[2] blandna eitri ‘mixed with poison’: The reference to this poisonous river is obscure, but it recalls the mythical rivers Élivágar, which according to Vafþr were mixed with poison. Cf. Vafþr 31/1-3 (NK 50): Ór Élivágom | stucco eitrdropar ‘Drops of poison were flung from the Élivágar’. See also Gylf (SnE 2005, 9-10). Jón Helgason (1966a) sees mythical allusions here as well, possibly to Óðinn’s journey to Hel in Bdr or to the river Slíðr described in Vsp 36/1-2 (NK 8): Á fellr austan | um eitrdala ‘A river flows from the east through valleys of poison’. See also Eil Þdr 6/7-8.
References
- Bibliography
- Jón Helgason. 1966a. ‘Verse aus der Laufás-Edda’. In Rudolph et al. 1966, 175-80.
- NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- (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 3 June 2024)
- Not published: do not cite ()
- Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Eilífr Goðrúnarson, Þórsdrápa 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 87.
- Not published: do not cite ()
- Not published: do not cite ()