Old English
KEY
Alliteration
Compound Words
Kennings
Kenning Meaning
No longer mourn in your minds that there is one whose deeds have not been deemed worthy.
All hear the Eastern Edict Makers, RULERS Brennan and Caoilfhionn!
and motioned forth Martha bean ui Bhradaigh from the bench-sitters
Summoned so to attend for all the assured acts of service
In her account of actions as such-
She offers respite for raven feeders,FIGHTERS retainer for reigns and clear-talking for the rules of the revelry EVENT STEWARDS that We engage herein.
with the splattered BLOG
Robert dwe Makminne asked me to write this the weekend before the event! With such a short turn around, I wasn’t going to do a lot of new research for it. I reached out to the recipient’s husband and got some more insight for the subject and made a decision for the poetry.
I chose Old English and found the Old English Poetry Project and through that, the poem fragment of the story of Judith and Holofernes. It was slightly more difficult working from an academic translation. I had to look up a lot of kennings and compound words individually. instead of having them highlighted in the story for me. I do feel that I am getting better at identifying the difference between them though, so that is very good.
I read the entire translation of Judith and as I read through, I jotted down phrases that caught my eye.
the gold-friend of men
hall-sitters
spirit-wise Judith
glad-minded,
wall-gate
clever-thoughted maid
“I can say to you all a memorable thing so that you need not mourn in your minds any longer.”
The translation of the poem was rich with exactly the sort of vocabulary that I was looking for! And none of these even made it into the scroll. An Open Companion to Earl British Literature, proved to be an excellent source in understanding the poem.
I also reached out to Master Grim for a quick and dirty review of the Old English. His contributions really helped with the overall feel of the words, and for something so quick, I will take all the help to make it a better scroll for the recipient.
Earth-Dwellers of the East Kingdom!
No longer mourn in your minds that there is one who's deeds have not been deemed worthy.
This opening sentence was tweaked a lot. Originally, “Earth-Dwellers of the East! No longer mourn in your minds that there is one who's deeds have not been memorialized.” The very modern/Victorian sounding “memorialized” was dropped, and deemed worthy was added in its place. Deeds/Deemed also counts as alliteration, as one can have more than one set in a sentence.
Earth-Dwellers is a compound word. The difference between them and a kenning, as I understand it, is that essentially compound words just describe an action or a noun in plain words, whereas the kenning is a compound metaphorical description.
All hear the Eastern Edict Makers, RULERS Brennan and Caoilfhionn!
This one was fun. The original Kenning that I found for Ruler was elucidator of laws [RULER]
When adapting an existing kenning into what I need for alliteration, I take to my friend, Thesaurus.com. “Elucidator of Edicts,” was the result. It was however most definitely NOT Norse sounding. Grim recommended Edict-Makers instead.
I am amused at the translation from the Skaldic Project being ludicrously not the best word. But then their aim is not the same as mine, so it’s understandable.
Being settled in the Baronial Bog of Iron's Mead-Hall
I was so grateful for having another person to bounce this off of. The original was, “Being settled in the Baronial mead-hall of Iron Bog” and it did not sit right with me. The above is what came out of our discussion and I am so grateful for it. It just flows so much better!
Mead-hall is another compound word that is, again, rather self explanatory.
And motioned forth Martha bean ui Bhradaigh from the Bench-Sitters
Bench-sitters proved to be an excellent compound word. I chose to use it as the populace sitting in court watching the awards being given out.
Also this is another sentence with two sets of alliteration going on, both M and B.
Summoned so to attend for all the assured acts of service
In her account of actions as such-
I used this as the introductory sentence to the next where more of Martha’s attributes are described. Originally I had “assistance” instead of “service,” But as the stress is on the second syllable the A sounds did not alliterate and service flowed better through the composition.
She offers respite for raven feeders, FIGHTERS retainer for reigns and clear-talking for the rules of the revelry EVENT STEWARDS that We engage herein.
So much alliteration! So much Kenning! I particularly liked this sentence. In describing the recipient’s service: her dedication to the fighters in her group, the many reigns she has been an attendant for, and the several times she has been the event steward for her Shire.
Raven-feeder [WARRIOR] is taken directly from the Skaldic Project, While the kenning for Event Steward had more of an evolution.
Clear-talking ruler of the Raumar [NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr] is the original. As discussed many times before, King and ruler were synonymous with leader and Chieftain. I was pretty confident in adapting the kenning into one to mean event steward. I changed “Of the” to “for the” and “Raumar” became “events,” and finally “revelry.”
By just changing some tiny things in a kenning I made a pretty solid description of an event steward!
As stated the stature of Our Elf-Bright ENCHANTINGLY BRIGHT subject Martha, now We have summoned the Silver Wheel, and so bestow it upon her
“Elf-Bright” was found in the translation of Judith that I was working from. Looking up its meaning, I found Anglo Saxon Elves, and Their Meaning.
“The Old English term aelfscyne which was applied to women in a couple of texts (Genesis A and the poem Judith). The word seems to mean something like ‘elf-beautiful’ or even ‘enchantingly bright’; perhaps in the suggestion of light or shining there is a further hint of the light and dark elf dichotomy.”
I was completely taken with that Kenning and chose to use it as a description of the recipient.
We've had this memorable matter made today, AS 58 at Equestrian Champs and Investiture
I end the last line with a very alliterated line!
While this was a superfast scroll to write because of the short turnaround, I still felt that it is an excellent scroll. More than that I am basking in the glow of having real constructive criticism that made it a better piece of poetry than it was before. I truly hope the recipient loves it!
