Eil Þdr 17^III

Þrøngvir gein við þungum
þangs rauðbita tangar
kveldrunninna kvinna
kunnleggs alinmunni,

{Þrøngvir {kunnleggs {kveldrunninna kvinna}}} gein {alinmunni} við {þungum rauðbita þangs tangar},

{The oppressor {of the family line {of the evening-running women}}} [TROLL-WOMEN > GIANTS > = Þórr] gaped {with his forearm-mouth} [HAND] at {the heavy red mouthful of the seaweed of tongs} [PIECE OF IRON],

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

Readings: [1] Þrøngvir: ‘Þraungir’ Tˣ, ‘Þrongvm’ W, ‘þreyngvir’ U;    gein: ‘g(æi)r’(?) W    [4] kunn‑: ‘k[…]n‑’ U;    ‑leggs: ‑legs Tˣ, W, U

Editions: Skj AI, 151, Skj BI, 143, Skald I, 78, NN §2251; SnE 1848-87, I, 256-9, II, 309, SnE 1931, 96, SnE 1998, I, 16.

Context: The helmingr is cited among stanzas exemplifying kennings for Þórr in Skm (SnE), but not in the part of the continuously cited stanzas after the related myth of Geirrøðr.

Notes: [All]: Although the stanza is not part of the stanzas cited after the telling of the Geirrøðr myth, it is included here because of its content (see Introduction). — [1-2] þungum rauðbita þangs tangar ‘the heavy red mouthful of the seaweed of tongs [PIECE OF IRON]’: Here the metaphorical analogy between a glowing piece of iron and food is carried over from the previous stanza. The base-word of the kenning for ‘piece of iron’, þang, falls into the category of things edible, since seaweed (sǫl n. pl. ‘red algae’, Palmaria palmate) was a source of sustenance (cf. Foote and Wilson 1970, 149; Davidson 1983, 645). See Grg Ib, 94, where it is stated that a man has the right to eat seaweed on another’s land; or the episode in Egils saga (Eg ch. 78, ÍF 2, 244-5) in which Egill’s daughter persuades her father to chew on seaweed. Furthermore, such words as sǫlvakaup n. ‘seaweed purchase’, sǫlvaponta f. ‘seaweed container’ and þangskurðr m. ‘seaweed collecting’ show that seaweed was collected and traded (see Heizmann 1993a, 59-60, 65). Þangs tangar ‘of the seaweed of tongs’ is thus modelled on the same pattern as afli soðnum sega tangar ‘a hearth-boiled morsel of tongs’ (st. 16/6, 7), and the metaphor also extends into the following stanzas with lyptisylg síu ‘raised drink of the spark’ (st. 18/3, 4) and nestum meina ‘provisions of harm’ (st. 19/7, 8). Rauðbita ‘the red bite’ cannot be integrated into the kenning þangs tangar ‘of the seaweed of tongs [PIECE OF IRON]’, but it does connect the two domains of the metaphorical comparison with ‘red’ for the glowing iron and ‘bite’ for the domain of eating. The verb gein ‘he bit at’ belongs to the latter as well (cf. gin ‘mouth’, st. 16/8). The kenning þangs tangar ‘of the seaweed of tongs [PIECE OF IRON]’ itself belongs to both, the literal and the metaphorical levels – iron (tǫng ‘tong’) and eating (þǫng ‘seaweed’). The present interpretation is preferable to previous explanations of þangs, because it allows semantic and structural parallels to be drawn to the other kennings that paraphrase this iron projectile. Reichardt (1948, 381) understands þangs ‘of the seaweed’ as a variation on reyr ‘reed’, vǫndr ‘twig’ etc. and he combines it with tangar ‘of tongs’. This results in a kenning for an iron staff allegedly cast at Þórr, which is corroborated neither by the poem nor by the prose of Skm. Finnur Jónsson offers two different explanations for þang tangar in LP: 1. ‘seaweed of the blacksmith’s tongs’, i.e. the glowing chunk of iron (LP: þang), 2. ‘stem of seaweed gripped by tongs’ (LP: tǫng). Kock (NN §2251) reconstructs a word *þvang ‘narrowing, throat’ which he uses to translate rauðbiti þvangs þangar as tångklämmans (tångkäftens, tångsvaljets) röda bit ‘red bite of the trap of tongs (of the mouth of tongs, the throat of tongs)’. — [3-4] kunnleggs kveldrunninna kvinna ‘of the family line of the evening-running women [TROLL-WOMEN > GIANTS]’: The cpd kunnleggs is not otherwise attested in Old Norse prose or poetry. It is formed from the elements kunn- (from kund-) ‘descendant’ and leggr ‘one of the extremities, hand or foot’. The meaning may be derived from a possible parallel, ættleggr (Fritzner: ættleggr) ‘genealogical lineage’. Finnur Jónsson (LP: kunnleggr) translates it as et enkelt slægtsmedlem ‘an individual member of a family’. However, ættleggr never refers to a single person (see Fritzner, ONP: ættleggr). It is therefore translated here as ‘family line’. For kveldrunninna kvinna ‘of the evening-running women [TROLL-WOMEN]’, cf. kveldriða ‘witch’ (LP, Fritzner: kveldriða). That giants are referred to as related to witches may be because both belong to groups of evil, demonic beings. — [4] alinmunni ‘with his forearm-mouth [HAND]’: An instr. dat. This kenning extends the metaphors of gein ‘gaped’ and rauðbita ‘red bite’, and it continues the mesh of metaphors between the domains of food and forge established in the previous stanza.

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. 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.
6. Foote, Peter G. and D. M. Wilson. 1980. The Viking Achievement. 2nd edn. Great Civilizations Series. London: Sidgwick & Jackson.
7. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
8. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
9. Grg = Grágás.
10. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
11. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. Davidson, Daphne L. 1983. ‘Earl Hákon and his Poets’. D. Phil. thesis. Oxford.
14. Heizmann, Wilhelm. 1993a. Wörterbuch der Pflanzennamen im Altwestnordischen. Ergänzungsbände zum RGA 7. Berlin: de Gruyter.
15. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1948. ‘Die Thórsdrápa des Eilífr Goðrúnarson: Textinterpretation’. PMLA 63, 329-91.
16. Internal references
17. 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].
18. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 162-389. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=14> (accessed 24 April 2024)
19. (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 24 April 2024)