Runes on the Horn, Leeks in the Ale

Literacy and its Consequences in Early Germanic Drinking Conventions

Abstract

This article looks at instructions on detoxifying proffered drinks of ale that are part of the medieval Old Norse-Icelandic poem called Sigrdrífumál (The Lay of Sigrdrífa) from the collection known as The Poetic Edda, the valkyrie (‘chooser of the slain’). Sigrdrífa, whose name means ‘victory-driver’, instructs the future hero Sigurðr about the various kinds of runes that will prove helpful in his future vocation as hero and dragon-slayer. She begins by offering him luck-bringing ale where he is recommended to inscribe a fingernail with the nauðr rune. This recommendation has prompted scholarly speculation on both female sexual desire and the need to counter it in some symbolic fashion.