Anon Sól 57^VII

Vindr þagði;        vötn stöðvaði;
        þá heyrða ek grimligan gný;
sínum mönnum        svipvísar konur
        moluðu mold til matar.

Vindr þagði; vötn stöðvaði; þá heyrða ek grimligan gný; svipvísar konur moluðu mold til matar mönnum sínum.

The wind fell silent; the waters stood still; then I heard a terrible din; treacherous women were crushing earth into food for their men.

Mss: 166bˣ(47v), papp15ˣ(5v-6r), 738ˣ(82v), 167b 6ˣ(3r), 214ˣ(151v), 1441ˣ(586), 10575ˣ(8r-v), 2797ˣ(235)

Readings: [1] þagði: þagnaði 10575ˣ    [2] vötn: víti papp15ˣ;    stöðvaði: stöðvaðiz 10575ˣ    [3] heyrða: so papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, heyrði 166bˣ, 2797ˣ    [6] moluðu: ‘moto’ 10575ˣ, mólu 2797ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 636, Skj BI, 644, Skald I, 314; Bugge 1867, 366, Falk 1914, 38, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 18, Fidjestøl 1979, 68, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 88-9, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 63, 135.

Notes: [5] svipvísar konur ‘treacherous women’: Falk (1914, 39-40) argues that these women have been practising magic and that the rýgjar blóði ‘ogress’s blood’ of 59/6 connects these women to the men who must walk on red-hot paths in that st., but there is no clear evidence of what the women’s sin is. — [6] moluðu mold til matar ‘they were crushing earth into food’: Cf. Grott where the giantesses Fenja and Menja are condemned to grind out gold from a magic mill. Njörður Njarðvík (1991, 88-9) notes that earth does not need grinding (though it may need crushing!), and that this is therefore an unending task. A similar punishment appears in the ‘Vision of the Monk of Wenlock’ (Tangl 1916, 13). — [6] moluðu ‘they were crushing’: The reading of the majority of mss, 3rd pers. pret. pl. of mola (weak verb) ‘to crush, break into small pieces’. 2797ˣ has mólu, 3rd pers. pret, pl. of mala (strong verb, class 6) ‘to grind’, and this probable emendation (reportedly first suggested by Jón Olafsson of Grunnavík – so Bugge and Skj A) has been adopted by almost all eds. It reduces the syllable count of the l., even though it still has too many alliterating staves.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Fidjestøl, Bjarne, ed. 1979a. Sólarljóð: Tydning og Tolkningsgrunnlag. Nordisk Instituts skrifteserie 4. Bergen, Oslo and Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget.
5. Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1915a. Sólarljóð: gefin út með skíringum og athugasemdum. Safn til sögu Íslands og íslenzkra bókmenta 5.1. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja Gutenberg.
6. Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1867. Norrœn fornkvæði. Islandsk samling af folkelige oldtidsdigte om nordens guder og heroer. Almindelig kaldet Sæmundar Edda hins frøda. Christiania (Oslo): Malling. Rpt. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget 1965.
7. Tangl, Michael, ed. 1916. S. Bonifatii et Lullii Epistolae. Monumenta Germaniae Historia, Epistolae Selectae 1. Berlin: Weidmann.
8. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
9. Njörður P. Njarðvik, ed. 1991. Sólarljóð. Útgáfa og umfjöllun. Íslensk Rit 10. Reykjavík: Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands og Menningarsjóður.
10. Njörður P. Njarðvik. 1993. Solsången. Akademisk avhandling för filosofiedoktorsexamen i nordiska språk. Göteborgs universitet: Institutionen för svensk språket.
11. Internal references
12. Not published: do not cite ()