Note to Án Lv 5^VIII (Án 5)

[8] hvaðan er logn úti ‘where does the calm outside come from?’: This question is Án’s answer to Drífa’s query ‘Where do you come from?’ (l. 4). Heusler and Ranisch (Edd. Min. lxxiv) think that it is a nonsense question posed by Án in jest. Finnur Jónsson on the other hand proposed that Án’s question is a riddling and oblique allusion to the name Drífa, which, as a common noun, means ‘snow-storm’, and adduces the cpd logndrífa ‘snowfall in calm weather’ (Fritzner: logndrífa) as evidence for his interpretation (LH II, 145 and n. 4; Skj B). In this case the question hvaðan er logn úti mirrors Drífa’s query: (Drífa) ‘Where do you come from?’; (Án) ‘Where does Drífa (i.e. where do you) come from?’ In the context of the saga the correspondence between the adv. úti ‘outside’ in the prose passage (þat var einn dag, at Án mœtti úti Drífu karlsdóttur ‘It happened one day that Án met Drífa, the daughter of the farmer, outside’) and the adv. úti in the stanza could be an indication that Finnur Jónsson is correct in supposing that the word logn ‘calm’ alludes to Drífa. In this case the appearance of the adv. úti would not merely serve a rhythmical purpose in the line but would be an indication that Án is asking Drífa where she comes from and not posing a question about the origin of a weather phenomenon. The form of the question is reminiscent of several posed by Óðinn in Vafþr, e.g. sts 20/4-6, 22/4-6, 24/4-6, 26/4-6, 36/4-6, 46/4-6.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. 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.
4. LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
5. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
6. Internal references
7. Not published: do not cite ()