Bragi Þórr 3^III

Hamri fórsk í hœgri
hǫnd, þás allra landa,
œgir Ǫflugbarða,
endiseiðs of kenndi.

{Œgir Ǫflugbarða} fórsk hamri í hœgri hǫnd, þás of kenndi {endiseiðs allra landa}.

{The terrifier of Ǫflugbarði <giant>} [= Þórr] lifted the hammer in his right hand, when he recognised {the boundary-saithe of all lands} [= Miðgarðsormr].

Mss: R(22r), Tˣ(22r), W(47), U(27v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] fórsk: ‘forst’ W, ‘fork’ U    [3] œgir (‘eygir’): ‘o᷎gir’ Tˣ, ‘eigi’ U;    ‑barða: ‘bara’ U    [4] ‑seiðs: so W, U, ‑skeiðs R, skíðs Tˣ;    of: so Tˣ, W, af R, um U

Editions: Skj AI, 3, Skj BI, 3, Skald I, 2, NN §§218, 1412F, 3396B; SnE 1848-87, I, 256-7, II, 309, III, 16, SnE 1931, 95, SnE 1998, I, 15-16.

Context: This helmingr, along with sts 2 and 4, is quoted in the section of Skm that exemplifies kennings for the god Þórr. It is introduced by the clause Svá kvað Bragi ‘Thus spoke Bragi’.

Notes: [3] Ǫflugbarða ‘of Ǫflugbarði <giant>’: Although unattested in poetry (while its f. counterpart Ǫflugbarða appears in a þula of names for troll-women, Þul Trollkvenna 4/1), this word is here understood as the name of a male giant (lit. ‘mightily bearded one’), which forms part of a kenning for Þórr as the conventional adversary of giants. Skj B and Skald emend to the f. noun ǫflugbǫrðu, though m. giant names ending in ‑barði exist (e.g. Þistilbarði lit. ‘thistle-bearded one’, Þul Jǫtna I 2/8). — [4] endiseiðs (gen. sg.) ‘the boundary-saithe’: Endiseiðs is gen. case following kenndi, a usage often found when something uncomfortable is being experienced (cf. LP: kenna 6). This cpd (the reading of W and U) is understood as the base-word of a kenning for the World Serpent, in which he is compared to a fish (seiðr ‘saithe’ or ‘coalfish’, Pollachius virens, cf. Þul Fiska 2/1 and Note there) that surrounds the circular earth; cf. EVald Þórr 3/2-3 seiðr jarðar ‘saithe of the earth’. Kock (NN §1412F) proposed that seiðr means ‘rope, cord’, but this sense is unattested in Old Norse. Ms. R’s endiskeiðs ‘boundary-course, track’ is possible but unlikely in context, as is Tˣ’s endiskíðs ‘boundary ski’.

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. 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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. 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.
7. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 6 May 2024)
11. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 729.
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fiska heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 853.
13. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Eysteinn Valdason, Poem about Þórr 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 187.