Note to Þul Sverða 2III
[2] Skrýmir: Lit. ‘one large in appearance’. Steinarr Ǫnundarson’s sword in Kormáks saga (Korm ch. 12, ÍF 8, 250-3; cf. Eg ch. 84, ÍF 2, 292). According to Falk (1914b, 59), the name is derived from a verb *skrýma (cf. New Norw. skrymja, ModSwed. skrymma ‘occupy a large space’), while Kahle (1903, 209) assumes that the stem-vowel was short and traces it to skrum n. ‘swaggering talk’ (hence ‘chatterer’). The long stem-vowel is secured by the metre, however. The word does not occur elsewhere as a heiti for ‘sword’, but it is a heiti for ‘giant’ (Þul Jǫtna I 4/3; see Note there) and another name for the giant Útgarðaloki (see SnE 2005, 38-9).
References
- Bibliography
- ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- ÍF 8 = Vatnsdœla saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1939.
- Kahle, Bernhard. 1903. ‘Altwestnordische Namenstudien’. IF 14, 133-224.
- Internal references
- 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 162-389. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=14> (accessed 25 April 2024)
- 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Kormáks saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 1031-1181. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=83> (accessed 25 April 2024)
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jǫtna heiti I 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. 713.