Note to Bragi Frag 3^III

[3] of mærum simbli sumbls ‘above the famous drink-provider of the drinking party [= Ægir (ægir ‘ocean’)]’: This presumed kenning presents a major difficulty of interpretation, in that the word simbli, regarded here as the dat. sg. of a m. agent noun *simblir, is a hap. leg. Most eds have assumed that the phrase of mærum simbli sumbls is a giant-kenning of some kind (so LP: simblir), though its referent is unclear (Skj B treats the phrase as incomprehensible). Kock (NN §220 and cf. §160) took the view that Þrívalda is dat., not gen., and that mærum qualifies Þrívalda. He emended ms. simbli to simbla, which he presented as a form of an adv. simla ‘always’ and then understood the phrase to mean ‘always famous for his drinking’. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 386: simblir; cf. Magnús Finnbogason 1952, 345 n.) understands simblir to mean ‘drinker (?)’ (formed from sumbl; see SnE 1998, I, 165). He interprets simblir sumbls as an ofljóst kenning for the giant Þrymr, whose name, as a common noun, means ‘crash, noise’, so ‘thunder’, so ‘you … held back your steeds with notorious giant-feast drinker [= Þrymr (þrymr ‘noise, thunder’)]’. Faulkes notes (SnE 1998, I, 165) that the word sumbl ‘drinking feast, beer’ may suggest a connection with the mead of poetry, although he concedes that Þórr is not normally associated with that. On the other hand, a frequent association of the word sumbl, especially in the Poetic Edda, is with the ale-feast and brewing of ale that the gods compelled the sea-giant Ægir to prepare for them (cf. Hym 1/3, 2/8, Lok prose introduction and 7/5, 8/6, as well as the frame-narrative of Skm). It is therefore possible that the obscure giant-kenning of l. 3 may involve the sea-giant Ægir (simblir sumbls ‘drink-provider of the drinking party’), whose name as a common noun means ‘ocean’. This is the interpretation adopted here. The helmingr as a whole would then indicate that Þórr has successfully driven back to Ásgarðr from some adventure ‘above the ocean’, i.e. travelling in his goat-drawn chariot through the air, as was his wont. Marold (1988, 46-7) understands a reference to Hymir rather than Ægir in the kenning simblir sumbls, which she interprets as ‘giant of the gods’ drink’, understanding simblir ‘giant’ as related to the heiti simull ‘bull’ (Þul Øxna 2/4). She would then see the Fragment as alluding to Þórr’s and Týr’s winning of the gods’ brewing cauldron from the giant Hymir, as narrated in Hym.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
6. Magnús Finnbogason, ed. 1952. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Reykjavík: Kristjánssonar.
7. Marold, Edith. 1988. ‘Wandel und Konstanz in der Darstellung der Figur des Dietrich von Bern’. In Beck 1988b, 149-82.
8. Internal references
9. (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 19 April 2024)
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. Not published: do not cite ()
12. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Øxna heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 885. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3210> (accessed 19 April 2024)