A bit late, I know, but here's the translation I use, which I did a
while back...
I know that I hung on the wind-swept tree
All of nine nights
Wounded by the spear, given to Ódhinn
self to myself
on that tree for which none knows
the roots of its rising
They gave me no bread, nor drink from the horn;
I looked down
I took up the runes
Screaming I took them
then fell back from there
I'd think influences and concepts could go in either direction -
heathen-christian or christian-heathen or something else. (Dubois
points out, though, that christianity in North Europe was more
resistant to incorporation of previous elements.) Dating of Hávamál
is disputed, and whether this bit is currently seen as early or late
I don't know. But it's powerful stuff.
Jenny
--
Dr J. Blain [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
Programme Leader, MA Social Science Research Methods
Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Development and Society,
Sheffield Hallam University
Collegiate Crescent Campus, Sheffield, UK S10 2BP
0114 225 4413 07919 556371
http://www.sacredsites.org.uk
home address: 18 Lemont Road, Sheffield S17 4HA
0114 262 1342 07919 556371
Sacred Sites, Contested Rites/Rights, Sussex Academic Press June 2007
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