Note to Þjóð Haustl 4III
[3, 4] vin hrafnásar hlaut blása ‘the friend of the raven-god [= Óðinn > = Loki] had to blow [the fire]’: Many eds (e.g. Skj B; Skald) adopt the more common nom. form vinr ‘friend’ over the mss’ vin but this is not necessary as both forms are attested (cf. ANG §§285 Anm. 2, 388 and Anm.). Óðinn is the raven-god, for he possesses two ravens, Huginn ‘Thought’ and Muninn ‘Memory’, who fly around the world every day to bring him information about whatever is going on (cf. Grí 20, SnE 2005, 32-3); the raven-god’s friend is probably Loki here rather than Hœnir (so NN §1016), as there seems to be a contrast with the god referred to in l. 2. Blása ‘blow’ is assumed to refer to the need for the gods to blow on the fire to keep the earth-oven cooking; Kock (NN §1016), however, suggests that it means to get angry, puff with rage, citing Fritzner: blása 2 (cf. ONP: 2blása A. 4 ‘breathe heavily, sigh, blow, snort’) but this interpretation does not give weight to the sense of the verb hlaut ‘had to, was obliged to’.
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.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
- Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
- ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- Not published: do not cite ()