Note to Anon Stríðk 1III
[3, 4] hráka Gleipnis tuggu ‘the spittle of Gleipnir’s <magic fetter’s> mouthful [= Fenrir > = Ván <river> (ván ‘hope’)]’: Magnús Ólafsson explains this ofljóst kenning in the prose immediately following the stanza (LaufE 1979, 375) and also alludes to it in a note to a poem he sent to Arngrímur Jónsson (LaufE 1979, 458 n. 4). Gleipnir is the name of a magic fetter with which the gods bound the wolf Fenrir (Gylf, SnE 2005, 27-9). They placed a sword between the captive wolf’s upper and lower jaws, and from his open mouth a stream of saliva ran out: þat er á sú er Ván heitir ‘that is the river called Ván’. As the common noun ván means ‘hope’, the whole kenning is ofljóst for this concept and the main clause of the helmingr is to be understood as sitk ávalt á ván þess, at … ‘I live always in hope of this, that …’. Ván is named in Grí 28/8 among mythic rivers, and listed in Þul Á 1/3.
References
- Bibliography
- LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
- 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, Á 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. 838.
- Not published: do not cite ()