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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Bragi Þórr 2III

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Þórr’s fishing 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. 48.

Bragi inn gamli BoddasonÞórr’s fishing
123

Vaðr ‘The fishing line’

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vaðr (noun m.; °dat. -; -ir): fishing-line

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‘lay’

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liggja (verb): lie

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Viðris ‘of Viðrir’s’

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Viðrir (noun m.): Viðrir

kennings

arfa Viðris
‘of Viðrir’s heir ’
   = Þórr

Viðrir’s heir → Þórr
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arfa ‘heir’

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arfi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): heir, heiress

kennings

arfa Viðris
‘of Viðrir’s heir ’
   = Þórr

Viðrir’s heir → Þórr
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vilgi ‘not at all’

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vilgi (adv.): not at all, by no means

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slakr ‘slack’

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slakr (adj.): [slack]

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es ‘when’

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2. er (conj.): who, which, when

[2] es (‘er’): né U

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rakðisk ‘unwound himself’

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2. rekja (verb): unwind; track, trace

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á ‘on’

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3. á (prep.): on, at

notes

[3] á ǫndri Eynæfis ‘on the ski of Eynæfir <sea-king> [SHIP]’: The same ship-kenning occurs in Anon Krm 11/3VIII (Ragn). See also Þul Sækonunga 2/1 and Note there.

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Eynæfis ‘of Eynæfir’

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Eynæfir (noun m.): Eynæfir

[3] Eynæfis: so U, ‘eynefis’ R, Tˣ, ‘ænefis’ W

kennings

ǫndri Eynæfis,
‘the ski of Eynæfir, ’
   = SHIP

the ski of Eynæfir, → SHIP

notes

[3] á ǫndri Eynæfis ‘on the ski of Eynæfir <sea-king> [SHIP]’: The same ship-kenning occurs in Anon Krm 11/3VIII (Ragn). See also Þul Sækonunga 2/1 and Note there.

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ǫndri ‘the ski’

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andr (noun m.; °; andrar): ski

[3] ǫndri: andri Tˣ, ‘an[…]’ U

kennings

ǫndri Eynæfis,
‘the ski of Eynæfir, ’
   = SHIP

the ski of Eynæfir, → SHIP

notes

[3] á ǫndri Eynæfis ‘on the ski of Eynæfir <sea-king> [SHIP]’: The same ship-kenning occurs in Anon Krm 11/3VIII (Ragn). See also Þul Sækonunga 2/1 and Note there.

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Jǫrmungandr ‘Jǫrmungandr’

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jǫrmungandr (noun m.): jǫrmungandr

notes

[4] Jǫrmungandr: A name for the World Serpent, Miðgarðsormr, occurring in Vsp 50/3, probably meaning ‘The powerful staff’; cf. LP: gandr 1, jǫrmungandr; LT: iǫrmun-gandr.

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at ‘on’

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3. at (prep.): at, to

notes

[4] at sandi ‘on the sand’: Understood here as the sand of the sea-floor not the sea-shore.

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sandi ‘the sand’

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sandr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): sand, beach

notes

[4] at sandi ‘on the sand’: Understood here as the sand of the sea-floor not the sea-shore.

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Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses

This helmingr, along with sts 3 and 4, are quoted in the section of Skm that deals with kennings for the god Þórr. Stanza 2 is introduced by the clause Svá kvað Bragi skáld ‘Thus spoke Bragi the poet’.

Both Skj and Skald place this helmingr after what is here st. 3, but equally good sense (in terms of the known myth) is created by the sequence adopted here, which also follows the order in which sts 2, 3 and 4 are cited in Skm. According to this reading, Þórr perceives his fishing line go taut against the side of the ship (Bragi uses litotes to describe this) as the World Serpent uncoils itself on the sea-floor, having swallowed Þórr’s baited hook, before the god raises his hammer (see st. 3) in readiness to strike his adversary’s head as it emerges from the waves. Other interpretations of the stanza are possible. Skj B understands Miðgarðsormr to unwind upon the sand after Þórr has pulled him up from the bottom da midgårdsormen efterhånden (ved optrækningen) slæbtes henad sandbunden ‘when the Midgard serpent gradually (in the course of being pulled up) was dragged towards the sandy bottom’, while Kock (NN §219), followed by Turville-Petre (1976, 5), combines lá vilgi slakr at sandi and rakðisk á Eynæfis ǫndri ‘[the fishing line] lay by no means slack upon the sand [when Jǫrmungandr] unwound himself upon Eynæfir’s ski’.

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