- 1. The Arkenstone (of Thrain) —
- In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit this was a "..great white gem, which the dwarves had found beneath the roots of the Mountain, the Heart of the Mountain."
It was the hereditary jewel of the Oakenshield clan. Wrested by Smaug the dragon but recovered thanks to the good work of Bilbo Baggins.
The dwarfs had cut the stone
to such brilliance that, to borrow Thorin Oakenshield's words, it was"like a globe with a thousand facets; it shone like silver in the firelight, like water in the sun, like snow under the stars, like rain upon the Moon!"
Tolkien's coinage "arkenstone," can conveniently be used to translate the corresponding word in the Anglosaxon and Norse vocabulary (described below),
from which Tolkien derived his word.
*1 Also refer to The Encyclopedia of Arda: Arkenstone.
- 2. The eorclanstánas "precious stones" (of Hygelac) —
- Precious stones of a certain type (eorclanstánas (pl.) [AS] Beowulf, Fitt 18; l. 1209) attached to the ornament (frætwe, 1209) worn by Hygelac, king of the Geats, on his doomed campaign to Frisia;
which ornament was more specifically a bee (béah 1213) that fell into the hands of the Frisians.
It was the selfsame "throat-bee" (healsbéag 1197) or ring (hring 1204) which was the Danish queen Wealhtheow's gift to the Geatish hero Beowulf, in gratitude for delivering the Danes from the terror of the Grendel-kin. So marvelous that only the ⇒ Brósinga necklace of yore was worthy of comparison. (see ⇒«Wealhtheow's bee» to trace its fate more precisely)
The Beowulf spelling is evidently a corruption of the form eorcnanstán, occurring in several Anglo-Saxon works*2. In Cynewulf's poem Elene(tr. Charles W. Kennedy)
about St. Helen*3, the mother of Constantine, the empress-mother locates the true cross (or the Rood, AS rode) and orders that it be adorned with gold and gems, the noblest arkenstones.
§ Identifying the arkenstone
Such usage gives hint that an "arkenstone" must be a certain class of stones (white holy stone?) as distinct from a generic "gem" (AS gim). Bosworth suggests it is either a ⇒pearl*4,*5 (L. margarita) or ⇒ topaz (a medieval yellow gem).
Grimm proposes a type of milky-white regal opal known as ⇒Waise (MHG weise).
Etymological explanations diverge as well. Grimm pointed out a connection to Old Saxon erkan, OHG erchan "genuine", "superior" making the word perhaps traceable to Indo-European root *arg (to be "white" or "bright"). Jan de Vries' dictionary (citing Bouterwek and also Sievers) argues for the Chaldean word jarkān "yellowish gem" as probable source.
One more thing needs to be addressed. Did the ring that Hygelac wore have a single large centerpiece-gem? Grimm seems very much to think so when he suggests that the arkenstone might be a Waise or an "orphan-stone", i.e., a stone that is peerless and unequaled.
*2 For instance, in three Christian works in the Exeter Book (Codex Exoniensis).
- Christ III l. 1196 — Christ himself is allegorized as the earcnanstan.
- The Phoenix l .603 — the apocalypse cometh and incinerates all, yet Christ will appear whole again out of the fire as does the phoenix, and the faithful will find themselves wearing a halo described as
a "bright ring" beorhta beag braided "with arkenstones" .
- The Ruin l. 36. — A ruin of yore, but in its heydey, it witnessed men in splendid panoply gazing upon curious gems, chattel and prizes, and arkenstones.
*3
Geoffrey of Monmouth considered Helen to be of British origin, but she was in fact from Bithynia.
*4
In the The Phoenix (above), the halo is made of arkenstones, while in the Middle-English Pearl, Section IV, the spirit of the toddler girl wears a crown decorated
with pearls (ME mariorys).
The Pearl maiden's garment was studded with numerous pearls and a singular magnificent pearl on her breast.
Also recall the twelve "pearly gates" (Revelation 21:21 πυλῶνες μαργαρῖτου [Gk.] portae margaritis [Vulgate]), each gate made entirely of a single pearl!
*5
Not that the Brosinga mene was made of the same stuff as Hygelac's ornament with the arkenstones, since nowhere does it say so, but
as for the Brósinga necklace to which it is compared, it is worth noting that the in Norse literature ⇒Brisingamen is nicknamed "fair sea-kidney" and this expression
is glossed as "pearl" in the Cleasby-Vigfusson dictionary.
However, amber, which is found in the Baltic sea is in my opinion more plausible explanation for Freyja's jewel, since according to Snorri
the neckace is a periphrase for "gold".
- 3. jarknasteinn, iarknasteinn
translations: "precious stone(s)" [Thorpe tr.], "flashing stone(s)" [Bellows tr.]
- In Norse heroic legend. The word is only found in three Eddic poems and conspicuosly absent from the sagas, leading to the supposition the word is
isolated cases of a borrowed word from the Anglo-Saxon, perhaps even by a single eddic poet.
- Guðrunarkviða in þriða — In the third Gudrun lay , A white holy stone which can apparently discern truth from falsehood.
In this lay, Atli has a serfmaid and former concubine named
Herkja who accuses Guðrún of an adulterous affair with Þjóðrek.
"She whisked out [her hand] to the bottom, her bright-flashing palm, and up she took the arkenstone [Brá hon til botns /björtum lófa ok hon upp of tók /jarknasteina: ]" (Gd. III, stanza 9)
- Guðrunarkviða in fyrsta—Guðrún invokes the "arkenstone" as metaphor to say Sigurðr outshone all of Gjúka's sons (her brother Gunnar and others)
- Völundarkviða—In this grisly
tale, Volund the smith fashions arkenstones out of the eyes of the young princes he secretly killed and sends them to king Níðuðr(Nidud).
But neither eyeballs nor arkenstones figure in the Velent(=Volund) chapters of Thidreks saga, which gives a somewhat different list of gruesome gifts
to the bereaved parents.
Though in the ThS, we have an earlier episode where Velent delivers the ⇒sigrsteinn
"stone of victory" to King Niðungr(=Nidud).
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[item:jewel] [J.R.R.Tolkien]/[Beowulf]/[Norse]
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