What is Lavring?
Thoughts about a word in an old lullaby
This article deals with specific words in an old lullaby, a rhyme recorded in Scania, Sweden in the 19th century. The lullaby has also been recorded in Denmark and Norway. The aim of the article is to place the specific lullaby in a historical context and demonstrate how to use a comparative method when analysing mythological phenomena. The author’s thesis is that only a word or two in a simple lullaby has much to say. The word in focus is “lavring” and the author searches for sources and phenomena associated with the word. The traditional melody, which probably was used with the lullaby text, is present as well. This melody, which is common in Nordic lullabies and nursery rhymes, belongs to an old melody layer and has certainly the function as a formula; similar melody structures occur in children’s communicative songs as well as in soccer supporter’s chants and nowadays popular music. The author’s study leads to an algae group containing rare and threatened species that was used as manure in primitive economy. Simultaneously it leads to a Danish writing possibly from the 16th century; a rhyme with roots in a medieval tale from south Germany about the mythological characters King Dietrich von Bern and Dwarf King Lauring. The word lavring is, within the lullaby text, connected by a simple rhyme to a phonetic similar word, “kavring”. Kavring is a dark rye bread, historically important for peasant households in Scania. The author makes a comprehensive analysis that seems to show cross meanings of the two words. That is, the effect of the lullaby text is an implicit pun more or less consciously made. By conclusion it is not certain that the word “lavring”, placed in the lullaby text, has something to do with the algae group, and it is very likely that the word is meant to symbolize the dwarf king. But on the other hand there seems to be some associative connections between an alga and the dwarf king because of superficial similarities.
