Eil Þdr 1^III

Flugstalla réð felli*
fjǫrnets goða at hvetja
— drjúgr vas Loptr at ljúga —
lǫgseims faðir heiman.
Geðreynir kvað grœnar
Gauts herþrumu brautir
vilgi tryggr til veggjar
viggs Geirrøðar liggja.

{Faðir {lǫgseims}} réð at hvetja {{felli* fjǫrnets} {goða {flugstalla}}} heiman; Loptr vas drjúgr at ljúga. {Vilgi tryggr geðreynir {Gauts {herþrumu}}} kvað grœnar brautir liggja til {viggs veggjar} Geirrøðar.

{The father {of the sea-thread}} [= Miðgarðsormr > = Loki] decided to goad {{the preparer of the life-net} [KILLER] {of the gods {of precipice-altars}}} [MOUNTAINS > GIANTS > = Þórr] to leave home; Loptr <= Loki> was assidious at lying. {The by no means trustworthy mind-tester {of the Gautr <= Óðinn> {of host-thunder}}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR = Þórr > = Loki] said that green paths lay towards {the steed of the wall} [HOUSE] of Geirrøðr <giant>.

Mss: R(24v), Tˣ(25r), W(52) (SnE)

Readings: [1] felli*: fellir all    [2] ‑nets: ‘‑niotz’ R, ‘‑motz’ Tˣ, ‘natz’ W;    hvetja: so Tˣ, W, hverja R    [4] ‑seims: ‘‑sems’ Tˣ    [5] grœnar: so Tˣ, W, greinar R    [6] Gauts: om. W;    ‑þrumu: ‘‑þrumi’ Tˣ    [8] ‑røðar: ‑raðar W;    liggja: ‘lig[…]a’ W

Editions: Skj AI, 148, Skj BI, 139, Skald I, 76, NN §§443, 776, 1916D, 2249, 2756; SnE 1848-87, I, 290-1, III, 24-5, SnE 1931, 107, SnE 1998, I, 25-6.

Context: Stanzas 1-4, 6-21 are cited in Skm (SnE) after a prose account of Þórr’s journey to Geirrøðargarðr ‘court of Geirrøðr’ and his fights with the giant and his daughters.

Notes: [1] flugstalla ‘of precipice-altars [MOUNTAINS]’: According to Fritzner: flug 2, flug means ‘steep mountain-side’ (cf. ModIcel. flug, ModNorw. and Faroese flog ‘steep bluff’) and stallr means ‘altar’ (Fritzner: stallr 1). This kenning is formed according to the pattern ‘place where something is’. ‘Place’ can be replaced by any location; here stallr ‘altar’. Hence flugstallr ‘precipice-altar’ is a kenning for ‘mountain’, the place where precipices are (see also Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 376). Genzmer (1934, 67) weighs various ways to interpret flugstallr and finally opts for ‘the high load-bearer, roof beam’, which he goes on to explain as an ofljóst construction for áss ‘one of the Æsir’ in light of its homonymy with áss ‘beam’. This is not very convincing (cf. also Reichardt 1948, 331). — [1-2] felli* fjǫrnets ‘the preparer of the life-net [KILLER]’: Lit. ‘one who casts his net for the life (of a person)’. Most eds emend fellir m. nom. sg. (so all mss) to felli m. acc. sg.; only Genzmer (1934, 65) retains the nom. fellir (for his interpretation see below). Fjǫrnets has been emended in accordance with most eds, following Konráð Gíslason (see Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 375), as none of the ms. readings makes any sense (‘-niotz’ R, ‘‑motz’ Tˣ or ‘natz’ W). Fjǫrnets has been explained in various ways. This edn follows Björn Magnússon Ólsen (1902, 201-3), who offers the most convincing interpretation. According to him, fjǫrnets must mean ‘the net in which life gets caught’; cf. laxanet ‘salmon net’ and þorskanet ‘cod net’. For fella net Björn Magnússon Ólsen (ibid.) arrives at the meaning ‘prepare the net’ in light of lexical material from Modern Icelandic and Norwegian; the resulting interpretation is ‘the preparer of the net for (the giants’) lives’. Guðmundur Finnbogason (1924, 173) and Davidson (1983, 567) concur. Davidson (ibid.) suggests that this could be an allusion to the myth of Þórr as the fisher who catches Miðgarðsormr. Finnur Jónsson (1900b, 376) interprets fjǫrnet as an image for ‘life’, livet set under bildet af et knytted næt ‘life reflected in the image of a meshed net’; hence fellir fjǫrnets is ‘killer’. Genzmer (1934, 65) points out that life cannot be killed and he adopts Björn Magnússon Ólsen’s interpretation ‘who prepares (casts) the net for the life’. He combines fellir fjǫrnets with goða ‘of the gods’ only, however, and interprets ‘the caster of the net for the lives of the gods’ as a kenning for Loki (Genzmer 1934, 68), which he takes as the subject of the sentence. Kock (NN §443) emends to fjǫrnjóts ‘one who enjoys living (or life) with another’, which he connects with goða flugstalla ‘of the gods of the mountains [GIANTS]’ to form a giant-kenning. However, fjǫr is not attested in the sense ‘living together’ and, moreover, fjǫrnjóts fails to supply the needed aðalhending in this line. Elsewhere, Kock (NN §2249, followed by Reichardt 1948, 332), gives a different and doubtful interpretation, suggesting that the correct word could be fjǫrnnet, meaning ‘earth-net’, supposedly a periphrasis for ‘sea’. He combines this with flugstalla, which results in ‘steep bluff by the sea’. — [1, 2] goða flugstalla ‘of the gods of precipice-altars [MOUNTAINS > GIANTS]’: Genzmer (1934, 65 n.) objects to goða ‘of the gods’ as the base-word of a giant-kenning, but see Meissner 258; see also Reichardt (1948, 331) and NN §2756C. — [3] Loptr: This name, which means ‘one who travels or passes through the air’, appears in the Poetic Edda (Lok 6/3; Hyndl 41/5) and in Þjóð Haustl 8/6; it is one of Loki’s names. — [4] faðir lǫgseims ‘the father of the sea-thread [= Miðgarðsormr > = Loki]’: The Miðgarðsormr-kenning is based on the idea that the serpent encircles the whole world; cf. Meissner 114 for further examples. According to Gylf (SnE 2005, 27), Loki begot Hel, Fenrir and Miðgarðsormr with the giantess Angrboða. — [5, 6] geðreynir Gauts herþrumu ‘mind-tester of the Gautr <= Óðinn> of host-thunder [BATTLE > WARRIOR = Þórr > = Loki]’: The context clearly points to Loki as the referent of the kenning. The kenning Gauts herþrumu is a warrior-kenning consisting of a god’s name as the base-word qualified by a battle-kenning (Reichardt 1948, 332-3), but as a determinant to geðreynir ‘mind-tester’ it must refer either to Þórr or to Óðinn. There are several instances where warrior-kennings are used for Þórr and Þjálfi (see Introduction above). Loki is attested as a confidant of both Óðinn and Þórr. Loki is Þórr’s companion in many of the god’s dealing with the giants, e.g. in the stories about Þórr and the giants Þrymr (Þrymskviða), Hrungnir (Haustlǫng) and Útgarðaloki (Gylf, SnE 2005, 37-43). But Loki is also a companion of Óðinn, e.g. in Haustlǫng. In this stanza, two arguments point to Þórr, namely, the context of the stanza that shows Loki talking to Þórr and trying to persuade him, and, secondly, the problem with interpreting Gauts herþrumu as an Óðinn-kenning since the base-word Gautr is an Óðinn-heiti in its own right. Nevertheless, other eds have proposed that this is an Óðinn-kenning (Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 376; Meissner 254 with reservations) or a proper Þórr-kenning (Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1851, 17; Genzmer 1934, 69; Kiil 1956, 95). A rearrangement of the kenning (Davidson 1983, 568-9) to geðreynir Hergauts þrumu ‘temper-tryer of the War-Gautr of thunder (i.e. of the Óðinn of thunder, i.e. of Þórr)’ is not necessary.

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 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. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
7. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Davidson, Daphne L. 1983. ‘Earl Hákon and his Poets’. D. Phil. thesis. Oxford.
10. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Björn Magnússon Ólsen. 1902. ‘Strøbemærkninger til norske og islandske skjaldedigte’. ANF 18, 195-210.
12. Finnur Jónsson. 1900b. ‘Þórsdrápa Eilífs Goðrúnarsonar’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1900, 369-410.
13. Kiil, Vilhelm. 1956. ‘Eilífr Goðrúnarson’s Þórsdrápa’. ANF 71, 89-167.
14. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1948. ‘Die Thórsdrápa des Eilífr Goðrúnarson: Textinterpretation’. PMLA 63, 329-91.
15. Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 1851. Tvö brot af Haustlaung og Þórsdrápa. Reykjavík: Prentað á kostnað skólasjóðsins.
16. Genzmer, Felix. 1934. ‘Die ersten Gesätze der Thorsdrapa’. In [n. a.]. 1934. Studia Germanica tillägnade Ernst Albin Kock den 6 december 1934. Lund: Gleerup; Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1934, 59-73.
17. Guðmundur Finnbogason. 1924. ‘Um Þórsdrápu. Nokkrar athugasemdir’. Skírnir, 172-81.
18. Internal references
19. 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].
20. (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 7 May 2024)
21. (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 7 May 2024)
22. Not published: do not cite ()
23. Not published: do not cite ()
24. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 443.