Note to Anon (Vǫlsa) 4I
[3] gæddr líni ‘provided with linen’: Gæddr has been interpreted as parallel with the following studdr ‘supported’ in the sense that the phallus acquires a certain strength also through the linen, especially by being wrapped in it (Eitrem 1924, 85; Lehmann 1955, 166; Düwel 1971, 151; cf. F. Ström 1954, 23; F. Ström 1967, 88; Näsström 2002, 148). However, this does not agree with the prose text, which says that Vǫlsi is uncovered by the housewife. It is also clear from st. 11 that Vǫlsi is to be imagined as an aroused naked penis with the foreskin pulled back. Therefore the expression is to be understood rather in the sense of ‘provided, adorned with linen’, where the lín in the stanza corresponds to líndúkr ‘linen cloth’ in the prose text (cf. Heusler 1903, 25; Olsen and Schetelig 1909, 21; Skj B; Olsen 1917, IIb, 653; Johansson 1917, 120; Genzmer 2006, 218; Schröder 1924, 40, n. 1; Olrik and Ellekilde 1926-51, I, 167; Å. Ström and Biezias 1975, 146; Steinsland and Vogt 1981, 94). As for the role of linen in cults, cf. Heizmann (1992, 386-7).
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.
- Ström, Folke. 1954. Diser, nornor, valkyrjor. Fruktbarhetskult och sakralt kungadöme i Norden. Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademiens Handlingar, Filologisk-filosofiska serien 1. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
- Eitrem, Sam. 1924. ‘Lina Laukar’. In Festskrift tilegnet Førstebibliothekar A. Kjær av venner, 26. September 1924. Christiana (Oslo): Cammermeyer, 85-94.
- Heizmann, Wilhelm. 1992. ‘Lein(en) und Lauch in der Inschrift von Fløksand und im Vǫlsa þáttr’. In Beck et al. 1992, 365-95.
- Heusler, Andreas. 1903. ‘Die Geschichte vom Völsi, eine altnordische Bekehrungsanekdote’. Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde 13, 24-39. Rpt. in Heusler 1969, 372-87.
- Johansson, K. F. 1917. Über die altindische Göttin Dhiṣáṇā und Verwandtes. Beiträge zum Fruchtbarkeitskultus in Indien. Skrifter utgifna av Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala 20.1. Uppsala: Akademiska Bokhandeln and Leipzig: Harrassowitz.
- Lehmann, Winfred P. 1955. ‘Lín and Laukr in the Edda’. GR 30, 163-171.
- Näsström, Britt-Mari. 2002. Blot: Tro och offer i det förkristna norden. Stockholm: Norstedts Förlag.
- Olrik, Axel and Hans Ellekilde, eds. 1926-51. Nordens gudeverden. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Gad.
- Olsen, Magnus, ed. 1917. Norges indskrifter med de ældre runer. 2 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
- Olsen, Magnus and Haakon Schetelig. 1909. En indskrift med ældre runer fra Fløksand i Nordhordland. Bergens Museums Aarbog 1909, 7. Bergen: Grieg.
- Schröder, Franz Rolf. 1924. Germanentum und Hellenismus: Untersuchungen zur germanischen Religionsgeschichte. Germanistische Handbibliothek II, 17. Heidelberg: Winter.
- Steinsland, Gro and Kari Vogt. 1981. ‘“Aukinn ertu Uolse ok vpp vm tekinn”. En religionshistorisk analyse av Vǫlsa þáttr i Flateyjarbók’. ANF 96, 87-106.
- Ström, Folke. 1967. Nordisk hedendom: Tro och sed i förkristen tid. 2nd edn. Gothenburg: Akademiförlaget.
- Düwel, Klaus. 1971. Das Opferfest von Lade und die Geschichte vom Völsi: Quellenkritische Untersuchungen zur germanischen Religionsgeschichte. Partly published Göttingen: Habilitationsschrift.
- Genzmer, Felix. 2006. Die Edda: Götterdichtung, Spruchweisheit und Heldengesänge der Germanen. 4th edn. Munich: Hugendubel.