Note to KormǪ Sigdr 7^III

[4] Hroptr fór með Gungni ‘Hroptr <= Óðinn> advanced with Gungnir <spear>’: Gungnir, a spear crafted by dwarfs, is the characteristic weapon of Óðinn (SnE 1998, I, 41-2). One of the god’s names, Dǫrruðr (see Falk 1924, 6-7), also points to the connection between the god and this weapon. Its tip is inscribed with runes (Sigrdr 17/5). Óðinn uses his spear to kill the warriors he has selected to join him in Valhǫll, such as Sigmundr (Vǫls ch. 11, FSGJ I, 136-7). The abutted clause, which is in the pret. tense, must refer to a mythological event, and it was probably some warlike event that Óðinn attended, spear in hand, to initiate hostilities (e.g. as he did in the war between the Æsir and the Vanir; cf. Vsp 24/1). Óðinn’s name Hroptr may have been chosen on purpose (on this name, see Þul Óðins 2/7). In Grí 8/4-6 Óðinn, under the name Hroptr, selects those fallen in battle each day, and Tindr Hák 9/1-2^I speaks of Hroptr receiving the newly fallen (for a different interpretation see Note there). The stælt clause could thus allude to the notion of Óðinn, the menacing god of the dead, attending battles with his spear, something from which the poet implicitly asks his ruler to protect him. Here we find the same phenomenon as in st. 6, where the mythological reference in the stál provides an antithesis to the topic of the rest of the helmingr. The opposition in st. 6 is one of generosity and unwillingness, while in st. 7 it is protection as opposed to threat.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
3. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
4. Falk, Hjalmar. 1924. Odensheite. Skrifter utg. av Videnskapsselskapet i Kristiania. II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1924, 10. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
5. Vǫls = Vǫlsunga saga.
6. Internal references
7. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 735.
8. Not published: do not cite ()
9. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Hákonarmál 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. 184.
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. Not published: do not cite ()