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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

A bit belated, but this was a fun project to work on. Andoni Cossio and I edited up Tolkien's translation of Sawles Warde, "Protection of the Soul", a 13th-century Middle English text. Tolkien was especially interested in the West Midlands dialect of the text. academic.oup.com/res/advance-...

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

There is a real difference between lexical and grammatical ("auxiliary") verbs, with the latter being clearly often unstressed and cliticized. I think the best discussion there is by Yasuka Suzuki in her 2008 thesis Finite Verb Stress and Clitic Verbs in Old English Beowulf.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

There's also a tradition rooting it in the Indo-European pattern of verbal accent appearing only in subordinate clauses (that's the Vedic pattern, anyway). This is what Kuhn does in his classic 1933 article Zur Wortstellung und -betonung im Altgermanischen.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Russom argues for finite verbs having a general intermediate stress, which at the start of a verse can be mapped to either a strong or weak metrical position. I believe he has variants of that idea in all three of his books. I think Beowulf and Old Germanic Metre has the best discussion?

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Yeah, that's not a very good explanation. We don't know why verbs sometimes count as stressed and sometimes unstressed, but it's definitely not because of semantics! It must have more to do with the details of sentence prosody, but it's a much-debated topic.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Please do let me know! If you can share something more in the next few months, I'll work it in. This is for a lecture in a class on language invention that's going to run this coming fall.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Anyone know about any in-progress conlang projects associated with upcoming movies/shows/games/etc? I'd also be interested in any artlangs (not necessarily new ones) coming from outside the Euro-American world.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

My article on Metre and Clitics in Old English and Old Saxon has just appeared in Glossa. Basically an attempt to use metre to get a better handle on the prosody of things like prepositions and the development of articles in those languages. Really enjoyed working with Glossa -- a model journal!

doi.org

Metre and clitics in Old English and Old Saxon

This article attempts to extract prosodic information from Germanic (here, Old English and Old Saxon) alliterative poetry by integrating multiple theoretical frameworks. The metrical theories of Sieve...

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Wow, yes. I mean, there are a lot of great things about living in Europe (yay trains!), but utopia it is emphatically not. And a lot of the factors that make life harder are (as is depressingly predictable) the same: racism, sexism, transphobia, Islamaphobia, etc.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

J'ai vu le loup, le renard et la belette J'ai vu le loup et le renard danser. youtu.be/XL8JedSwpp0?...

youtu.be

Tri Yann - Le Loup, le Renard et la Belette (La Jument de Michao)

YouTube video by XxX194XxX

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

"I indeed saw the wolf, and the weasel too, and with them the fierce fox, swift in the chase, an animal powerful in subtlety who is named Renard among the Gauls, plunderer of hens, (I saw them) dancing happily, drinking bowls of wine."

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Hwæt ic þone wulf ge·seah, and ðā weosolan ēac, and mid him ðone frēcnan fox, fēðum swiftne, wīs-cræftig dēor, þe mid Wealhum bið Regnheard nemned, rēafiend henna, lācan lustum, līð-fatu drincan.

Three medieval dancing figures, photoshopped to have the heads of a wolf, a weasel, and a fox.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

If you did translate it, you'd have at least one reader here!

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Chambers also took Sievers' metrical findings on board, but marked them differently. Where Holthausen restored trisyllabic "līffrē[g]a" with a missing letter, Chambers prints "Līf-frêa", the carrot-top meant to hint at the older pronunciation. This has become a standard practice.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Another early 20c edition of Beowulf. R.W. Chambers was a leading Beowulf scholar of his generation. In 1914 he revised A.J. Wyatt's edition, and the result is one of my favourite English-language editions out there. Wonderful notes, and a lot of comments on words in the glossary.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Holthausen's text is one of the first to build on Sievers' metrical findings, which explains small details like his printing of līffrē[g]a 'life-lord': the bracketed letter makes the historical, two-syllable pronunciation clearer. In his economical apparatus he duly credits Sievers for this.

The first 17 lines of Holthausen's 2nd edition of Beowulf.

The critical apparatus of the first page of Holthausen's edition of Beowulf.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

This is in many ways a model edition of Beowulf. Intended to provide a sound edition incorporating Sievers' discoveries about the poem's metre, it is sensibly edited, with an economical glossary, and compact but rich notes -- plus four other short Old English poems and the German Hildebrandslied.

The two volumes of F. Holthausen's edition of Beowulf (second edition).

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Reposted by Nelson Goering

Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 02/02/2024

12. The people were not cowards, while weeping they escorted from the court The land’s leader and the readied ones eager for battle.* Then Hǫgni’s young heir said, “Travel now fortunately and prudently, wherever your intent leads you.” *Emended: the MS seems to say “from the court of the Huns”.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 02/02/2024

“The wolf will rule the inheritance of the Niflungs, Old grey companies (wolves), if Gunnar is gone. Dun-pelted bears will bite with hostile teeth, Leaving sport for dogs, if Gunnar doesn’t return.” (This stanza has a large number of small textual difficulties.)

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 02/02/2024

Note to stanza 10: Gunnar’s response to Hǫgni’s warning may seem abrupt: in what follows it is clear that he intends to accept the invitation, but he does not say so explicitly, nor does he ever explain his reasoning. He is, presumably, motivated by his sense of honour and fear of cowardice.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 02/02/2024

10. “Get up, Fjǫrnir,* send the golden cups of the men Around the hall-floor into peoples’ hands. *Otherwise unknown figure.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

²Note to stanza 8: Guthrún, the sister of Gunnar and Hǫgni and wife of Atli. ³Note to stanza 8: The heath-dweller is a roundabout way of saying wolf, and the wolf's “clothing” is its fur. 2/2

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

¹Note to stanza 8: The speaker isn't actually specified in the manuscript, but since Gunnar has just asked his brother for advice, this is presumably Hǫgni's reply. 1/2

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

9. None of the clan urged Gunnar on, nor anyone else close to him, Neither counsellors nor advisors, nor those who were powerful. Gunnar then spoke up like a king ought to, Renowned in the mead-hall, moved by his great spirit.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

Hǫgni replied:¹ 8. “What do you think the bride² signified when she sent us a ring Wrapped with the clothing of the heath-dweller?³ I think she’s showing us a warning. I found hair of the heath-dweller tied round the red ring. The path for us two is wolfish, riding on this errand.”

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

7. [cont.] A single one of mine is better than would be those of all the Huns.” *Note to stanza 7: “My helm the whitest” is “My helm and shield the whitest” in the manuscript, but 'oc skiold' disrupts both the metre and the grammar, and is probably added later.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

7. “We’ve got seven buildings full of swords: On each one the hilt is made of gold. I know my horse to be the best, and my sword the sharpest, My bow proud above the bench, and my armour made of gold, My helm* the whitest, come from Caesar’s hall. [cont.]

7th century Swedish sword with gold hilt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Vikings_Begin_60_-_warrior_sword,_7th_century.jpg?fbclid=IwAR2gtIOYY9q9A6LNbkv_6IcQXpndVu6niX-2at0vcSr6b5jFixf1qspteKE

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

6. Then Gunnar turned his head and said to Hǫgni, “What do you advise, younger warrior, as we hear such things? I’m not aware of any gold on Gnita Heath That the two of us don’t have as much again.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

**Note 2 to stanza 5: There is a syntactic disfluency in the original, and the bulk of stanza 5 has material that doesn't fit very well (where did the Dnieper come into things?). Material from some other poem may have accidentally entered in here.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

*Note to stanza 5: Gnita Heath is where Sigurth killed the dragon Fáfnir and won his gold. This is the only hint in this poem in of a link between Sigurth and the Niflungs. In later legend, Guthrún is Sigurth's widow, but this is't yet part of the story or else is downplayed in the current poem.

Wood carving from Hylestad Stave Church of Sigurd killing Fafnir. 12th century. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Hylestad_I%2C_right_-_Fafnir_and_Sigurd.jpg

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

5. “He declared that he’d also give you the broad plain of Gnita Heath –* Of the screaming spear, and of gilt staves, Great treasures, and the dwellings of the Dnieper, That great forest which people call Mirkwood.”** (Notes in replies.)

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

4. “You’ll get to pick out shields and smoothed ash-spears, Helmets decorated with gold and a large troop of Huns, Silver-gilded saddle-cloths, shirts dyed Roman red, Shafts, banners, steeds champing their bits.

Shields and spears in a 'Germanic' style. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1094715583

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

3. “Atli sent me here on an errand, riding This bit-champing horse through the mysterious Mirkwood In order to invite you two, Gunnar [and Hǫgni], to come to the seats Under helmets which encircle the hearth, to seek out Atli at home.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

2. Courtly warriors there drank wine in a Roman hall. Hiding their thoughts they sat silent: they were wary of the Huns’ wrath. Then Knefrøth called forth with a cold voice; That southern warrior sat on a high bench.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

1. Atli sent a messenger to Gunnar, A bold warrior riding – he was called Knefrøth. He came to the courts of Gjúki,* and the hall of Gunnar, To the benches around the hearth, and to the sweet beer. *The previous Niflung king, Gunnar's dad.

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

The most important thing to know when launching into the Lay of Atli is that Gunnar has a vast amount of treasure, and that Atli really wants it. This will not go well for anyone involved. Warning: lots of murder, some cannibalism, general gore. 6/6

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

For the Lay of Atli's main cast we've got: -Gunnar, Niflung king of the Burgundians on the River Rhine, -His younger brother Hǫgni, more of a brawns-over-brains kind of guy, and -Their sister Guthrún, who's married to -Atli: that is, Attila the Hun. 5/6

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

These Niflungs are the same as the Nibelungs from the famous Middle High German poem, and there are definitely a lot of similarities of plot between the Lay of Atli and second part of that much longer epic (but also some pretty major differences). 4/6

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

But whatever, we've got a nice poem, whatever its context originally was. What's it about? It definitely needs a few words, since the poet assumes you already know who all the major figures are. At the centre are three siblings from a family called the Niflungs. 3/6

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

One suggestion is that it was composed by a guy called Thorbjǫrn Hornklofi (what a name: Thor-Bear the Horn Breaker). We don't actually know when Thorbjǫrn lived exactly, but it was probably around 900-ish. Unfortunately, it's far from sure that Thorbjǫrn even composed this poem. 2/6

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

So: background. Atlakviða is a poem from the Poetic Edda, a collection of poems copied out in Iceland around the year 1270. The poem is older than this, but it's a little hair-pulling to try and figure out when and where it was composed. My guess: Norway, c. 900? I stress 'guess'! 1/6

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Nelson Goering @ahannahim.bsky.social · 17/12/2023

In case there are people on here who really like bloody and gruesome Norse poetry, I thought maybe I could start my time here with a translation of the Atlakviða (The Lay of Atli) I made for students. I'll post the stanzas in small batches, and give some context in a following thread. #Atli

Attila the Hun riding a horse in battle. Romantic painting by Eugène Delacroix.

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