Þblǫnd Frag 1^III

Nú hefk mart
í miði greipat
burar Bors
Búra arfa.

Nú hefk greipat mart í {miði {burar Bors}}, {arfa Búra}.

Now I have included many things in {the mead {of the son of Borr <mythical being>}} [= Óðinn > POEM], {the heir of Búri <mythical being>} [= Óðinn].

Mss: R(21r), Tˣ(21v), W(46), U(26v), B(4r) (SnE); 2368ˣ(82), 743ˣ(65r) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] hefk (‘hefi ec’): hefir B    [2] greipat: greipar W, U, B, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ    [3] burar: brúar Tˣ, ‘bvkar’ U, ‘barar’ B;    Bors: ‘bærs’ U    [4] Búra: burar U, um búra B

Editions: Skj AI, 492, Skj BI, 464, Skald I, 228; SnE 1848-87, I, 244-5, II, 305, 520, III, 10, SnE 1931, 92, SnE 1998, I, 11; LaufE 1979, 332.

Context: In SnE (Skm) and LaufE, the stanza is cited in a collection of stanzas illustrating poetic expressions (mostly kennings) for Óðinn.

Notes: [All]: The helmingr’s statement that many things have been included in the poem shows that it is likely to be one of the final stanzas of a longer poem. — [1, 2] hefk greipat mart ‘I have included many things’: The weak verb greipa is a hap. leg. derived from the f. noun greip ‘grip’. Literally it means ‘grasp, encompass with the hand’ (see AEW: greip and LP: greipa). — [3] burar Bors ‘of the son of Borr <mythical being> [= Óðinn]’: A similar kenning for Óðinn, niðr Bors ‘son of Borr’, appears in Egill Lv 23/7^V (Eg 30). Otherwise the name Borr is not attested in skaldic poetry, but two further kennings with this name as determinant are recorded in the eddic poems Vsp and Hyndl (in Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda the name is spelled Burr, with the variant Borr in the Hauksbók version of Vsp): synir Burs ‘the sons of Burr [= Æsir?]’ in Vsp 4/1 (NK 1) and arfþegi Burs ‘the heir of Burr [= Óðinn]’ in Hyndl 30/2 (NK 293). In Gylf (SnE 2005, 11), Borr is the father of Óðinn, and of Vili and Vé; their mother is the giantess Bestla. — [4] Búra ‘of Búri <mythical being>’: Father of Borr, paternal grandfather of Óðinn. Jón Þorkelsson (1890, 3) points out that the mss’ bura must be read as Búra (with a long syllable) for metrical reasons. Gylf (SnE 2005, 11) reports how the mythical cow Auðhumla licks at salty ice-blocks and exposes a man called Búri, who is described as fagr álitum, mikill ok máttugr ‘beautiful in appearance, big and powerful’ and has a son, Borr. As a dwarf-name Búri is recorded in the Hauksbók version of Vsp 13/4 (see NK 3, notes). See also Note to Þul Dverga 1/5 (Burinn).

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. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
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. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1890. ‘Bemærkninger til enkelte vers i Snorra Edda’. ANF 6, 1-13.
12. Internal references
13. 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].
14. (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 23 April 2024)
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 23 April 2024)
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Dverga heiti 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. 693.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 30 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 23)’ 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, p. 225.
18. Not published: do not cite ()
19. Not published: do not cite ()
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 23 April 2024)