[7] Bívurr: Or Bifurr. The name is also known from Vsp 11/5 and it is attested in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: Bífur). The meaning is not clear – probably ‘trembler, shaker’ from the verb bifast ‘tremble’ (Motz 1973, 113). Gould (1929, 942) connects the name with bifurr m. ‘beaver’, i.e. ‘one who does things with zeal’, whereas according to Gutenbrunner (1955, 63, 68), it may be connected with bif n. ‘ornament on a shield’ (cf. Þjóð Haustl 13/7, 20/7).
References
- Bibliography
- Finnur Jónsson. 1926-8. Ordbog til de af samfund til udg. af gml. nord. litteratur udgivne Rímur samt til de af Dr. O. Jiriczek udgivne Bósarímur. SUGNL 51. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
- Gould, Chester N. 1929. ‘Dwarf-names: A Study in Old Icelandic Religion’. PMLA 44, 938-67.
- Gutenbrunner, Siegfried. 1955a. ‘Eddastudien I. Über die Zwerge in der Völuspa Str. 9-13’. ANF 70, 61-75.
- Motz, Lotte. 1973. ‘New Thoughts on Dwarf-Names in Old Icelandic’. FS 7, 100-17.
- Internal references
- Not published: do not cite ()
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 13’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 451.