Note to Þjóð Haustl 15III
[5, 6] hofregin hógreiðar ‘the temple-deity of the comfortable chariot [= Þórr]’: In the hap. leg. cpd hofregin, the second element, m. nom. sg. reginn, is unusually encountered in the n. pl. regin ‘gods, divine powers’, though here, as in its occurrence in Glúmr Gráf 4/6I, it is sg. See also Note to st. 12/6 above. Skj B emends hofregin to hafregin, understanding the cpd to mean ‘raised, lifted deity’, assuming the first element haf- to derive from the verb hefja ‘raise’ (cf. LP: haf-reginn). There is no reason why Þórr could not be called a hofreginn ‘temple-deity’, however; beginning with Adam of Bremen’s account (Schmeidler 1917, 258) of the temple at Uppsala, which places an image of Þórr in the most prominent position, and including close associations recorded in saga literature between Þórr and high-seat pillars, which sometimes had the god’s image carved on them (cf. Clunies Ross 1998b, 142-4), there is good reason to associate Þórr with sacred places.
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.
- 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.
- Schmeidler, Bernhard, ed. 1917. Magistri Adami Bremensis. Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte / Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum 2. 3rd edn. Hannover and Leipzig: Hahn.
- Clunies Ross, Margaret. 1998b. Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society. Volume 2: The Reception of Norse Myths in Medieval Iceland. VC 10. [Odense]: Odense University Press.
- Internal references
- Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Glúmr Geirason, Gráfeldardrápa 4’ 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. 252.