In Norse mythology , Gimlé (alternately Gimli as in Icelandic ) is a place where the worthy survivors of Ragnarök are foretold to live. It is mentioned in the Prose Edda and the Eddic poem " Völuspá " and described as the most beautiful place in Asgard , more beautiful than the sun.
31-715: The etymology of Gimli is likely "the place protected from fire" based on two Old Nordic elements : gimr "fire" and hlé "protected place". In scholar Lee M. Hollander 's view it is more likely it means "gem-roof". Within Asgard , the realm of the gods, Gimlé is a golden-roofed building where righteous people go when they die. In the Prose Edda , Snorri Sturluson places it in Víðbláinn , which he describes as third heaven currently inhabited only by light elves . In "Völuspá", which he quotes in one of his accounts of Gimlé,
62-656: A furniture factory as a family business. Upon the death of Hollander's father in 1886, his mother decided to take Lee and his older brother Charles Samuel to Germany to live with their relatives in Frankfurt , where he attended primary school from 1886 to 1897. Hollander left the Obersekunda of the Realgymnasium at the age of seventeen to return to the United States. Returning to Baltimore, he enrolled at
93-575: A leading institution on Germanic studies . His greatest scholarly passion was Old Norse literature and mythology . Combined with his duties at the University of Texas, Hollander published a number of influential works and translations, including The Poetic Edda (1928) and Old Norse Poems (1936). In his translations, he aimed at recreating the tone of the original in his very personal style and diction. He contended that many works of Old Norse literature had not been adequately translated, because
124-540: A number of continental provenances. In addition to the manuscripts proper, the collection contains about 14000 Icelandic, Norwegian (including Faroese , Shetland and Orcadian ) and Danish charters, both originals and first-hand copies ( apographa ). After being housed since Árni's death at the University of Copenhagen , in the Arnamagnæan Institute , under a 1965 parliamentary ruling the collection
155-694: A part of the University of Iceland . It further provided for the transfer from the Danish Royal Library ( Det kongelige Bibliotek ) of manuscripts belonging to the same categories as the manuscripts relinquished by the Arnamagnæan Institute, and contained a special clause relating to the transfer to Iceland of two manuscripts, the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda and the vellum codex Flateyjarbók , both of which were in
186-600: A recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Falcon . In honor of the 85th birthday of Hollander, Polomé organized an international symposium on Old Norse literature and mythology, whose speakers included Gabriel Turville-Petre , Margaret Arent Madelung , Einar Haugen , Paul Schach , Erik Wahlgren , Winfred P. Lehmann and Polomé himself. A celebrated volume edited by Polomé, Old Norse Literature and Mythology (1969),
217-542: Is now divided between there and the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík , Iceland. When Árni died in 1730 he bequeathed his collection to the University of Copenhagen , whereupon it became part of the University Library. The collection has been augmented over the years through individual purchases and gifts and the acquisition of a number of smaller collections, for example, that of
248-632: The Scandinavian languages and developed a strong interest in Scandinavian literature , particularly the works of Petter Dass . In 1906, Aftenposten printed an article by Hollander on Dass, which was instrumental in ensuring the restoration of Dass' home in Alstahaug Municipality in Norway. While on his Scandinavian journey, Hollander visited many prominent scholars. He listened to Otto Jespersen and Moltke Moe , and attended
279-547: The University of Texas at Austin . He is best known for his research on Old Norse literature . Lee M. Hollander was born in Baltimore , Maryland, on November 8, 1880, the son of Samuel Hollander and Amelia Herstein. The family was Jewish. His parents were both born in Baltimore to German-born parents, and the family maintained strong links to Germany. His grandfather had emigrated from Germany in 1848. Samuel Hollander ran
310-467: The University of Texas at Austin . In subsequent years, the University grew rapidly, and he was appointed Professor. While in Oslo, Hollander had become familiar with the works of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard , and wrote a translation of Kierkegaard's writings upon his return to the United States. These translations were eventually published at the suggestion of Howard Mumford Jones in 1923, and upon
341-606: The "Völuspá" poet or his associates invented the name "Gimlé" with reference to its protecting the blessed from the fires both of Surtr at Ragnarök and of the Christian Hell . Lee M. Hollander Lee Milton Hollander (November 8, 1880 – October 19, 1972) was an American philologist who specialized in Old Norse studies . Hollander was for many years head of the Department of Germanic Languages at
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#1732793714698372-683: The College at Johns Hopkins University , where he obtained a B.A. in 1901 with a major in Germanic Philology , and a minor in English and Comparative Philology . Hollander then gained his Ph.D. in 1905 under the supervision of Henry Wood . His thesis on the prefixal s- in Germanic was subsequently published at the personal encouragement of Hermann Collitz . Hollander made a long trip to Norway, Denmark and Sweden, where he learned
403-534: The Danish Royal Library (and would not have been deemed islandsk kultureje under the terms of the treaty). These were handed over to Iceland in a ceremony held immediately after the ratification of the treaty in 1971. The first consignment of manuscripts was dispatched from Copenhagen to Reykjavík in June 1973 and the last two were handed over in June 1997. Altogether a total of 1,666 manuscripts, and all
434-501: The Danish grammarian Rasmus Rask , bringing the total number of items to around 3000. In 1956 the Arnamagnæan Institute ( Danish : Det Arnamagnæanske Institut , now Den Arnamagnæanske Samling ) was established to care for and further the study of the manuscripts in the collection. Even before its constitutional separation from Denmark in 1944, Iceland had begun to petition for the return of these manuscripts. After much-heated debate,
465-623: The Danish parliament decided in May 1965 that such documents in the Arnamagnæan Collection as might be held to be "Icelandic cultural property" ( islandsk kultureje ) — broadly defined as a work composed or translated by an Icelander and whose content is wholly or chiefly concerned with Iceland — were to be transferred to the newly established Icelandic Manuscript Institute (now the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies , Icelandic : Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum ),
496-572: The Department of Germanic Languages at the University of Texas into one of the leading institutions in its field. Hollander married Jean Wright Fisher (1880-1965) in June 1912. He was a talented violinist , while Jean was a talented pianist , and music played an important role in their daily life. He played the violin in the Austin Symphony Orchestra and the Texas Symphony Orchestra, having contributed to
527-604: The Icelandic charters and apographa , have been transferred to Iceland, slightly over half the collection, in addition to 141 manuscripts from the Danish Royal Library. Of the manuscripts remaining in Copenhagen, about half is Icelandic but are either copies made in Copenhagen, have as their chief concern matters not directly related to Iceland, e.g. the histories of the kings of Norway and Denmark, religious texts or translations from Latin and other languages. The remainder of
558-607: The Icelandic scholar and antiquarian Árni Magnússon (1663–1730) — Arnas Magnæus in Latinised form — who in addition to his duties as Secretary of the Royal Archives and Professor of Danish Antiquities at the University of Copenhagen , spent much of his life building up the collection of manuscripts that now bears his name. The majority of these manuscripts were from Árni's native Iceland, but he also acquired many important Norwegian, Danish and Swedish manuscripts, as well as
589-611: The Jomsvikings (1955), A Bibliography of Skaldic Studies , and Heimskringla (1965). Hollander was in frequent correspondence with other international authorities on Germanic studies, including Otto Höfler , Werner Betz and Walter Baetke . He was an enthusiastic member of the Fortnightly Club at the University of Texas, where university scholars met to discuss their papers. He led the Department of Germanic Languages, Journal Club, which invited scholars from all over
620-467: The United States declared war against Germany in 1917, and Hollander lost his position as an instructor at Wisconsin as a result. However, unlike most of his colleagues, many of whom were bilingual and suspected of double allegiance, he was not fired from Wisconsin altogether. The university librarian wanted someone to compile files of clippings about the war from major newspapers in England, Germany and
651-717: The United States in 1907, Hollander became an instructor of German at the University of Michigan . At this time he also taught Norwegian. Combined with his teaching duties, he published a series of translations in Poet Lore . In 1910, Hollander transferred to the University of Wisconsin , where he again taught German and Norwegian. During this time he carried out substantial research, particularly on Scandinavian literature, and his subsequent articles were published in several publications, including Modern Language Notes , Scandianvian Studies , Arkiv för nordisk filologi , amongst others. Anti-German sentiment became rampant when
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#1732793714698682-559: The United States". Upon reaching the age limit in 1941, Hollander retired from his administrative duties at the University of Texas. Five years later, he had to go on modified service, but was nevertheless as active as ever both as a teacher and as a researcher. He continued teaching and guiding students in Germanic studies, and published numerous influential translations and works on Old Norse studies. Works published by Hollander in these later years include The Skalds (1946), The Saga of
713-504: The United States, and Hollander performed this task although he hated it. During this time, he developed a strong interest in geology . He would eventually teach introductory courses on the subject, and worked up reports on parts of Wisconsin. Throughout the rest of his life Hollander collected rocks, geodes and mineral specimens. In 1920, when American anti-German sentiment had significantly cooled off, Johannes Lassen Boysen hired Hollander as Associate Professor of Germanic Languages at
744-670: The founding of both. Hollander was an accomplished gardener, and was known as a bee-keeper. In politics, Hollander was strongly liberal . He frequently contributed to The Nation , and was a strong supporter of University of Texas President Homer P. Rainey , who was eventually fired from the University due to his liberal views. Hollander was also very active in the University YMCA . Arnamagn%C3%A6an Manuscript Collection The Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection ( Danish : Den Arnamagnæanske Håndskriftsamling , Icelandic : Handritasafn Árna Magnússonar ) derives its name from
775-494: The hall is on Gimlé, presumably a mountain, rather than being itself called Gimlé. Snorri presents Gimlé as a pagan heaven . Scholars including Hollander and Rudolf Simek have seen the description of Gimlé as influenced by the Christian Heavenly Jerusalem . Ursula Dronke suggested that while the concept of a heaven in which "hosts" of the righteous lived together was based on the pagan Valhalla ,
806-426: The reprint of this work by Doubleday in 1960, Hollander was recognized as a pioneer translator of Kierkegaard into the English language . In 1929, Hollander was promoted to Chairman of the Department of Germanic Languages at the University of Texas. In this capacity, he oversaw major growth of his department, while simultaneously carrying out pioneering research. Under his leadership, the University of Texas became
837-564: The seminar of Sophus Bugge on the Edda at the University of Oslo . Through the efforts of outstanding scholars such as Magnus Olsen and Carl Marstrander , Oslo was at the time a pre-eminent center on Germanic philology. Hollander also spent his time liberally at the university libraries of Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen, devoting special time and attention to the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection . Returning to
868-485: The translators were not sufficiently proficient in Old Norse , and that texts had been bowdlerized because the translators found contents morally objectionable. Hollander became an internationally renowned authority on Scandinavian and particularly Old Norse studies . He was recognized as America's leading authority on Skaldic poetry . Edgar C. Polomé referred to Hollander as "the Nestor of Scandinavian studies in
899-835: The world to present their papers. Hollander had been President of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies in 1919, of which he was a founding member, and served as President once again from 1959 to 1960. He was also Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters , the Modern Language Association and the Linguistic Society of America , Honorary Life Member of the Viking Society for Northern Research , and
930-458: Was his final work. He died in Austin on October 19, 1972, and was buried beside his wife at Woods Hole, Massachusetts . Hollander was survived by a son and two daughters. Throughout his career he published more than 16 books and monographs, 22 translations, 88 articles, and 157 reviews. His most important legacies are his research on and translation of Old Norse literature, and the development of
961-483: Was published as a result. When Hollander turned 90, Polomé commemorated the occasion with a lecture entitled "Approaches to Germanic Mythology", and Hollander's former Department produced a festschrift in his honor, which was edited by John Weinstock and published by Pemberton Press . Hollander continued researching and teaching at the University of Texas towards the end of his life. He retired from teaching 1968. Víga-Glúm's Saga and The Story of Ögmund Dytt (1972)