Note to Eil Þdr 8^III

[5-8]: There are two ways to interpret these lines. (a) Þverrir barna Þorns lét megin vaxa sér til svíra salþaks, nema snerriblóð Mǫrnar þyrri ‘The diminisher of the children of Þorn <giant> [GIANTS > = Þórr] said that his strength would grow to the neck of the roof of the earth [SKY] unless the rushing blood of Mǫrn <female mythical being> [RIVER] receded’. The advantages of this interpretation, which is adopted in the present edn, are that it is largely faithful to the word order of the stanza and contains no metrical violations. The river-kenning snerriblóð Mǫrnar, however, still presents a problem (see Note below). (b) Þverrir barna Mǫrnar lét megin vaxa sér til salþaks, nema snerriblóð Þorns svíra þyrri ‘the diminisher of the children of Mǫrn <female mythical being> [GIANTS > = Þórr] said that his strength would grow to the roof of the earth [SKY] unless the rushing blood of the neck of Þorn <giant> [RIVER] receded’ (so Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 385; Skj B). The indubitable advantage of the latter interpretation is that the river-kenning snerriblóð Þorns matches the widespread kenning pattern ‘blood of the giant’. However, there are two reasons to discard it. First of all, svíra ‘of the neck’ is not a necessary part of the river-kenning and placing it in that kenning forces a three-part l. 7, isolating the prep. til. Further, the way l. 6 is split up violates the metre, which requires the sentence boundary to fall before Mǫrnar.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Finnur Jónsson. 1900b. ‘Þórsdrápa Eilífs Goðrúnarsonar’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1900, 369-410.