Note to Anon (Vǫlsa) 4^I

[5] þiggi Maurnir ‘may Maurnir receive’: The reading of Flat is ‘maurnir’ here and in st. 5/3, then the word is abbreviated in sts 6-12; in 292ˣ it is ‘Mo᷎rnir’ here and in st. 5/3 but otherwise always ‘Maurnir’. It is usually normalised as mǫrnir or mørnir; however, in Vǫlsa in Flat <au> always stands for the diphthong normalised as <au>, while <ǫ> is written as <o> or <o᷎>. The meaning is disputed. There are two views represented among scholars (cf. Heusler 1903, 35-7): (a) The pl. of mǫrn f. ‘ogress, giantess’. In this context Mǫrnir are understood either as female deities (Skaði or Freyja with her followers, dísir, norns, mahrengleiche Wesen ‘mare-like beings’, i.e. evil female spirits, cf. ‘nightmare’; Unwerth 1910, 176-82; Olrik and Ellekilde 1926-51, I, 167-8; Grönbech 2002, II, 330; F. Ström 1954, 23-31) or else as giantesses (LP (1860): mörn; LP: 2. mǫrn; Steinsland and Vogt 1981, 94-9; Steinsland 1997, 89) with whom a phallic fertility god unites in a sacred marriage (hieros gamos; F. Ström 1954, 28; Steinsland and Vogt 1981, 99-100; Steinsland 1997, 89). (b) Mǫrnir (mss ‘maurnir’, ‘mavrnir’) m. sg. ‘sword’, used here in the sense of ‘phallus’ (for the semantic change from ‘sword’ to ‘phallus’, cf. Grett Lv 32, 33^V (Gr 64, 65); SnE 1848-87, I, 543 n. 21; Almqvist 1965-74, I, 167-8), or simply ‘phallus’, which has been interpreted mostly as a reference to the god Freyr, depicted, according to Adam of Bremen, with a colossal reproductive organ (Johansson 1917, 120-1; Olsen 1917, IIb, 655-9; Turville-Petre 1964, 257-8; Almqvist 1965-74, I, 175; Å. Ström and Biezais 1975, 147; Davidson 1993, 105; Näsström 2002, 153; cf. following Note). The verb þiggi ‘may ... receive’ does not help arbitrate between (a) and (b) because it could be either sg. or pl. As for the relationship between the two phallic deities of Vǫlsa, Völsi and Maurnir, it is mostly their dissimilarity, rarely also their identity, that has been subject to scholarly consideration (Johansson 1917, 121 n. 1; Turville-Petre 1964, 258; Almqvist 1965-74, I, 176; F. Ström 1967, 89; Å. Ström and Biezais 1975, 147; Näsström 2002, 153).

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. 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.
4. LP (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
5. Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
6. 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.
7. Almqvist, Bo. 1965-74. Norrön niddiktning: Traditionshistoriska studier i versmagi. I: Nid mot furstar. II: Nid mot missionärer: Senmedeltid nidtraditioner. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
8. Davidson, H. R. Ellis. 1993. The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe. London and New York: Routledge.
9. Heusler, Andreas. 1903. ‘Die Geschichte vom Völsi, eine altnordische Bekehrungsanekdote’. Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde 13, 24-39. Rpt. in Heusler 1969, 372-87.
10. 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.
11. Näsström, Britt-Mari. 2002. Blot: Tro och offer i det förkristna norden. Stockholm: Norstedts Förlag.
12. Olrik, Axel and Hans Ellekilde, eds. 1926-51. Nordens gudeverden. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Gad.
13. Olsen, Magnus, ed. 1917. Norges indskrifter med de ældre runer. 2 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
14. Steinsland, Gro. 1997. Eros og død i norrøne myter. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
15. 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.
16. Ström, Folke. 1967. Nordisk hedendom: Tro och sed i förkristen tid. 2nd edn. Gothenburg: Akademiförlaget.
17. Unwerth, Wolf von. 1910. ‘Eine isländische Mahrensage (Die Geschichte von der Seehundsfrau)’. Wörter und Sachen 2, 161-82.
18. Grönbech, Wilhelm. 2002. Kultur und Religion der Germanen. 2 vols. 13th edn, with a foreword by Heinrich Beck. Darmstadt: Primus.
19. Internal references
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Vǫlsa þáttr’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=28> (accessed 19 April 2024)
21. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=44> (accessed 19 April 2024)
22. Jonathan Grove (ed.) 2022, ‘Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar 64 (Grettir Ásmundarson, Lausavísur 32)’ 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, p. 783.