PERCEPTION OF TIME IN HUNGRVAKA

Abstract

The paper examines the perception of time in the Old Icelandic ‘chronicle’ Hungrvaka ‘Awakening hunger’ (13th century) in the aspect of the correlation of local and foreign traditions of time counting and time markers. The paper discusses the specifics of usage of natural temporal names (winter and summer, day and night, etc.), indications of the time of power and death of foreign and Icelandic leaders, the role of genealogies and chronology ‘from the Birth of Christ’, as well as that of church holidays. The author comes to the conclusion about the combination in this work of the old local tradition, dating back to oral literary activity, and a new foreign tradition that came from Latin sources along with the introduction of Christianity. It is argued that the temporal characteristic of Hungrvaka is not reducible to a chronical list of years. A significant place is occupied in it by the ‘natural’ (often specific) and ‘genealogical’ perception of time (characteristic of the tribal community, which did not know the state and royal power), which brings this work closer to the family sagas. At the same time, the correlation of the time of power and death of the Icelandic bishops (and also that of the secular leaders of Iceland) with the time of the power and death of foreign leaders, as well as with the chronology ‘from the Birth of Christ’ serves to elevate Icelanders and Iceland in a world-historical perspective.