Note to Gestumbl Heiðr 21^VIII (Heiðr 68)

[All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 40): Þat eru bylgjur, er svá heita ‘Those are the billows, that are so called’. The H redaction has the variant (Heiðr 1924, 72): þat eru bylgjur, er heita Ægis meyjar ‘Those are the billows, which are called Ægir’s girls’. This is the first of four riddles with the solution ‘waves’, which draw upon the mythological tradition that the waves can be personified as supernatural women, the nine daughters of the sea-being Ægir (cf. the common noun ægir ‘ocean’) and his wife Rán. The wave-maidens are named in Skm as Himinglæva ‘heaven-bright one’, Dúfa ‘dip’, Blóðughadda ‘bloody-haired one’, Hefring ‘lifting one’, Uðr ‘wave’, Hrǫnn ‘wave’, Bylgja ‘billow’, Bára ‘bore, tidal wave’, Kólga ‘cold one’ (SnE 1998, I, 36); later in Skm Snorri lists the names again, but Bára is replaced by Drǫfn ‘turbid one’ (SnE 1998, I, 95). Cf. Þul Sjóvar 4^III and Note [All], from which the translations here are taken; see also Þul Waves 1^III. This tradition is reflected in both skaldic and eddic poetry; see e.g. Snæbj Lv 1^III, ESk Frag 17^III, SnSt Ht 22^III, HHund I 28-9. The wave-maidens (like their mother, Rán) are always portrayed as hostile figures.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
3. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
4. Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
5. Internal references
6. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 18 April 2024)
7. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sjóvar heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 836.
8. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Fragments 17’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 167.
9. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for waves’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 996. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=2988> (accessed 18 April 2024)
10. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 22’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1128.
11. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Snæbjǫrn, Lausavísur 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. 377.