KEY - Old English
Alliteration
Compound Words
Kennings
Kenning Meaning
Clear Conversing Crowns Their Majesties of the cordial East
Matthias & Feilinn favor friendship with
Those that offer Hearth Hospitality Chatelaine
Welcoming whoever enters Our way.
Jakob Agnarsson’s bearing has been brought,
For he pursues projects and propels forth.
He serves Hearth-ships Events from set up to sweeping
Holds office, organizing goings-on
These distinguished deeds so detailed, therefore:
We set the Silver Wheel so to Jakob
Here at Harts & Horns, EK Rapier Champs
Done this Day, in the Shire of Hartshorn-dale
Anno Societatis LVIII
- It is my life.
That's the BLOG!
~DuckTales!
This scroll didn’t contain much additional research. However, this past June,”Guard of Grounds” meaning Seneschal, was created for Ragnarr Blaskegg’s Silver Crescent scroll. Though I had initially wanted to include it in the words, it was not applicable for this scroll. However, it became an inspiration to correlate my own SCAdian specific kennings in one place, for my own accessibility in the future. When I have compiled a compilation, I’ll put them up in a presentation.
Clear Conversing Crowns Their Majesties of the cordial East
I favor using a kenning for Their Majesties in whatever iteration of their titles and names that is used. There is a profuse availability and variety of translated kennings for rulers/chieftains, mainly found in The Skaldic Project.
Once the method of reference is chosen for TRM the search becomes a matter of just choosing which one fits best into the piece.
‘The eloquence of Sigurðr, who reddens the sharp fires of the wound-flood [BLOOD > SWORDS] with blood, is overwhelming; God himself has given advantage to the prince. Thus it is, if the clear-talking ruler of the Raumar [NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr] gives speeches, as if other men are silent; the glad-spoken lord displays splendor.’
Talking was changed to conversing, and ruler to crowns for the alliteration and the kenning was set.
Matthias & Feilinn favor friendship with
Their majesties were named with some excellent alliteration. Sometimes it’s difficult to get a complete sentence with at least two words starting the same, so much that I treasure the times when it comes easily.
Those that offer Hearth Hospitality Chatelaine
One particular attribute of the recipient was their current position of Chatelaine of their group. “The Chatelaine is the first point of contact to those new to the Society…” I started randomly looking at kennings for people. I found:
‘That distinction which the gladdener of the host of the heavens [(lit. ‘host-gladdener of the heavens’) ANGELS > = God (= Christ)] grants you rises high in many ways, speedy distributer of the sun of the sound [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]. The high offerer of the fire of the fence of Alden <island> [(lit. ‘high fire-offerer of the Alden-fence’) SEA > GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] is greater in every way than the family of people [MANKIND] are able to expound your glory with words.’
I started looking through the thesaurus and just writing words down that sounded right.
Chatelaine - Welcomer of people
Hail greeter heads humans
Hail the humans of the Hall
Hail hearth greeters heralds
Hearth Heralds - I almost used this one, but considering the multitude of Heraldic Officer Titles, it sounded too much like it could be something official, and I decided against it.
Hearth Hailers
Hearthstone hailers
Gate greeter
Hearth hospitality - is the one I decided to use. As an alliterative kenning it's fine, and with a little bit of tweaking I could use it in the dróttkvætt meter.
Welcoming whoever enters Our way.
This next sentence also reinforces what the kenning was by defining it.
Jakob Agnarsson’s bearing has been brought,
The naming of the recipient in such a way to evoke the image of them appearing in court before Their Majesties.
For he pursues projects and propels forth.
Here the description of what the recipient has done begins. Specifically the goal was to evoke the image that they are involved with projects, and volunteering in their group, and they follow them through to completion.
He serves Hearth-ships Events from set up to sweeping
Building a kenning for events, I searched through different kennings for house or home. Thinking that an event is where everything happens in the East Kingdom. In casual conversation the phrase, “My home barony/shire,” is often used to define the name of a group in conversation.
I found Hearth-Ship:
‘And the kinsman of the sea [FIRE] swallowed the ship of the will [BREAST] of Vísburr when the defenders of the seat [RULERS] incited the harmful thief of the forest [FIRE] against their father. And the roaring dog of embers [fire] bit the sovereign within the hearth-ship [HOUSE].
Therefore in the context of the SCA/East Kingdom Hearth-Ships is an excellent kenning for an event.
There is a gloriously common and praise worthy phrase seen on many recommendations: “The recipient helps from set up to take down.” Its presence here needed to be emphasized. To sweep the floors of an event location is usually the last thing that is done before locking up and heading home. To work that sentiment into the alliteration was a sweet addition to the scroll.
Holds office, organizing goings-on
The last sentence of the descriptive verse included the compound word, “going-on,” the only compound word I managed in this piece. Compound words are more descriptors rather than kennings which use something often incongruous to describe the subject.
Prepositions are not counted in alliteration in the Norse meters. As such, “on” really should not be counted. However, as it is a part of the larger compound word, I think it should count. Either way there are at least 2 words with the alliterative O, and the sentence stands with it.
These distinguished deeds so detailed, therefore:
The lovely alliterative transitional sentence. Once again changing perspective. This time from the recipient to TRM.
We set the Silver Wheel so to Jakob
The naming of the award. With some solid alliterative words, and the reiteration of the recipient’s name.
Here at Harts & Horns, EK Rapier Champs
It’s so nice when the name of the event is alliterative in an early period scroll!
Done this Day, in the Shire of Hartshorn-dale
The final alliterative sentence of the scroll. This stood as just “In the Shire of…” for quite some time. It wasn’t until a late read through that I thought to add, “Done this day” including the D sound from “dale.” This is one of the reasons that, when in the process of writing, there’s at least a full day between sending the piece to the scribe. All too often a verse that has been troubling, a solution will appear after some rest time.
Anno Societatis LVIII
Like many a scroll the AS year gets tacked on at the end. More often than not its placement is due to the latin of the phrase, I am already cramming English into a verse form that was never designed for it. Adding Latin is just not going to happen.
There were some creative Kennings that really focused on the service and dedication of the recipient. I am pretty proud of that.
This scroll came together more easily than expected. Since I had made the decision not to go delving into additional research, I felt I got to play and be creative with it. This project even led me to a new project as so often is the case in the SCA: To collect and create kennings specifically for East Kingdom terms. There are so many unique phrases we use that I use repeatedly in writing an award text. I like the idea of making terms recognisable from one scroll to another, as the kennings would have been back in the original pieces.
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