[8] Geirlǫðnir: The name can be translated as ‘spear-inviting one’, from *geirlǫð f. ‘spear-invitation’ (ÍO: geir-). See Vsp 24/1-4 (NK 6): Fleygði Óðinn | oc í fólc um scaut, | þat var enn fólcvíg | fyrst í heimi ‘Óðinn flung and shot into the troops, that was still the first war in the world’. It is possible, however, that this Óðinn-heiti was derived from the no longer extant name of a valkyrie called Geirlǫð (Falk 1924, 12-13; cf. the f. pers. n. Gunnlǫð). As is the case with certain other Óðinn-names, Geirlǫðnir is also a heiti for ‘hawk’ (Þul Hauks 1/6), which is attested only in the þulur.
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1924. Odensheite. Skrifter utg. av Videnskapsselskapet i Kristiania. II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1924, 10. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
- Internal references
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hauks heiti 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. 941.
- Not published: do not cite ()