Note to Sigv ErfÓl 16^I

[4, 5] fullstórum Þóri; Hundi ‘the very powerful Þórir; Hundr (“Dog”)’: Þórir hundr (‘Dog’) Þórisson, originally a lendr maðr ‘landed man, district chieftain’ of Óláfr, became a follower of King Knútr, who gave him the Finnferð, the job of travelling to collect tax from the Saami (ÍF 27, 306). While on one of these expeditions, he acquired twelve reindeer skins which were impervious to weapons and soon after led a naval expedition from the north to defend the country from Óláfr, coming from the east (ÍF 27, 345). Þórir is one of two or three attackers accused of having been directly responsible for Óláfr’s death (ÍF 27, 385; Fidjestøl 1987). It is not clear whether fullstórum ‘very powerful’ refers to Þórir’s size or his significance, though the latter is more likely as Snorri calls him ríkastr maðr ‘the most powerful man’ in northern Norway (ÍF 27, 177). Kock (NN §663) accepts that fullstórum could be an adj. referring to Þórir, but notes the possibility that it could rather be an adv. modifying barg ‘saved’, meaning ‘fully’ or ‘strongly’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
4. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1987. ‘Legenda om Tore Hund’. In Hagland et al. 1987, 38-51.