Note to Þul Óðins 2^III

[4] Farmatýr: Lit. ‘god of cargoes’ (farma is gen. pl. of farmr m. ‘cargo’). In this form the name is also attested in Grí 48/4, but cf. the variant Farmaguð recorded only in Gylf (SnE 2005, 21). Falk (1924, 7-8) suggests that the name refers to Óðinn as a god of trade, although there are no other traces of this function of the god in Old Norse written sources. A number of votive inscriptions dating from the C2nd and C3rd containing the name Mercurius have been found in Western and Lower Germany, and the Lombard historian Paulus Diaconus (C8th) identified Wotan as Mercury (see Turville-Petre 1964, 72-3). It is doubtful, however, whether this evidence is relevant for interpreting a name attested much later and in a distant part of the Germanic world. It seems more plausible that Farmatýr originated from one or even both of the myths behind such kennings as farmr Óðins ‘Óðinn’s burden [MEAD OF POETRY]’ and farmr gálga ‘burden of gallows [= Óðinn]’ (see LP: farmr). For the last element of the cpd, ‑týr, see Note to Eyv Hál 9/5^I and Eyv Hák 1/2^I.

References

1. Bibliography
2. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
3. Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
4. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
5. Falk, Hjalmar. 1924. Odensheite. Skrifter utg. av Videnskapsselskapet i Kristiania. II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1924, 10. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
6. Internal references
7. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 5 May 2024)
8. Not published: do not cite ()
9. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Háleygjatal 9’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 207.
10. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Hákonarmál 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 174.
11. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Óðins nǫfn’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 731. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3228> (accessed 5 May 2024)