Ormr Frag 1III
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Ormr Steinþórsson, Fragments 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 332.
Ræðk ‘I devise’
(not checked:)
ráða (verb): advise, rule, interpret, decide
[1] Ræðk (‘Ræð ec’): réð ek all others
þenna ‘this’
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1. sjá (pron.; °gen. þessa dat. þessum/þeima, acc. þenna; f. sjá/þessi; n. þetta, dat. þessu/þvísa; pl. þessir): this
[1] þenna: þennan Tˣ
kennings
þenna mǫg Vindsvals‘this son of Vindsvalr ’
= Vetr
this son of Vindsvalr → Vetr
mǫg ‘son’
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mǫgr (noun m.; °; megir, acc. mǫgu): son, boy
kennings
þenna mǫg Vindsvals‘this son of Vindsvalr ’
= Vetr
this son of Vindsvalr → Vetr
notes
[1, 4] mǫg Vindsvals ‘son of Vindsvalr <giant> [= Vetr (vetr ‘winter’)]’: This type of ofljóst kenning for ‘winter’ is not attested elsewhere, the favoured type being ‘death of the snake’ (Meissner 109); but perhaps a poet named Ormr ‘Serpent’ had reason to avoid the latter. The mythical figure Vindsvalr ‘Wind-cool One’ is mentioned among the names of giants in Þul Jǫtna I 5/3. In Vafþr 27/1-2 and Gylf (SnE 2005, 21) he is stated to be father of Vetr ‘Winter’.
notes
[1, 4] blindum manni ‘for a blind man’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) conjectures that this is a reference to the poet himself, but it might preferably be taken as referring to the patron or recipient whom the poet seeks to entertain during the winter.
… ‘’
(not checked:)
(non-lexical)
… ‘…’
(not checked:)
(non-lexical)
Vindsvals ‘of Vindsvalr’
(not checked:)
vindsvalr (adj.): vindsvalr
kennings
þenna mǫg Vindsvals‘this son of Vindsvalr ’
= Vetr
this son of Vindsvalr → Vetr
notes
[1, 4] mǫg Vindsvals ‘son of Vindsvalr <giant> [= Vetr (vetr ‘winter’)]’: This type of ofljóst kenning for ‘winter’ is not attested elsewhere, the favoured type being ‘death of the snake’ (Meissner 109); but perhaps a poet named Ormr ‘Serpent’ had reason to avoid the latter. The mythical figure Vindsvalr ‘Wind-cool One’ is mentioned among the names of giants in Þul Jǫtna I 5/3. In Vafþr 27/1-2 and Gylf (SnE 2005, 21) he is stated to be father of Vetr ‘Winter’.
notes
[1, 4] blindum manni ‘for a blind man’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) conjectures that this is a reference to the poet himself, but it might preferably be taken as referring to the patron or recipient whom the poet seeks to entertain during the winter.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
In Skm (SnE) the stanza is cited among several to illustrate kennings for ‘winter’.
These two lines must represent, from the evidence of alliteration and syntax, the first and final lines of a helmingr. They could form part of the introduction (upphaf) to an extended poem, explaining its purpose, in which case the pres. tense of the verb ráða (ræðk ‘I devise’) may be equivalent to future: ‘I will devise’ (cf. SnE 1998, II, 372). If, on the other hand, we read the pret. réðk with the other mss against R, the two lines could belong in a conclusion.
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