Amleth
Amleth (Old Norse: Amlóði; Latinized as Amlethus) is a figure in a medieval Scandinavian legend, the direct inspiration of the character of Prince Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeare's tragedy The Tragedy of 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.[1] Saxo's version is supplemented by Latin and vernacular compilations from a much later date. In all 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 been found; the extant Icelandic versions, known as the Ambales-saga or Amloda-saga, are considerably later than Saxo.[2] Amleth's name is not mentioned in Old-Icelandic regnal lists before Saxo.[3] Only the 15th-century Sagnkrønike from Stockholm may contain some older elements.
Name
[edit]The Old Icelandic form Amlóði is recorded twice in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. According to the section Skaldskaparmal, the expression Amlóða mólu ('Amlóði's quern-stone') is a kenning for the sea, which similarly grinds the skerries to sand.[4][5][6][7] In a poem by the 10th-century skald Snæbjörn the name of the legendary hero Amlóði is intrinsically connected to the word líðmeldr ('ale-flower'), leading to the conclusion that the nine mermaids, who operated the "hand-mill of the sea", "long ago ground the ale-flour of Amlóði".[8] The association with flour milling and beer brewing, the gold carried around, the net used to catch people and the association with the nine female waves place Amleth on a par with the deity Aegir and his wife Rán.
The late 12th-century Amlethus, Amblothæ may easily be latinizations of the Old Norse name. The etymology of the name is unknown, but there are various suggestions.
Icelandic Amlóði is recorded as a term for a fool or simpleton in reference to the simulated madness of the legendary Danish prince.[9] One suggestion[10] 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). The Irish and Scottish word amhlair, which in contemporary vernacular denotes a dull, stupid person, is handed down from the ancient name for a court jester or fool, who entertained the king but also surreptitiously advised him through riddles and antics.
A more recent suggestion 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.[11]
Attention has also been drawn to the similarity of Amleth to the Irish name Amhladh (variously Amhlaidh, Amhlaigh, Amhlaide), itself a Gaelic adaptation of the Norse name Olaf.[12]
In a 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.[13]
Scandinavian legend
[edit]It has frequently been assumed that the Scandinavian legend ultimately goes back to an Old Norse (Old Icelandic) poem of about the 10th century.[9] Nevertheless, no such poem has survived, and the late 12th-century Latin version of the story told by Saxo Grammaticus is the oldest source. There are, however, striking parallels with Gaimar's 12th-century Anglo-Norman Lay of Haveloc and the subsequent English romance of Havelok the Dane. Like the story of Amleth, that of Haveloc is set in Jutland in a more or less maritime context. Both protagonists fake madness. Still, Haveloc has special abilities that we do not find in Amleth, such as a fire coming from his mouth during sleep, an oversized stature, a birth-mark indicating his royal descent and the ability to blow a miraculous horn. Comparable motifs emerge in the romance of Bevis of Hampton. Saxo Grammaticus must also have been inspired by the classical story of Brutus (see below).