Note to Þul Dverga 6III
[7] Eggmóinn: The name is not attested elsewhere. Gould (1929, 944-5) and Motz (1973, 114) believe that it may mean ‘one made soft, weak (i.e. slain) by the sword’ (cf. egg f. ‘sharp edge’ and móinn, p. p. of the verb móask ‘digest’, as well as New Norw. moa ‘soften by pressure, beating, chewing’). The serpent-name móinn (see Þul Orma 4/7) may well be the same word, although it is commonly explained as a derivative from mór m. ‘moor, heath’, hence ‘moor-dweller’. The horse-name móinn is usually connected with mór ‘brown’ (hence, ‘brownish one’; see Þul Hesta 4/1). There are other heiti with the second element ‑móinn in the þulur: gest-Móinn (see Note to Þul Sverða 9/7) and fik-Móinn (Þul Hjálms 1/8). It cannot be excluded that the dwarf-name Eggmóinn may mean ‘edge-brown one’, referring to the dark colour of a corpse.
References
- Bibliography
- Gould, Chester N. 1929. ‘Dwarf-names: A Study in Old Icelandic Religion’. PMLA 44, 938-67.
- Motz, Lotte. 1973. ‘New Thoughts on Dwarf-Names in Old Icelandic’. FS 7, 100-17.
- Internal references
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 9’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 806.
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Orma heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 933.
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 939.
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hjálms 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. 828.