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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Bragi Rdr 1III

[3, 4] blað ilja þjófs Þrúðar ‘the leaf of the footsoles of the thief of Þrúðr <goddess> [= Hrungnir > SHIELD]’: Skm’s commentary indicates that ‘the thief of Þrúðr’ (lit. ‘strength’) refers to the giant Hrungnir, who is the god Þórr’s antagonist in a myth narrated in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 20-2), which is also one subject of another shield-poem, Þjóð Haustl sts 14-20 (SnE 1998, I, 22-4). This myth tells how Hrungnir was persuaded to stand on his shield, which was made of stone, because, he was informed, Þórr was going to attack him from underground. Þrúðr is the name of Þórr’s daughter, so it seems that Hrungnir may have abducted her from her father. Although no telling of Hrungnir’s theft of Þrúðr has survived (but see Alv 2 for a possible allusion; Clunies Ross 1994a; Frank 1978, 113-14), the kenning requires us to understand that such a myth existed, which may in one version have motivated Þórr’s and Hrungnir’s single combat.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Frank, Roberta. 1978. Old Norse Court Poetry: The Dróttkvætt Stanza. Islandica 42. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
  3. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  4. Clunies Ross, Margaret. 1994a. ‘Þórr’s Honour’. In Uecker 1994, 48-76.
  5. Internal references
  6. (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 28 March 2024)
  7. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 431. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1438> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  8. Not published: do not cite ()

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