Note to Þul Óðins 1III
[8] Hnikuðr: Perhaps ‘one who incites to battle’ (Turville-Petre 1964, 51), an agent noun from the weak verb hnika ‘push, upset the balance’ (in Old Norse attested only in poetry; see Note to Arn Hryn 2/2II). Óðinn is then described as a war-god, but the name might hint at his habit of not participating in battles himself but rather inciting others to fight (Falk 1924, 18). See also the variant Hnikarr (st. 2/6 and Note there); both names appear in Grí 47/3, 48/2 and in the lists of Óðinn-names in Gylf (SnE, 2005, 8, 21-2). According to Gylf (SnE 2005, 8), Nikuz eða Hnikuðr ‘Nikuz or Hnikuðr’ as well as Nikarr eða Hnikarr ‘Nikarr or Hnikarr’ are among the twelve names that the highest god (i.e. Óðinn) had í Ásgarði inum forna ‘in the old Ásgarðr’.
References
- Bibliography
- Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1924. Odensheite. Skrifter utg. av Videnskapsselskapet i Kristiania. II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1924, 10. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
- 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].
- (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 16 April 2024)
- Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 2’ 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. 184-5.
- Not published: do not cite ()