Note to KormǪ Sigdr 6^III

[8] Gramr vá til menja ‘Gramr <legendary sword> fought for rings’: Gramr has been subject to three different interpretations. It could be the sword of Sigurðr Fáfnisbani ‘Slayer of Fáfnir’ (Finnur Jónsson 1931, 116), Gramr Hálfdanarson, a king mentioned in Skm (SnE) (SnE 1998, I, 101; Bugge 1889a, 5), of whom nothing else is known, or the noun gramr ‘ruler’ (SnE 1998, II, 293). Because all of the other hjástælt stanzas contain a mythical name in the abutted clause, the sword Gramr seems a more likely candidate than the noun gramr ‘ruler’ or the otherwise unknown King Gramr, whose name was most likely created in a learned attempt to explain the origin of the noun gramr. Although the other stál concern named persons, swords, in various traditions, are characterised almost as living beings with unique identities (cf. Falk 1914b, 43). If Gramr is in fact the sword of the legendary hero Sigurðr Fáfnisbani, with which he killed the dragon Fáfnir and obtained his treasures, links to the rest of the helmingr emerge: the legendary sword Gramr corresponds with the special sword (kind vægja ‘offspring of swords’) which makes the ruler invincible (see Note to ll. 6, 7-8); the theme of seized treasure corresponds with the depiction of the ruler being praised by the kenning fens fúr-Rǫgnir ‘Rǫgnir <= Óðinn> of the fire of the fen [(lit. ‘fire-Rǫgnir of the fen’) GOLD > RULER]’. If the ruler honoured in this stanza is Sigurðr jarl, Sigurðr’s sword represents a further allusion to him (Finnur Jónsson 1931, 116).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Bugge, Sophus. 1889a. ‘Om versene i Kormáks saga’. ÅNOH, 1-88.
3. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
4. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
5. Finnur Jónsson. 1931. ‘Kormákr Ögmundarson’. ÅNOH, 107-206.
6. Internal references
7. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
8. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 27 May 2024)