Note to Þul Himins I 1III
[15] Vetmímir (m.): This is the name of the eighth heaven. The first element of this heiti, Vet- is obscure. Mss R, A have Vet- as do mss R(37r), Tˣ(38v) of Skm (adopted in SnE 1998, I, 85), while other variants in Skm are ‘vefmimir’ A(14v), ‘vitmimir’ C(6r). (a) Falk (1925b, 38) explains it as a corrupt form of MLat. Pheton for Greek Φαέν, a name for Jupiter. (b) According to de Vries (see AEW: Vetmímir), it is more likely that the correct form is the C variant Vetrmímir ‘winter-Mímir’. The heiti would then refer to the stormy sky during the winter (cf. Hreggmímir, l. 6 above, and vetrímnir ‘winter-fighter’, Þul Himins II l. 4). (c) The first component of the 744ˣ variant ‘vettmimir’ (‘[…]tt[…]ímir’ B) can be normalised as Vétt-, i.e. vétt-, vætt- ‘battle’, which in Old Norse occurs only in poetic compounds. Véttmímir ‘Battle-Mímir’ as a name for ‘heaven’ is, however, difficult to explain.
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1925b. ‘Himmelsfaerene i vår gamle litteratur’. In [n. a.]. 1925. Heidersskrift til Marius Hægstad fraa vener og læresveinar, 15de juli 1925. Oslo: Norli, 34-8.
- Internal references
- (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 15 April 2025)
- Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Himins heiti II’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 916. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3232> (accessed 15 April 2025)