Bragi Þórr 1^III

Þat erumk sent, at snemma
sonr Aldafǫðrs vildi
afls við úri þafðan
jarðar reist of freista.

Þat erumk sent, at {sonr {Aldafǫðrs}} vildi snemma of freista afls við {reist jarðar}, þafðan úri.

It is conveyed to me that {the son {of mankind’s father}} [= Óðinn > = Þórr] soon wanted to try his strength against {the twisted thing of the earth} [= Miðgarðsormr], pounded by water.

Mss: R(21r), Tˣ(21v), W(46), U(26v), B(4r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] sent: sýnt U, snemt B;    at: er U    [2] sonr: son W, B;    Aldafǫðrs: so Tˣ, W, ‘alda fꜹðs’ R, ‘alfavþrs’ U, ‘alldafo᷎durs’ B    [3] afls: álfs B;    úri: inni B;    þafðan: ‘hefðann’ Tˣ, þæfðan W, þaktan U, ‘þe᷎fðan’ B    [4] reist: ‘[…]eist’ U

Editions: Skj AI, 3, Skj BI, 3, Skald I, 2; SnE 1848-87, I, 242-5, II, 305, 520, III, 9, SnE 1931, 91, SnE 1998, I, 11.

Context: The six half-stanzas about Þórr’s fishing expedition are cited in mss of Skm as examples of kennings for Óðinn (st. 1), Þórr (sts 2, 3, 4), ‘poison’ (‘drink of the Vǫlsungar’, st. 5) and ‘wave’ (st. 6), found in R in that order but not as a continuous sequence. Stanza 1 is quoted as one of a number of stanzas that exemplify kennings for Óðinn, in this case Aldafǫðr ‘father of mankind’. It is introduced by the clause Svá kvað Bragi ‘Thus spoke Bragi’.

Notes: [1] þat erumk sent ‘it is conveyed to me’: The introductory formula indicates that this helmingr probably introduced the stanzas on Þórr’s fishing expedition and very plausibly refers to the poet’s being presented with an object, perhaps a shield, on which the myth was depicted. For the form erumk = er mér, see ANG §465.3. The majority of mss read sent, p. p. of senda ‘send, convey’, but U’s reading sýnt ‘shown’ is also plausible, and is preferred by Skj B and Skald. — [2] Aldafǫðrs ‘of mankind’s father [= Óðinn]’: A specific kenning for Óðinn, whose son is Þórr. The correct form of the contracted gen. sg. of fǫðr, m. ‘father’ (beside faðir), is found in Tˣ and W. Ms. U’s Alfǫðrs, ‘All-father’, provides a line that is too short. For a discussion of the name Aldafǫðr, see Note to Þul Óðins 1/4. — [3] þafðan ‘pounded’: The inf. form *þefja, of which þafðr ‘pounded, stirred, beaten’ is the p. p., has not been recorded in Old Icelandic, but must have existed; the p. p. þafðan is recorded in the sense of ‘thickened by stirring’ (of porridge) in Eyrbyggja saga (Eb ch. 39, ÍF 4, 105). Skj B and Skald, basing themselves on W’s and B’s readings, prefer the form þœfðan, which would derive from the more common verb þœfa ‘press/full cloth’. — [4] reist jarðar ‘the twisted thing of the earth [= Miðgarðsormr]’: A kenning for the World Serpent, Miðgarðsormr, who was imagined to lie coiled around the circular earth. It belongs to a kenning-type whose base-word represents the serpent as a thong, rope, girdle or ring (Meissner 114-15). Reistr m. is a hap. leg., lit. ‘twisted, bent thing’; cf. the weak verb reista ‘bend, curve’ and see Marold (1993b, 301 n. 10).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. ÍF 4 = Eyrbyggja saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson and Matthías Þórðarson. 1935.
8. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Marold, Edith. 1993b. ‘Nýgerving und Nykrat’. In Nielsen et al. 1993, 283-302.
11. Internal references
12. Kate Heslop 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Eyrbyggja saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 409-473. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10> (accessed 5 May 2024)
13. (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 5 May 2024)
14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 732.