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Oh, one of our newer members is on a train trip this weekend, which reminded me of the train trip I took around the country in 2001 (http://www.snugharbor.com/~lwood/trainabout/), and I was thinking, "surely there's a more appropriate byname to use here than Vegtam, not that Vegtam's not very nice, but...ooer! Iron Horse-Rider! Something! I will ask the populace!"

So...that. Writing a blues rune wouldn't be my first thought.

Er, that's a typo up there. "Blues tune", of course. But it's such a beautifully Freudian typo that I think I'll keep it.

-- Lorrie

[keristor.livejournal.com]

A blues rune makes some sort of sense...

Hmm, Asgard blues. It could even work (do you realise what you have started *g*?)...

[baldurrising.livejournal.com]

One step ahead of you... as Lorrie will no doubt attest.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Ah, in which case I'd like to hear it...

[baldurrising.livejournal.com]

You can get the electric version of "Lamentation" on Itunes or you can order the acoustic version (and the rest of the "Love Songs..." cd too) at www.haukmusic.com. Ok- so it's not exactly blues in the traditional 12 bar form, but it's got the same sentiment.

[baldurrising.livejournal.com]

If I recall correctly, one of Baldur's bynames is God of Lamentations (whatever that is in old Norse). Go figure...

[feonixrift.livejournal.com]

I have no language knowledge, but I'll second the curious "Why the train?"

Largely because my mind throws train symbolism around in dreams a whole lot.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

One of Our Gang is riding the rails on the Coast Starlight (http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Route/Vertical_Route_Page&cid=1081256321841&c=am2Route&ssid=135) this weekend, and I wanted a more specific hail to hail than Vegtam.

-- Lorrie