Of bears and ladies
So, a few months ago I read The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. It is a saga that I recommend, especially for people who are fascinated with the Beowulf story, because it presents a Scandinavian story that involves the same or similar characters. At the time, it inspired me to read more into my edition of Beowulf, specifically all the commentary in the book, and it gave me a realization for the movie Outlander (which I finally did watch). Specifically, the naming of the main female lead, Freya.
While not mentioned with the poetry itself, in the legends of King Hrothgar his children are named, and he does have a daughter -- Freawaru (he also has two sons, Hrethric and Hrothmund which the movie ignored). I guess they didn't want to keep such a long name (most of the other names are one or two syllables), and shortened it to Freya, even though the spelling makes me twitch: it looks like they were trying to associate the name with the goddess Freyja but just looks like crappy spelling, because /y/ is a vowel in Anglo-Saxon, not a consonant. To be a correct palatalized consonant in Anglo-Saxon (or Old Norse for that matter), should have written in Freja, which still isn't right, but at least I would have given you kudos for knowing how Anglo-Saxon or Norse works. But then again, many of the names aren't true to Anglo-Saxon spellings anyways, so I suppose it's a moot point. But at least I now know they weren't just doing things completely willy-nilly -- they have justification for the character of Freya from the actual legend.
Anyway, read Hrólfs saga Kraka. It's fun! Learn about Bödvarr Bjarki and the other champions of Hrólfr Kraki! Learn about the quibblings of the early Danish royal family!
While not mentioned with the poetry itself, in the legends of King Hrothgar his children are named, and he does have a daughter -- Freawaru (he also has two sons, Hrethric and Hrothmund which the movie ignored). I guess they didn't want to keep such a long name (most of the other names are one or two syllables), and shortened it to Freya, even though the spelling makes me twitch: it looks like they were trying to associate the name with the goddess Freyja but just looks like crappy spelling, because /y/ is a vowel in Anglo-Saxon, not a consonant. To be a correct palatalized consonant in Anglo-Saxon (or Old Norse for that matter), should have written in Freja, which still isn't right, but at least I would have given you kudos for knowing how Anglo-Saxon or Norse works. But then again, many of the names aren't true to Anglo-Saxon spellings anyways, so I suppose it's a moot point. But at least I now know they weren't just doing things completely willy-nilly -- they have justification for the character of Freya from the actual legend.
Anyway, read Hrólfs saga Kraka. It's fun! Learn about Bödvarr Bjarki and the other champions of Hrólfr Kraki! Learn about the quibblings of the early Danish royal family!