Heathohlaewe - word of the day

Triggered by Kiernan's nathwylc article, I could not resist finding out myself.

http://www.uky.edu/~kiernan/Nathwylc/

The MS today: heathohlaewe - just hea is left

Zupitza's autotype - late 19th century

hlaewe - barely readable


heathohlaewe - digitally restored [Kiernan-Electronic Beowulf]

http://ebeowulf.uky.edu/

Meaning:

http://publishing.bl.uk/cd/electronic-beowulf

http://www.archive.org/stream/beowulfautotypes77zupiuoft#page/104/mode/2up

http://www.gafpa.nl

Hwaet!

So!

It came at last, this codex of codices

word-wondrous and winding, hiding

still self-contained secrets pointing at

enigmatic mores, murder, past

from the distant dark dream-time ...

Today I got my Electronic Beowulf, which really made time stand still. It was the same kind of feeling as when I found that second-hand Klaeber, way back in the eighties.

Nobody had heard of Kiernan in those days, which is really astonishing. What puzzled me though, while still believing in an early date, was the fact that somebody around the year 1000 AD deliberately spent a substantial amount of vellum on this text.

I vaguely remember seeing the MS in the British museum and me reading it aloud.

I remember my teacher of Old-English having a facsimile - a Zupitza reprint I believe - which seemed totally out of reach for me.
That was nearly thirty years ago.

Today I found this e-version.


http://www.archive.org/stream/beowulfautotypes77zupiuoft



http://www.gafpa.nl

Besette swin-licum

"...adorned with boar-figures..."
Beowulf l.1453
[i.e. his wondrous helmet]

The two curls which I carved today represent boar's tusks that demonstrate status and age. This reminds one of the Beowulfian boar-helmets l.1328, the boar-spears [eofer-spreotum] l.1437, Hrothgar's boar banner l.2152 [eafor heafodsegn]and more.
More about boars and Anglo-Saxon

More about Vanuatu and pigs

Thesis about Vanuatu, slit drums, status and prestige. [In Dutch/Flemish]
http://www.ethesis.net/vanuatu/vanuatu_deel_I_hfst_6.htm

Click for another image from the Metmuseum





http://www.gafpa.nl

Sir Gavin Grimbold

Click for Gryphon's Sir Gavin

Stan-fah

Pigment made by grinding the typically North West Frisian brick (lytse gieltsjes) with fresh egg yolk.

I added a little red pigment(ground terracotta) to get a slightly warmer hue.
I'm still in doubt whether I should make the helmet gold-fah or perhaps iron-fah.

Colourtest

Frumsceaft

A boy's drawing, an ancestor, an Asmat Shield, a helmet-like shape.

The pattern reminded me of swaddling. It all combines with the foundling king of Northern mythology.

Helm Scyldinga

Wudu-fah

Hwaet!

Scyld Scefing

...syððan ærest wear(ð)
feasceaft funden he þæs frofre geba(d)
weox under wolcnum weorðmyndum þah.
oð þ him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra
ofer hronrade hyran scolde
gomban gyldan þ wæs god cyning.



A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on
as his powers waxed and his worth was proved.
in the end each clan on the outlyling coasts
beyond the whale-road had to yield to him
and begin to pay tribute. That was one good king.
[Transl. Seamus Heany]

Black and white Grendel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grendel

www.gafpa.nl

Grendel's teeth

www.gafpa.nl

Grendel's got teeth

www.gafpa.nl

Hrothgar

I made him a one-eyed king, as I see him a hero of yore, blind to the future, essentially tragic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrothgar

Hrothgar - a one-eyed king

Yesterday I made the makeshift crown, today I made a stand, the crest - a gold shamrock - is still drying.

Grendel's head

Nearly completed - with hair on trial but no teeth yet. Mark the Cain's Sign

September - update

Current project at my sculpture course
Grendel's head [chestnut]
Work started April/May 2008

Metal teeth to be added later.
Click here for one of my sources of inspiration
More on Grendel

Hrothgar [2008]

Minus crown

Smaug [12/2007]

Ne this ne dagath eastan, ne her draca ne fleogeth

Dit is net de dage yn it easten,
ek net de draak dy't hjirhinne fljucht

Houtwerk

Grendel's arm [detail]