Note to Snæbj Lv 1^III

[4] eylúðrs ‘of the island-mill-box [SEA = Ægir]’: Krause (1969, 88) translates eylúðr as Inselkasten ‘island-bin’ and compares it to sea-kennings such as eygarðr ‘island-enclosure [SEA]’ in Hharð Gamv 6/6^II (see also Meissner 94-5). The meaning of lúðr is uncertain, however. According to Fritzner: lúðr, the word refers to a Stok, som tjener til Underlag for Kværn, hvorpaa den underste Møllesten hviler, Møllebænk ‘a trunk on which the bottom millstone rests, which serves as a platform for a grinding mill, mill-bench’. LP translates lúðr as kværnkasse (af firkantet form, hvori de runde kværnstene ligger, og som står på 4 ben, söjler) ‘mill-box (square in shape, containing the round millstones, resting on four legs, columns)’. If we take lúðr here as pars pro toto for ‘mill’, it yields a sea-kenning of the same pattern as Grotti skerja ‘Grotti <hand-mill> of the skerries’ (Meissner 1927, 4; Tolley 1994-7, 70). Bugge (1886, 336) calls attention to a similar expression, eymylvir ‘island-grinder’, in ÞSjár Frag 4/4. Eylúðr is otherwise attested once as a name for Óðinn (see Þul Óðins 7/1 and Note there).

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. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
4. Krause, Arnulf. 1969. ‘Die Hamletstrophe Snæbjǫrns’. In Gellinek 1969, 87-97.
5. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
6. Bugge, Sophus. 1886. ‘Bemærkninger til norröne digte V. En Þórðr Sjáreksson tillagt halvstrophe’. ANF 3, 335-8.
7. Meissner, Rudolf. 1927. ‘Der Name Hamlet’. IF 45, 370-94.
8. Tolley, Clive. 1994-7. ‘The Mill in Norse and Finnish Mythology’. SBVS 24, 63-82.
9. Internal references
10. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 748.
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Gamanvísur 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 41.
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Fragments 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. 480.