Hylli and gramr are interesting indeed! Both still exist in Dutch albeit more obscurely. ‘Hulde’ means praise, originally homage; and in Dutch an inauguration is an ‘inhuldiging’. ‘Gram’ is a mostly poetic word meaning ‘wroth’, also occuring in a few obscure compounds: ‘gramschap’ (wrath), ‘grammoedig’ (anger on the mind), ‘gramstorig’ (easily angered).
Fascinating to think that an Icelandic person from so many centuries ago would probably easily understand these words, maybe better than a modern Dutch person.
In the first oath, the name Ásgrím is invoked: could it be this is an Odin reference? I know As/Oss is connected to Ansuz/god, which itself is also tied to Odin, but we have "grim" right after, which we know is another Odinic moniker - could it be read as "Grim-God" aka Odin?
I looked up your previous article which you mentioned (I can see I must have an archaeological foray into your back book!), and found the Forsa Ring. Astonished to look further and find it is 43cm across!
Hylli and gramr are interesting indeed! Both still exist in Dutch albeit more obscurely. ‘Hulde’ means praise, originally homage; and in Dutch an inauguration is an ‘inhuldiging’. ‘Gram’ is a mostly poetic word meaning ‘wroth’, also occuring in a few obscure compounds: ‘gramschap’ (wrath), ‘grammoedig’ (anger on the mind), ‘gramstorig’ (easily angered).
Fascinating to think that an Icelandic person from so many centuries ago would probably easily understand these words, maybe better than a modern Dutch person.
Thank you for the article.
In the first oath, the name Ásgrím is invoked: could it be this is an Odin reference? I know As/Oss is connected to Ansuz/god, which itself is also tied to Odin, but we have "grim" right after, which we know is another Odinic moniker - could it be read as "Grim-God" aka Odin?
It's the name of one of the (human) witnesses of the oath.
Badass name!
I looked up your previous article which you mentioned (I can see I must have an archaeological foray into your back book!), and found the Forsa Ring. Astonished to look further and find it is 43cm across!
Yes, it's very big; to be to be worn, which the Icelandic rings or bighs were. The ring from Pietroassa is much smaller, with a diameter of 15.3cm (https://archive.org/details/gri_33125015244318/page/358/mode/2up).