Note to Eil Þdr 19III
[6] þrjóti jótrs vegtaugar ‘of the defier of the molar of the way of the fishing-line [SEA > STONE > GIANT]’: Þrjótr denotes a rebellious or defiant opponent; cf. þrjótr urðar ‘lout of the stones’ (st. 6/7 above). The determinant of the giant-kenning here is also ‘stone’ – the kenning ‘molar of the sea’. Teeth and bones are often used as base-words of stone-kennings determined by words for ‘earth’ or ‘sea’ (Meissner 89-90). ‘Sea’ in this kenning is paraphrased in yet another kenning, ‘way of the fishing-line’. It is necessary to reorder the elements of the stone-kenning jótrs vegtaugar (lit. ‘the molar of the way-fishing-line’) to taugar vegjótrs ‘the molar of the way of the fishing-line’ (Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 398; Skj B; LP: vegtaug; Reichardt 1948, 385; as a gen. construction jótr veg(s) taugar in NN §2008).
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- 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.
- 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.
- Finnur Jónsson. 1900b. ‘Þórsdrápa Eilífs Goðrúnarsonar’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1900, 369-410.
- Reichardt, Konstantin. 1948. ‘Die Thórsdrápa des Eilífr Goðrúnarson: Textinterpretation’. PMLA 63, 329-91.