Ólhv Frag 7^III

Áðr grimmhugaðr gengi
af grjót-Móða dauðum.

Áðr grimmhugaðr gengi af {dauðum grjót-Móða}.

Before the fierce-minded one walked away from {the dead rock-Móði <god>} [GIANT].

Mss: A(7r) (TGT)

Editions: Skj AI, 602, Skj BI, 602, Skald I, 293; SnE 1848, 195, SnE 1848-87, II, 166-7, 422, III, 149, TGT 1884, 106, 222, TGT 1927, 78, 106.

Context: Cited as an example of antonomasia, that is, the use of a common noun for a proper noun (TGT 1927, 78): Antonomasia setr sameiginligt nafn fyrir eiginligu nafni ‘Antonomasia puts a common noun in place of a proper noun’. This is the first of three types of antonomasia (see Note to [All] below), in this case a non-physical (af ǫnd ‘by the spirit’) attribute. The other two are illustrated by Anon (TGT) 31 and 32. Here the word grimmhugaðr ‘fierce-minded’ is used for the name of the person in question, which Óláfr identifies as Þórr (see Note to l. 1 below).

Notes: [All]: There are three types of antonomasia in Donatus, ab animo ‘by the spirit’, a corpore ‘by the body’ and extrinsecus ‘extrinsically’, in that order. The example for antonomasia ab animo in Donatus (Keil 1855-80, IV, 400) is magnanimusque Anchisiades ‘and the proud son of Anchises [Aeneas]’. This couplet exemplifies the ab animo (af ǫnd) type in TGT but Óláfr’s example is much closer to Donatus’s example of antonomasia extrinsecus (Keil 1855-80, IV, 400), infelix puer atque impar congressus Achilli ‘unhappy boy and unequally matched in his battle with Achilles’. Both refer to narratives in which heroes with supernatural strength (Achilles and Þórr) kill an opponent. This example is followed in Sedulius Scottus’s commentary (CCCM 40B, 381) with the explanation, Infelix puer ipse est Troilus ‘The unhappy boy himself is Troilus’, which is also similar to Óláfr’s commentary (TGT 1927, 78), Hér er grimmhugaðr settr fyrir Þór ‘Here “fierce-minded” stands for Þórr’. Óláfr’s example was probably influenced by the later example of the extrinsecus type of antonomasia in Donatus rather than the more relevant one for the ab animo type. Micillo (1999, 221) sees a correspondence between another Hiberno-Latin commentary and Óláfr’s further comments (TGT 1927, 78-9), Þar er óeiginlig líking, þvíat margir menn aðrir en Þórr váru grimmhugaðir ‘There is an improper comparison because many men other than Þórr were fierce-minded’. Murethach comments on the example Magnanimusque Anchisiades (CCCM 40, 240): similitudo non propria: nam superbus fuit ille, fuerunt et ceteri superbi ‘an improper comparison: because he [Aeneas] was proud, and so were the others’. — [All]: The couplet has dróttkvætt-like lines except that there is no internal rhyme in the first line and skothending rather than aðalhending in the second. This is similar to the metre Snorri refers to as munnvǫrp ‘mouth-throwings’ (Ht 66). — [1] grimmhugaðr ‘the fierce-minded one’: In the prose, Óláfr states that this is a reference to Þórr. Cf. djúphugaðr ‘deep-minded’ in Anon (TGT) 27/1. — [2] grjót-Móða ‘rock-Móði <god> [GIANT]’: Móði is one of Þórr’s sons (cf. Hym 34). Finnur Jónsson (TGT 1927, 106) suggests the giant referred to here is Hrungnir, but it could be any of Þórr’s giant victims.

References

1. Bibliography
2. TGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
3. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
4. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. CCCM = [Anonymous] Corpus Christianorum. 1971-. Continuatio mediaevalis. Turnhout: Brepols.
7. TGT 1927 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1927b. Óláfr Þórðarson: Málhljóða- og málskrúðsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling. Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13, 2. Copenhagen: Høst.
8. Keil, Heinrich, ed. 1855-80. Grammatici Latini. 8 vols. Leipzig: Teubner.
9. Micillo, Valeria. 1999. ‘Die grammatische Tradition des insularen Mittelalters in Island’. In Poppe et al. 1999, 215-29.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, The Third Grammatical Treatise’ in Tarrin Wills (ed.), The Third Grammatical Treatise. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=32> (accessed 7 May 2024)
12. Tarrin Wills (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Third Grammatical Treatise 31’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 558.
13. Not published: do not cite ()
14. Tarrin Wills 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Stanzas from the Third Grammatical Treatise’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 536. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=2932> (accessed 7 May 2024)
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 63’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1175.