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Hávamál ("Sayings of the high one") is presented as a single poem in the Poetic Edda
Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends....
. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, largely presents advice for living and survival composed around the central figure of Odin
Odin

Odin , is considered the chief ?sir in Norse paganism. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxons Woden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz or *Wodanaz....
. Composed in the metre
Meter (poetry)

In poetry, the meter is the basic rhythm of a verse . Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse meter, or a certain set of meters alternating in a particular order....
 Ljóðaháttr
Alliterative verse

In meter , alliterative verse is a form of poetry that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme....
, a metre associated with wisdom verse, Hávamál is both practical and metaphysical in content. This is particularly apparent towards the end of the poem, as the poem shifts into an account of Odin's obtaining of the runic alphabet
Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using Letter known as runes to write various Germanic languages prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter....
 and obscure text relating to various charms and spells Odin knows.

The only surviving source for Hávamál is contained within the 13th century Codex Regius
Codex Regius

Codex Regius is an Icelandic manuscript in which the Poetic Edda is preserved. It is made up of 45 vellum leaves, thought to have been written in the 1270s in poetry....
, and is thought to be no older than from around the year 800 CE (though derived from an earlier oral tradition).






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Hávamál ("Sayings of the high one") is presented as a single poem in the Poetic Edda
Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends....
. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, largely presents advice for living and survival composed around the central figure of Odin
Odin

Odin , is considered the chief ?sir in Norse paganism. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxons Woden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz or *Wodanaz....
. Composed in the metre
Meter (poetry)

In poetry, the meter is the basic rhythm of a verse . Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse meter, or a certain set of meters alternating in a particular order....
 Ljóðaháttr
Alliterative verse

In meter , alliterative verse is a form of poetry that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme....
, a metre associated with wisdom verse, Hávamál is both practical and metaphysical in content. This is particularly apparent towards the end of the poem, as the poem shifts into an account of Odin's obtaining of the runic alphabet
Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using Letter known as runes to write various Germanic languages prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter....
 and obscure text relating to various charms and spells Odin knows.

The only surviving source for Hávamál is contained within the 13th century Codex Regius
Codex Regius

Codex Regius is an Icelandic manuscript in which the Poetic Edda is preserved. It is made up of 45 vellum leaves, thought to have been written in the 1270s in poetry....
, and is thought to be no older than from around the year 800 CE (though derived from an earlier oral tradition). An early reference to the poem is by Eyvindr skáldaspillir
Eyvindr Skáldaspillir

Eyvindr Finnsson sk?ldaspillir was a 10th century Norway skald. He was the court poet of king H?kon I of Norway and earl Haakon Sigurdsson. His son H?rekr ?r ?j?ttu later became a prominent chieftain in Norway....
, found in Hákonarmál
Hákonarmál

H?konarm?l is a skaldic poetry which the skald Eyvindr sk?ldaspillir composed about the fall of the Norway king H?kon I of Norway at the battle of Fitjar and his reception in Valhalla....
 from around the year 960 CE.

Poems

The poems in Havamal shift in tone, tenor and narrative position. Numerous English translations exist of the text.

Gestaþáttr

The first section Gestaþáttr, the "guest's section". Stanzas 1 through 79 comprise a set of maxims for how to handle oneself when a guest and traveling, focusing particularly on manners
Manners

In sociology, manners are the unenforced standards of conduct which show the actor to be cultured, polite, and refined....
 and other behavioral relationships between hosts and guests and the sacred lore
Lore

Lore may refer to:* Lore, all the facts and traditions about a particular subject that have been accumulated over time through education or experience....
 of reciprocity
Reciprocity

Reciprocity may refer to:*Ethic of reciprocity, the "Golden Rule" principle in ethics and religion*Norm of reciprocity, social norm of in-kind responses to the behavior of others ...
 and hospitality
Hospitality

Hospitality refers to the relationship process between a guest and a host, and it also refers to the act or practice of being hospitable, that is, the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, with liberality and goodwill....
 to the Norse pagans
Norse paganism

Norse paganism is a term used to describe the religion which were common amongst the Germanic tribes living in Nordic countries prior to and during the Christianization of Scandinavia of Northern Europe....
.

The first stanza exemplifies the practical behavioral advice it offers:
All the entrances, before you walk forward,
you should look at,
you should spy out;
for you can't know for certain where enemies are sitting,
ahead in the hall


Number 77 is possibly the most known section of Gestaþáttr:
Deyr fé,
deyja frændr,
deyr sjálfr et sama;
ek veit einn,
at aldri deyr:
dómr of dauðan hvern.
Cattle die, kinsmen die
the self must also die;
I know one thing which never dies:
the reputation of each dead man.
 


Loddfáfnismál

Loddfáfnismál, the next major section of Hávamál, deals with morals, ethics
Ethics

Ethics is a word for a philosophy that encompasses proper conduct and good living. It is significantly broader than the common conception of ethics as the analyzing of right and wrong....
, correct action and codes of conduct. The section is directed to Loddfáfnir ("stray-singer"), stands in the place of the reader (or, as was the case at the time, the listener), hence the name for this section.

Rúnatal

Rúnatal or Óðins Rune Song (Rúnatáls-tháttr-Óðins) is a section of the Hávamál where Odin reveals the origins of the runes, or of secret knowledge. It runs from Stanzas' 138 through to 165. In section 138, Odin describes his self-sacrifice (to himself):
Veit ec at ec hecc vindga meiði a
netr allar nío,
geiri vndaþr oc gefinn Oðni,
sialfr sialfom mer,
a þeim meiþi, er mangi veit, hvers hann af rótom renn.  
I know that I hung on a windy tree
nine
Numbers in Norse mythology

The numbers three and nine are significant numbers in Germanic paganism and later Norse mythology. Both numbers appear throughout surviving attestations of Germanic paganism, in both Germanic mythology and religious practice itself....
 long nights,
wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,
myself to myself,
on that tree of which no man knows
from where its roots run.


In Stanza 139, Odin continues:
Við hleifi mic seldo ne viþ hornigi,
nysta ec niþr,
nam ec vp rvnar,
opandi nam,
fell ec aptr þaðan.
No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn
Drinking horn

A drinking horn was a drinking vessel formerly common in some parts of the world, and notably in Northern Europe....
,
downwards I peered;
I took up the runes, screaming I took them,
then I fell back from there.


Ljóðatal

The last section, the Ljóðatal, deals with the transmission of knowledge and metaphysical mysteries. It is essentially a list and a key to a sequenced number of runic charms. There are correspondences between this section and with the Sigrdrífumál
Sigrdrífumál

Sigrdr?fum?l or Brynhildarlj?? is one of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda. It relates the meeting of the valkyrie Sigrdr?fa with the hero Sigur?r and largely consists of Sigrdr?fa's advice to him, which includes cryptic references to Norse mythology and runic magic Runic alphabet....
, in which the awoken valkyrie
Valkyrie

File:The Ride of the Valkyrs.jpgIn Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a wikt:host#Noun_2 of female figures who choose those who die in battle....
 Sigrdrífa
Sigrdrífa

In Norse mythology, Sigrdr?fa is valkyrie. She appears in Sigrdr?fum?l as the mentor of Sigurd. In the Poetic Edda she is identified with Brynhildr....
 details a number of the runes at her command.

As an example, Section 151 reads:
I know a sixth one if a man wounds me
with the roots of the sap-filled wood:
and that man who conjured to harm me,
the evil consumes him, not me.


The sending of a tree root with runes
Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using Letter known as runes to write various Germanic languages prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter....
 carved into it is well documented in Norse literature; it was, for example, the cause of death of Grettir the Strong as described in Grettis saga
Grettis saga

Grettis saga is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It details the life of Grettir ?smundarson, an Icelandic warrior who became an outlaw....
.

Germanic Neopaganism

Various proponents of Germanic Neopagan
Germanic neopaganism

Germanic Neopaganism is the Neopaganism of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Esotericism in Germany and Austria....
 groups place an emphasis on Hávamál as one source of their religious beliefs, amongst other historical sources. As an example, partially based on Hávamál some groups have developed the Nine Noble Virtues
Nine Noble Virtues

The Nine Noble Virtues or NNV are the ethical code gleaned from various sources including the Poetic Edda , the Icelandic Sagas and Germanic paganism folklore....
.

See also

  • Nine Herbs Charm
    Nine Herbs Charm

    The Nine Herbs Charm is an Anglo-Saxon literature recorded in the 10th century Lacnunga manuscript. The charm is intended for treatment of poison and infection through the preparation of nine herbs....


External links

  • Translation and commentary by H. A. Bellows
  • Translation by Benjamin Thorpe
    Benjamin Thorpe

    Benjamin Thorpe was an England Old English language scholar.After studying for four years at Copenhagen University, under the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask, he returned to England in 1830, and in 1832 published an English version of Caedmon's metrical paraphrase of portions of the Holy Scriptures, which at once established his r...
  • Translation by W. H. Auden
    W. H. Auden

    Wystan Hugh Auden who signed his works W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet, regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century....
     and P. B. Taylor
  • Translation by Olive Bray