Note to Refr Giz 3^III

[1, 2, 3, 4] ramar veigar salar Fals brautar fannar ‘for the powerful drinks of the hall of the Falr <dwarf> of the path of the snow-drift [MOUNTAINS > GIANT = Suttungr > CAVE > POETRY]’: This kenning, though complex, is constructed logically. Poetry is referred to periphrastically as the drink of the cave of the giant, which is an allusion to the Suttungr myth. The giant Suttungr kept the stolen mead of poetry in a cave, from where Óðinn then purloined it (SnE 1998, I, 3-5). It is somewhat problematic, however, that the giant is called ‘the Falr <dwarf> of the mountains’, and Falr is otherwise attested only once as a dwarf-name (see Note to l. 3). Giants are commonly referred to as ‘dwellers of the mountains’, and a great variety of ethnic names, names for gods, trolls etc. serve as base-words in these kennings (Meissner 257-8). In the present stanza, the dwarf-name appears to have been used as the base-word in a giant-kenning, which is uncommon. The kenning’s unusual word order could have been caused by the difficulties posed by the alhent metre (Kuhn 1983, 305-6).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
3. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
4. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.