Note to Bragi Frag 5^III

[2, 3] drykkju Fjǫlnis fjalla ‘for the drink of the Fjǫlnir <= Óðinn> of the mountains [GIANT = Suttungr > POETRY]’: The interpretation of this phrase as a poem-kenning follows Kock (NN §221; see also SnE 1998, II, 20, 458), who rejected earlier eds’ emendations of Fjǫlnis to fjǫrnis (< fjǫrnir ‘helmet’) and stillir to stillis and the interpretation of R’s fylli as from fyllr f. ‘fill’ (one’s fill of something), in the sense ‘that which fills a helmet [HEAD]’. So Skj B and LP: 1. fjǫrnir. That emended reading is probably influenced by the statement we find in Eg (ÍF 2, 182) that Bragi once composed a poem for Bjǫrn, king of the Swedes, ok þá þar fyrir hǫfuð sitt ‘and got back his head for that’. Fjǫlnir is a name for Óðinn (Grí 47/5, Reg 18/7, Þul Óðins 2/1 and Note there) and is so understood by Snorri in Gylf (SnE 2005, 8 and 22, quoting Grí 24). Here it seems to form the base-word of a giant-kenning, and presumably refers to Suttungr, the giant who stole the mead of poetry from some dwarfs and immured it in a mountain, Hnitbjǫrg, from where Óðinn obtained it, as Snorri tells in the first part of Skm (SnE 1998, I, 3-5).

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. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 162-389. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=14> (accessed 25 April 2024)
10. (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 25 April 2024)
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 25 April 2024)
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 735.
13. Not published: do not cite ()
14. Not published: do not cite ()