Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

To understand this strophe correctly, we must know that the skald in the
preceding 19th, as in the succeeding 21st, strophe, speaks of Gunnar's fate in the lower
world. 8 The word námæli occurs nowhere else, and its meaning is not known. It is of
importance to our subject to find it out.
In those compounds of which the first part is ná-, ná may be the abverbial prefix,
which means near by, by the side of, or it may be the substantive nár, which means a
corpse, dead body, and in a mythical sense one damned, one who dies for the second time
and comes to Niflhel (see No. 60). The question is now, to begin with, whether it is the
adverbial prefix or the substantive ná- which we have in námæli.
Compounds which have the adverbial ná as the first part of the word are very
common. In all of them, the prefix ná- implies nearness in space or in kinship, or it has
the signification of something correct or exact.
(1) In regard to space: nábúð, nábúi, nábýli, nágranna, nágranni, nágrennd,
nágrenni, nákominn, nákvæma, nákvæmd, nákvæmr, náleið, nálægð, nálægjast, nálægr,
námunda, násessi, náseta, násettr, násæti, návera, náverukona, náverandi, návist,
návistarkona, návistarmaðr, návistarvitni.
(2) In regard to friendship: náborinn, náfrændi, náfrændkona, námágr, náskyldr,
nástædr, náungr.
(3) In regard to correctness, exactness: nákvæmi, nákvæmlega, nákvæmr.
The idea of correctness comes from the combination of ná- and kvæmi, kvæmlega,
kvæmr. The exact meaning is - that which comes near to, and which in that sense is
precise, exact, to the point.
These three cases exhaust the meanings of the adverbial prefix ná-. I should
consider it perilous, and as the abandoning of solid ground underfoot, if we, without
evidence from the language, tried, as has been done, to give it another previously
unknown signification.
But none of these meanings can be applied to námæli. In analogy with the words
under (1) it can indeed mean "An oration held near by"; but this signification produces no
sense in the above passage, the only place where it is found. 9
In another group of words the prefix ná- is the noun nár. Here belong nábjargir,
nábleikr, nágrindur, nágöll, náreið, nástrandir, and other words.
Mæli means a declamation, an oration, an utterance, a reading, or the
proclamation of a law. Mæla, mælandi, formælandi, formæli, nýmæli, are used in legal
language. Formælandi is a defendant in court. Formæli is his speech or plea. Nýmæli is a
law read or published for the first time.
8 In modern editions, the word námæli is emended to vámæli and the passage taken to mean "whom I knew
to be blameless and forbearing from wicked speech" (Gudbrand Vigfusson translation, Corpus Poeticum
Boreale, pg. 280)
9 Rydberg's definition makes the most sense logically. However, in Icelandic, the words "ná" and its
relatives "nær, nærri" through the meaning of closeness, also carry the connotation "intimate, personal", as
in "náinn vinur", "close friend, intimate friend." Thus námæli could mean "a judgement that effects one
closely" although in the context of the sentence, it would still refer to a judgement after death.