#skot spear

[thorraborinn]

Hey, my friend is buying an oak barrel to make mead in and is looking for something to engrave onto it. I figured you were the best person to ask: is there some nifty Old Norse or ON-adjacent quote about mead you can think of? I figured there must be something in the Eddas or some runic inscription somewhere, or maybe in Old High German or something.

Sure, Norse people talked about mead so much that this is like asking whether Norse literature has any quotes about vikings. I don't know how long a quote they want, but here's a small assortment.

This one is actually my favorite but I found it late in looking for stuff. Norwegian runic inscription B308 [link to entry on Runor] reads:

(m)ynta : (e)k : myklu o^pda^r miö^þ:ra^nci koma na^la Mynda ek miklu optar mjǫð-ranni koma náliga. 'If only I were to come near the mead-house much more often.'

Unfortunately the object itself is sort of difficult to read:

Drekkr mjöð Mímir morgun hverjan af veði Valföðrs. 'Mímir drinks mead every morning from Valföðr's wager.' -- Völuspá (stanza 28 by the normal composite edition)

drekki þó at hófi mjöð 'but drink mead in moderation' -- Hávamál 19 (maybe not the most exciting but a good reminder)

ok ek drykk of gat ins dýra mjaðar, (ausinn Óðreri) 'and I got myself a drink of that precious mead, (increased by/with Óðrerir)' -- Hávamál 140 (Óðinn talking about the mead of poetry; you could chop the ausinn Óðreri part off and still have a complete thought).

skapker fylla hon skal ins skíra mjaðar 'she shall fill a large vessel with the clear/bright mead' -- Grímnismál, talking about Heiðrún the goat, who produces mead instead of milk

The line: tak við hrímkálki / fullum forns mjaðar 'accept a crystal chalice full of ancient mead' recurs word-for-word twice in Norse mythological poems (Skírnismál and Lokasenna); in both cases the context is hostility although the line itself is aimed at assuaging that hostility

mjǫðr hegnir bǫl bragna 'mead keeps away men's misfortune' -- a line from the following, which, if your friend is very ambitious, could also be a suggestion:

Hreintjǫrnum gleðr horna — horn náir lítt at þorna — — mjǫðr hegnir bǫl bragna — bragningr skipasagnir. Fólkhǫmlu gefr framla framlyndr viðum gamlar — hinns heldr fyr skot skjǫldum — skjǫldungr hunangsǫldur.

'The prince gladdens the ships’ crews with pure lakes of horns [MEAD]; the horn is hardly able to dry out; mead keeps away men’s misfortune. The bold-minded lord, the one who holds shields before the shots, gives old honey-waves [MEAD] liberally to woods of war-rods [SWORDS > WARRIOR].'

-- Snorri Sturlusson, demonstrating the dunhent metre.

Here's another stanza of poetry, much shorter:

Nú hefk mart í miði greipat burar Bors Búra arfa.

'Now I have included many things in the mead of the son of Borr, the heir of Búri.'

-- Þorvaldr blǫnduskáld; by 'mead' here he means poetry.

Here are some kennings, either for mead specifically or for an alcoholic drink generally:

hunangsbára 'honey-wave'

hlenni ennigeira uxa 'resounding sea of the forehead-spears of oxen'

hreintjǫrn horna 'pure lake of horns'

gamlar hunangsalda 'old honey-waves'

heilsa máls 'cure of speech'

hornstraumr 'horn-stream'

vindlauss vágr geira svigðis 'windless wave of spears of the bull'

fors horna 'waterfall of horns'

ýring atgeira úra 'moisture of the halberd of aurochs'

There's loads more. If you have anything more specific you're looking for I might be able to find something with the focus narrowed.

I don't really know anything about Old High German.

[gianttankeh]

Id M Theft Able/ Ali Robertson & Joyce Whitchurch/ Lotterie-Collago/ The Russets at The Old Police House, Gateshead: 25/10/18.

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