|
Amleth (Latinized ''Amlethus'', Old Icelandic ''Amlóði'') is a figure in a medieval Scandinavian legend, the direct predecessor of the character of Prince Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet, Prince of Denmark''. The chief authority for the legend of Amleth is Saxo Grammaticus, who devotes to it parts of the third and fourth books of his ''Gesta Danorum'', completed at the beginning of the 13th century. Saxo's version is similar to the one given in the 12th-century ''Chronicon Lethrense''. In both versions, prince Amleth (''Amblothæ'') is the son of Horvendill (''Orwendel''), king of the Jutes. It has often been assumed that the story is ultimately derived from an Old Icelandic poem, but no such poem has survived; the extant Icelandic versions, known as the ''Ambales-saga'', or ''Amloda-saga'' are considerably later than Saxo.〔Israel Gollancz, ''(Hamlet in Iceland : being the Icelandic romantic Ambales saga )'', (1898).〕 ==Name== The Old Icelandic form ''Amlóði'' is recorded once in the Prose Edda. The 12th-century ''Amlethus'', ''Amblothæ'' may easily be latinizations of the Old Norse name. The etymology of the name is unknown, and there are various suggestions. Icelandic ''Amlóði'' is recorded as a term for a fool or simpleton in reference to the character of the early modern Icelandic romance or folk tale.〔 Henry Harrison, ''Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary'' vol. 1 (1912), (p. 184 ).〕 One suggestion〔Ferdinand Holthausen, ''Vergleichendes und Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altwestnordischen'', 1948〕 is based on the "fool" or "trickster" interpretation of the name, composing the name from Old Norse ''ama'' "to vex, annoy, molest" and ''óðr'' "fierceness, madness" (also in the theonym ''Odin''). A more recent suggestion〔Lisa Fraser, ''A new etymology for Hamlet? The names Admlithi, Amlethus, and Amlóði'' (2009)〕 is based on the Eddaic kenning associating ''Amlóði'' with the mythological mill ''grótti'', and derives it from the Old Irish name ''Admlithi'' "great-grinding", attested in ''Togail Bruidne Dá Derga''. ''Amlóða kvren'' ("Amlodi's quern" or "Hamlet's mill") is a kenning for the sea in the ''Skáldskaparmál'' section of the ''Prose Edda'', attributed to a skald named Snæbjörn.〔 I. Gollancz, ''Hamlet in Iceland'', London, Northern Library, vol. 3., 1898, p. xi. "Tis said, sang Snaebjorn, that far out, off yonder ness, the Nine Maids of the Island Mill stir amain the host-cruel skerry-quern—they who in ages past ground Hamlet's meal. The good chieftain furrows the hull's lair with his ship's beaked prow. Here the sea is called Amlodhi's Mill." (''Sem Snæbjörn kvað: Hvatt kveða hræra Grótta hergrimmastan skerja út fyrir jarðar skauti eylúðrs níu brúðir, þær er, lungs, fyrir löngu, líðmeldr, skipa hlíðar baugskerðir rístr barði ból, Amlóða mólu. Hér er kallat hafit Amlóða kvern.'' () ed. Guðni Jónsson (1935), section 33. ''Sjávarkenningar'' (sea-kennings), no. 94.〕 Attention has also been drawn to the similarity of ''Amleth'' to the Irish name ''Amhlaoibh'' (variously ''Amhladh, Amhlaidh, Amhlaigh, Amhlaide''), itself an adaptation of the Norse name ''Olaf''.〔. In a stanza from the Irish ''Annals of the Four Masters'', compiled in the 1600s, the Irish Queen Gormflaith laments the death of her husband, Niall Glundubh, at the hands of one ''Amhlaide'' at the battle of Ath-Cliath (919). The identity of the killer of Niall Glundubh is otherwise recorded as Sigtrygg Caech, the father of that Olaf Cuaran (i.e. ''Anlaf'', gaelicized ''Amhlaide'') who was the prototype of the English Havelok.〕 In controversial suggestion going back to 1937, the sequence ''æmluþ'' contained in the 8th-century Old Frisian runic inscription on the Westeremden yew-stick has been interpreted as a reference to "Amleth". Contemporary runic research does not support this conclusion.〔 N. Kapteyn, 'Zwei Runeninschriften aus der Terp von Westeremden', ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur'' 57 (1937), 160-226. H. Arntz, ''Handbuch der Runenkunde'' 2nd ed. 1944 ("Gegen das hohe Land stellte sich Hamlet. Vor seinen Eiben hat das Unwetter sich ducken müssen. Vor diesem Eibenstäbchen ducke sich die Flut"). "Eibe" in ''Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde'', Volume 6 (1973), p. 527. ''ophamu gistadda amluþ : iwim ost ah þukn iwi os ust dukale'' "Auf (bez. gegen) Opheim nahm Stellung (nahm den kampf auf, constitit) Amluþ. Vor (seinen) eiben hat sich die brandung geduckt. Vor (dieser) eibe ducke sich die brandung"'; Arend Quak, . 1990. 'Runica Frisica', in: R.H. Bremmer et al. (eds.), ''Aspects of Old Frisian Philology. Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik'', 31/32, 365. 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Amleth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|