Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

“Kenningar Donati:” An investigation of the classical models in the third icelandic grammatical treatise

  • Published:
International Journal of the Classical Tradition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The second part of the so-calledThird Grammatical Treatise (TGT) written by Snorri's nephew Óláfr pórdarson hvítaskákd, is entitled “The Science of the Ornamentation of Language” and is an adaptation of the last part of theArs maior in which Donatus talks of thepars orationis vitiosa and the figures of speech. Óláfr's work seems to have played an equivalent role in Icelandic culture to that of Bede'sDe schematibus et tropis in Anglo-Saxon culture. In the preface Óláfr discusses the relationship between the native poetic tradition in Old Norse, which had achieved the status of a literary language only a few centuries before, and the Latin language, which was the paradigm par excellence of grammatical and rhetorical structures. Óláfr's adaptation of Donatus's treatise is particularly significant in two cases of calques (acyrologia andamphibolia), one of them connected with the accusative+infinitive, a construction used both in Latin and Old Norse.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

TGT:

Third Grammatical Treatise

CVC:

R. Cleasby, G. Vigfusson, W. Craigie,An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford 1957

ESS:

Edda Snorra Sturlusonar-Edda Snorronis Sturlaei, II. Sumptibus legati Arnamagnæani, Hafniae 1852

|o

  1. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda […] udgivne for samfundet til udgivelse af gammel nordisk literatur af Björn Magnusson Ólsen, København 1884, XXXV–XXXVII. On the relationship between the Latin sources of theTGT (Priscianus and Donatus) see V. Micillo, “Classical Tradition and Norse Tradition in the Third Grammatical Treatise,”Arkiv för nordisk filologi CVIII 1993, 68.

  2. A fragment also exists of two folios, AM 757 b, 4to (w). However, this is a XV century transcription of theWorminus and is therefore of no relevance to the emendation of the text.

  3. Cf. F.D. Raschellà, “Die altisländische grammatische Literatur,”Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen CCXXV 1983, 277–280.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar—Edda Snorronis Sturlaei, Sumptibus legati Arnamagnæani, Hafniae [I: 1848; II: 1852; III: 1887].

  5. Cf. B.M. Ólsen, op. cit. , København 1884, LIXV. København 1884.

  6. Cf. F.D. Raschellà, op. cit. “, 282.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Ólàfr pórdarson,Málhjoϖa- og Málskrúϖsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling udgiven af F. Jónsson, København 1927.

  8. For general information regarding the relationship between classical and Scandinavian literature see the following papers: P. Lehmann, “Skandinaviens Anteil an der lateinischen Literatur und Wissenschaft des Mittelalters” in Idem,Erforschung des Mittelalaters V, Stuttgart 1962, 275–429 (first published in the Sitz.-Ber. der Bayer. Akademie d. Wiss. Philos.-Hist. Abteilung 1936, Heft 2); U. Dronke, “Classical Influence on Early Norse Literature” inClassical Influences on European Culture, A.D. 500–1500, edited by R.R. Bolgar, Cambridge 1971, 143–149; T. Paroli, “Classico e Germanico, due culture a contatto,” inCultura classica e cultura germanica settentrionale, ed. by P. Janni, D. Poli, C. Santini, Roma 1988, 1–52. BesidesKulturhistorisk Leksikon for nordisk middelalder, a basic tool which is particularly useful for those who lack command of the various Scandinavian languages, there isMedieval Scandinavia. An Encyclopedia ed. by P. Pulsiano and K. Wolf, New York/London 1993.

  9. Cf. V. Florescu,La retorica nel suo sviluppo storico, Bologna 1971, 95–113; D. Poli, “Il latino come'la lingua' della tradizione occidentale” inPer il latino, Perugia 1990, 145–157.

  10. Cf. B. Luiselli, “Il mito dell'orgine troiana dei Galli, dei Franchi e degli Scandinavi,”Romanobarbarica III 1978, 89–121.

    Google Scholar 

  11. L. Holtz,Donat et la tradition de l'enseignement grammatical, Paris 1981, 148.

  12. Cf. the edition prepared by B. Löfstedt, inCorpus Christianorum, Cont. med. XLB, Turnhout 1977, 318, Il. 60–65.

  13. Cf. the edition prepared by. L. Holtz, inCorpus Christianorum, Cont. med. XL, Turnhout 1976, 188 sg., Il. 49–59. The analogous aetiological observation in Sedulius scottus' commentary is in op. cit. L. Holtz, inCorpus Christianorum, Cont. med. XL, Turnhout 1976, 318 sg., Il. 66–73.

  14. Cf. F. C. Thurot,Notices et Extraits de divers manuscrits latins pour servir à l'histoire des doctrines grammaticales au moyen âge Paris 1869, 4, 68.

  15. Cf. A. Holtsmark,En islandsk scholasticus fra det 12. århundre, Skrifter utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, Oslo 1936, 57; “Scotuskalte man i middelanlderen en mann fra den gælisk-talende del av de britiscke ϕr […]En rekke av den tidligen middelalders lærde har scotussom tilnavn; mange av dem var grammatikere”.

    Google Scholar 

  16. M. Manitius,Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, I, München 1911, 507 sg.; cf. also A. Holtsmark, op. cit.En islandsk scholasticus fra det 12. århundre, Skrifter utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, Oslo 1936 92 ;

  17. Published among theAnecdota Helvertica edited by H. Hagen [=Grammatici Latini Keil VIII}, 267–274.

  18. F. Albano Leoni,Il primo trattato grammaticale islandese, Bologna 1975, 21. The question of the sources of the First Grammatical Treatise is very complex. Besides Albano Leoni's remarks, see also H. Benediktsson,The First Grammatical Treatise, Reykjavík 1972, 192, who points out that Priscianus' influence was greater than that of Donatus.

  19. SeePví at svá sem sól pars áϖar var myrkt, pá lýsir svá títull bók.

  20. M. Clunies Ross,Skaldskaparmal. Snorri Sturluson's Ars poeticaand Medieval Theories of Language, Odense 1987, 26.

  21. Cf. M. Clunies Ross, op. cit.Skaldskaparmal. Snorri Sturluson's Ars poeticaand Medieval Theories of Language, Odense 1987, 28.

  22. Cf. F. Jónsson, op. cit. , København 1927. 54 and 59.

  23. Instead of the readinggetu, accepted by Ólsen and Jónsson, theWormianus givesgátum, and, therefore, the word was translated inESS as opinati sumus.

  24. Cf. B.M. Ólsen, op. cit. , København 1884, 197.

  25. On the rather common usage of the accusative and infinitive in ancient Icelandic cf. M. Nygaard, “Den lærde stil i den noorøne prosa,” inSproglig-historiske Studier tilegnede Professor C.R. Unger, Kristiania 1896, 167; B. Kahle,Altisländisches Elementarbuch, Heidelberg 1900, 139; S. Gutenbrunner,Historische Laut- und Formenlehre des Altisländischen, Heidelberg 1951, 153;E. Hansen-E. Munal-K. Skadberg,Norrøn grammatikk, Oslo/Bergen/Tromsø 1975, 155–156; R.K. RaskA Grammar of the Icelandic or Old Norse Tongue, Amsterdam 1976, 192; F. Ranke-D. Hofmann,Altnordisches Elementarbuch, Berlin/New York 1979, 70.

  26. Cf. W. Hübner, “Lambo'. Die Wölfin und die Säglinge auf dem Schild des Aeneas,”Museum Helveticum XXVI 1969, 44–48.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Via Madonna di Braccio 1, I-06100, Perugia, Italy

    Carlo Santini

Authors
  1. Carlo Santini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Based on a paper read at the Second Meeting of the International Society for the Classical Tradition, Tübingen, August 13–16, 1992.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Santini, C. “Kenningar Donati:” An investigation of the classical models in the third icelandic grammatical treatise. International Journal of the Classical Tradition 1, 37–44 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02678993

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02678993

Keywords

Search

Navigation