[1] gaf Tréskegg trollum ‘gave Tréskegg (“Wood-beard”) to the trolls’: One of many instances, in prose and poetry, of this and related idioms (e.g. Anon (Gr) 1V (Gr 2), in which the named victim is Tréfótr ‘Wood-leg’). The sense is usually of killing, or wishing death upon a despised enemy, and the curse troll taki/hafi þik ‘may the trolls take/have you’ is particularly common (see further Note to ÞjóðA Sex 20/6, 7, 8II). The troll (or trǫll) is a monster or a hostile giant, a favourite target of the god Þórr (cf. Vsp 40/8; SnE 2005, 35).
References
- Bibliography
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- Not published: do not cite ()
- Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja 20’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 134-5.
- Jonathan Grove (ed.) 2022, ‘Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar 2 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Grettis saga 1)’ 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, p. 642.