Note to Þul Skipa 1III
[7] Naglfari: A mythical ship, lit. ‘nail-goer’, also attested as Naglfar in Vsp 50/8 and Gylf (SnE 2005, 36, 50-1). In Gylf (loc. cit.), Nagl- is interpreted as nagl m. ‘nail’ and the ship is said to have been made of dead people’s nails. The first element of the cpd is more likely to have been derived from nagli m. ‘spike’, however, referring to the seam of nails in a ship’s planking (naglar í skipi ‘nails in a ship’ = saumfǫr ‘rivet-row’). Hence, according to Lie (1954), Naglfar(i) was originally a common noun, a ship-heiti of the pars pro toto type similar to saumfǫr ‘rivet-row’ (st. 5/3 below), subsequently reinterpreted as a mythical proper name. Naglfari ‘riveted, decorated with nails or studs’ is also a sword-heiti (Þul Sverða 8/4), as well as the name of Nótt’s husband in Gylf (SnE 2005, 13).
References
- Bibliography
- Lie, Hallvard. 1954. ‘Naglfar og Naglfari’. MM, 152-61. Rpt. in Lie 1982, 332-41.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 20 April 2024)
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804.
- Not published: do not cite ()