Anon Sól 79^VII

Hér eru þær rúnir,        sem ristit hafa
        Njarðar dætr níu,
Böðveig in elzta        ok Kreppvör in yngsta
        ok þeira systr sjau.

Hér eru þær rúnir sem níu dætr Njarðar hafa ristit, Böðveig in elzta ok Kreppvör in yngsta ok sjau systr þeira.

Here are the runes which the nine daughters of Njǫrðr have carved, Böðveig the eldest and Kreppvör the youngest and their seven sisters.

Mss: 166bˣ(48v), papp15ˣ(7v), 738ˣ(83v), 167b 6ˣ(4v), 214ˣ(152r), 1441ˣ(587), 10575ˣ(11r), 2797ˣ(237-238)

Readings: [1] Hér: Þetti 10575ˣ;    þær: om. papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ    [2] sem: er 214ˣ, 2797ˣ;    hafa: hafar 214ˣ    [3] Njarðar: ‘nirdar’ 167b 6ˣ    [4] Böðveig: so 10575ˣ, ‘Baðveing’ 166bˣ, Baugveig papp15ˣ, 1441ˣ, ‘Baudveing’ 738ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, Skaðveig 214ˣ, Baugvör 2797ˣ;    elzta: ‘[...]sta’ 214ˣ    [5] Kreppvör: Krippvör papp15ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, ‘kryppvar keypp’ 738ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 640, Skj BI, 648, Skald I, 316, NN §2564F; Bugge 1867, 369, Falk 1914, 50, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 23, Fidjestøl 1979, 71, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 105-6, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 84, 152.

Notes: [All]: It is unusual for women to be associated with the carving of runes. — [1-2]: These ll. are missing in 167b 6ˣ because of a damaged leaf. — [3] níu dætr Njarðar ‘Njǫrðr’s nine daughters’: The only daughter of the sea-god Njǫrðr known by name from ON myth is Freyja. Ægir, a sea-deity like Njǫrðr, is however said to have nine daughters in SnE (1998, I, 36); these are normally regarded as personifications of the waves. It is likely that Ægir and Njǫrðr have been assimilated to one another here. Björn M. Ólsen (1915, 62-3) and Njörður Njarðvík (1991, 105) suggest the daughters are the Deadly Sins, usually thought of as seven in number, but given as nine both in the Alexandreis X, ll. 32-57 (Colker 1978, 254-5) and in Alex (Unger 1848, 152-3). This fits the pagan associations of the number nine elsewhere in the poem. Falk (1914a, 52-3) and Björn M. Ólsen (1915, 61-2) assume that the daughters of Njǫrðr have carved runes on the horn of salvation; Njörður Njarðvík (1991, 105) objects to such pagan lettering on a Christian symbol, while Tate (1985, 1032-3) thinks that the runes of this st. are not carved on the hart’s horn (which would surely carry a Christian message in himna skript ‘heavenly script’), but must be some other runes. — [4] Böðveig: There is little to choose between the variants of this name; Böðveig and Baugveig are both possible, though 166bˣ’s ‘Baðveing’ can hardly be right. Attempts to link the names of the st. with individual Deadly Sins have not proved convincing, cf. Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 62.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 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. Colker, Marvin L., ed. 1978. Galteri de Castellione: Alexandreis. Thesaurus mundi 17. Padova: In aedibus Antenoreis.
8. Unger, C. R., ed. 1848. Alexanders saga. Christiania (Oslo): Feilberg & Landmark.
9. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
10. Njörður P. Njarðvik, ed. 1991. Sólarljóð. Útgáfa og umfjöllun. Íslensk Rit 10. Reykjavík: Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands og Menningarsjóður.
11. Njörður P. Njarðvik. 1993. Solsången. Akademisk avhandling för filosofiedoktorsexamen i nordiska språk. Göteborgs universitet: Institutionen för svensk språket.
12. Internal references
13. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].