HEDDA GABLER: A Note on the Characters’ Names

A Note on the Characters’ Names

by Eric Samuelsen

                   

(προέρχεται από εδώ)

TESMAN: “Tes” implies several meanings in Norwegian. First, “tese” means a hypothesis, a tenet, a thesis. Secondly, we refer to someone as “tess” meaning “suitable, useful, good for something.” In any case, Tesman certainly seems an appropriate name for an academic. In Norwegian, by the way, his first name is Jörgen, not George. I followed tradition in making the change.

HEDDA: Hedda is not a common first name for a Norwegian woman, (not then and not nowadays) and although it hasn’t a specific meaning, it’s a most suggestive name. First of all, it’s possible that the General, as was often done by men of his generation, named her after his home town of Heddal. Heddal is in the Telemark region of Norway, an exceptionally wild area close to Ibsen’s home town of Skien. I served my mission in Telemark, and it’s spectacularly beautiful, utterly wild, and more than a little scary. Telemark is the center for much Norwegian myth; Peer Gynt, for example, is a Telemark character. I should point out, however, that Hedda does not speak with a Telemark accent, which is extremely distinctive. There are several other “hedda” words. “Heder” refers to heroism, glory and honor. Someone is “hederlig” if they’re known for their personal integrity. Also, “hedning” suggests itself. A “hedning” is a heathen, a pagan. Finally, there’s “hede,” which means a moor or a heath. Again, a feeling of wildness and freedom is associated with all these words.

GABLER: Means “gables,” as on a house. The only other suggestive possibility is “gale,” which means crazy.

THEA: Thea comes not from Norwegian, but from Greek mythology. Thea was the goddess of the moon; the word also means “shining.”

ELVSTED: Literally “river-place.” An “elv” is a river; a “sted” is a place. It’s probably an estate name. Beginning in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, all Norwegians came to have two last names; their father’s first name with “sen” added, (Samuelsen, for example), and the name of the familial estate. In the nineteenth century, families tended to just take one and use it exclusively, usually choosing quite arbitrarily. The Elvsteds are likely an old established family, living in a mountain river valley.

BRACK: “Brakk” has two meanings: when applied to water, it means “brackish”; when applied to land, it means “fallow.”

LÖVBORG: Löv has two most suggestive meanings. First, in my translation, I Americanized the “o,” which should actually be ö—it’s pronounced like the vowel in “foot,” or “look.” Löv is an archaic word which nowadays is usually changed to “lauf”; it means foliage, greenery. (“Vine leaves in your hair.”) A “borg” is a castle or a fortress. “En feste borg” are the first three words in the Norwegian translation of the hymn “A Mighty Fortress.” So a “löv-borg” is a castle covered with foliage, greenery. Another possibility has to do with the word “löve,” which means lion. “Lion-fortress” is another possibility.

DIANA: Diana is, of course, the Roman goddess of the hunt; Brack refers to the myth.