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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Þul Óðins 3III

[1] Gapþrosnir: An obscure heiti. Falk (1924, 11) believes that this name describes Óðinn as an enchanter or seiðmaðr ‘sorcerer’ and that its original form was *Gap-þrosknir, in which the second element is derived from the m. noun þroski ‘maturity, manhood’ or from the adj. þroskr ‘vigorous, mature’ (cf. Þrór in st. 8/4 below). According to him, the first element is related to ModIcel. gapi ‘magic sign’; cf. such magic signs as gapaldur ‘magic sign’, angurgapi ‘grief-sign’ (to cause loss of cattle), veðurgapi ‘wind-sign’ (to evoke a storm). However, since gapþrosnir is also mentioned among pejorative terms for ‘man’ in SnE (SnE 1848-87, II, 496; cf. CVC: gap-þrosnir = gapi ‘a rash, reckless man’), Finnur Jónsson (LP: Gapþrosnir) surmises that Óðinn’s name may be the same word, although he admits that the meaning of the second element ‑þrosnir is unclear (perhaps from þrusk n. ‘noise’). Alternatively, ÍO: gapþrosnir connects the second element with ModIcel. þrusa ‘prattle’ or with ON þrasa ‘talk big, make a bold show’ (cf. CVC: þrasa), although it is difficult to explain the vowel in the latter case. As an Óðinn-heiti the word does not occur elsewhere.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
  3. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
  4. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
  5. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
  6. Falk, Hjalmar. 1924. Odensheite. Skrifter utg. av Videnskapsselskapet i Kristiania. II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1924, 10. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
  7. Internal references
  8. 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].

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