NE SORGA, SNOTOR GUMA!

May 16, 2003 by 5 Comments

Which is to say, Sorrow not, sage! I borrow the alliterative words of the worthy Beowulf to welcome Songdog and Renee to the ranks of the officially sage; congratulations to both of you on well-deserved master’s degrees. You may now be addressed as “snotor guma” on any and all occasions.

Comments

  1. Dorothea Salo says
    May 16, 2003 at 11:20 am

    I gotta say, “snotor guma” sounds vaguely derogatory to me. Something phonaesthetic, or is it just echoes of “snot” and “gum”?

  2. Renee says
    May 16, 2003 at 12:29 pm

    Steve, thanks a lot! But if you keep addressing me as “snotor guma”, even more stupid people will think I am a man 🙂 After all, guma means “man” (same word as in bridegoom > groom). I don’t think I mind…
    I want to cite you a passage from the Edda:
    Hav. 56
    Meðalsnotr
    scyli manna hverr,
    eva til snotr se;
    orlog sín viti
    engi maþr fyrir,
    þeim er sorgalausastr sevi.
    “Middle-wise
    should every man be,
    never should he be wise;
    no one should know
    his doom beforehand;
    those who do, have the most sour* disposition”
    *-sorrowful, of course.

  3. Renee says
    May 16, 2003 at 12:35 pm

    BTW Dorothea, I remember my first Old Norse teacher asked us freshmen what do we think of the name Fafnir. Everybody except me said, “cute and fluffy”.

  4. language hat says
    May 16, 2003 at 1:20 pm

    Renee, thanks a lot for the quote (which I love) and the laugh (which I needed on this gray and sleep-deprived day — I’m sleep-deprived enough I can’t even remember the name of the rhetorical figure I just used — hypallage? zeugma? ah, screw it, I’m tired).
    Dorothea: I must admit that hint of naughtiness appealed to the fourth-grader in me and doubtless accounted for more of the appeal of the phrase than I’ll ever admit to.

  5. Dorothea Salo says
    May 16, 2003 at 10:35 pm

    Renee, I saw a big smokin’ dragon, myself, but I was into myth as a kid.
    Steve, you are a naughty boy.

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