[5] gríma (f.) ‘mask’: A poetic term for ‘night’. In Alv 30/3 (NK 128), gríma is the name for ‘night’ among the gods (ginregin). This metaphorical sense must have been derived from the meaning of the word in the common language, ‘mask’ (i.e. a kind of hood or cowl covering the upper part of the face); hence the night is characterised as mysterious and concealing. The word is also recorded as a heiti for ‘troll-woman’ and ‘helmet’ (Þul Trollkvenna 1/6, Þul Hjálms 2/3; cf. also Óðinn’s names Grímnir and Grímr, Þul Óðins 1/7, 3/1).
References
- Bibliography
- NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
- Internal references
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna 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. 724.
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 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. 732.
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hjálms heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 830.
- Not published: do not cite ()