Note to Þul Ásynja 3III
[1-2] Freyja grét ok gulli at Óði ‘Freyja also wept gold for Óðr’: In Gylf (SnE 2005, 29), it is told that Freyja was married to a certain Óðr (cf. mey Óðs ‘Óðr’s girl’ for Freyja in Vsp 25/6 (NK 6); see also SnE 1998, I, 30, as well as ESk Øxfl 1-3, 9 and Anon Bjark 5). Óðr is considered to be an older form of Óðinn, and it supposedly originated from Gmc *wōþu-; cf. ON óðr ‘mind, wit, soul, sense; song, poetry’ and the adj. óðr ‘frantic, furious’ (AEW: Óðinn and Óðr 2; see also ARG II, 87). Snorri tells us that when Óðr went away on long travels, Freyja stayed behind weeping, and her tears were red gold. For this reason skalds should call gold ‘Freyja’s weeping’ (cf. also Skm, SnE 1998, I, 40, 43). According to Snorri (Gylf, SnE 2005, 29), Freyja went in search of Óðr when he was missing. While on her journeys among various peoples she assumed different names, four of which (Mardǫll, Hǫrn, Gefn, Sýr) are mentioned both in the story in SnE and in the present stanza.
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- 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 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- ARG = Vries, Jan de. 1956-7. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. 2 vols. 2nd edn. Berlin: de Gruyter.
- Internal references
- 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].
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Bjarkamál in fornu 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 502.
- (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 19 April 2024)
- (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 19 April 2024)
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Øxarflokkr 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. 141.
- Not published: do not cite ()