Þjóð Haustl 15^III

Knôttu ǫll, en Ullar,
endilôg, fyr mági
grund vas grápi hrundin,
ginnunga vé brinna,
þás hofregin hafrar
hógreiðar framm drógu
— seðr gekk Svǫlnis ekkja
sundr — at Hrungnis fundi.

{Ǫll endilôg vé ginnunga} knôttu brinna, en grund vas hrundin grápi fyr {mági Ullar}, þás hafrar drógu framm {hofregin hógreiðar} at fundi Hrungnis; {ekkja Svǫlnis} gekk seðr sundr.

{All sanctuaries of hawks, low from end to end} [SKIES/HEAVENS] were burning, and the ground was battered with hail in front of {the kinsman of Ullr <god>} [= Þórr], when the goats drew forward {the temple-deity of the comfortable chariot} [= Þórr] to a meeting with Hrungnir; {the widow of Svǫlnir <= Óðinn>} [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)] split asunder at once.

Mss: R(23v-24r), Tˣ(24v), W(51) (SnE)

Readings: [4] ginnunga: so all others, ‘ginnivnga’ R;    brinna: so W, ‘hrinna’ R, ‘brinra’ Tˣ    [5] hafrar: ‘hafrir’ R, hafði Tˣ, hǫfðu W    [6] ‑reiðar: reiðir Tˣ    [7] seðr: seiðr Tˣ, seið W

Editions: Skj AI, 19, Skj BI, 17, Skald I, 11, NN §§140, 1019, 1812, 2985D; SnE 1848-87, I, 278-81, III, 21, SnE 1931, 104, SnE 1998, I, 23.

Context: As for st. 14.

Notes: [All]: Taking up the theme of cosmic disturbance caused by Þórr’s journey through the skies (st. 14/6, 8) to Grjótún, st. 15 elaborates on it, and it is taken further in sts 16/2, 3, 4: all the skies are aflame and hail batters the ground before Þórr’s chariot, pulled by two goats (cf. Gylf, SnE 2005, 23). — [1, 2] fyr mági Ullar ‘in front of the kinsman of Ullr <god> [= Þórr]’: Ullr was Þórr’s stepson, being the son of his wife Sif by an unidentified partner. The same kenning appears in EVald Þórr 3/4; see Note there. — [2] endilôg ‘low from end to end’: This cpd hap. leg. adj. has been taken by most eds as f. nom. sg. to qualify grund ‘ground, earth’ (l. 3) and, while this is possible, it is also possible, and syntactically more natural (so Wood 1960b, 153-5), to take it as n. nom. pl. with vé ginnunga ‘sanctuaries of hawks’ in a sky-kenning, of the kind noted by Meissner 108 as belonging to the type ‘province of the bird’ (cf. Marold 1983, 170). — [5, 6] hofregin hógreiðar ‘the temple-deity of the comfortable chariot [= Þórr]’: In the hap. leg. cpd hofregin, the second element, m. nom. sg. reginn, is unusually encountered in the n. pl. regin ‘gods, divine powers’, though here, as in its occurrence in Glúmr Gráf 4/6^I, it is sg. See also Note to st. 12/6 above. Skj B emends hofregin to hafregin, understanding the cpd to mean ‘raised, lifted deity’, assuming the first element haf- to derive from the verb hefja ‘raise’ (cf. LP: haf-reginn). There is no reason why Þórr could not be called a hofreginn ‘temple-deity’, however; beginning with Adam of Bremen’s account (Schmeidler 1917, 258) of the temple at Uppsala, which places an image of Þórr in the most prominent position, and including close associations recorded in saga literature between Þórr and high-seat pillars, which sometimes had the god’s image carved on them (cf. Clunies Ross 1998b, 142-4), there is good reason to associate Þórr with sacred places. — [7] seðr ‘at once’: An older form of the more common senn ‘at once, immediately’. — [7] ekkja Svǫlnis ‘the widow of Svǫlnir <= Óðinn> [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)]’: The word ekkja ‘widow’ may be used here in the sense ‘abandoned or alternative wife’ (cf. SnE 1998, II, 264) or it may simply mean ‘woman’ or ‘wife’. The personified Earth (Jǫrð) was thought of as one of Óðinn’s many partners and the mother of Þórr.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
7. 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.
8. Schmeidler, Bernhard, ed. 1917. Magistri Adami Bremensis. Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte / Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum 2. 3rd edn. Hannover and Leipzig: Hahn.
9. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Marold, Edith. 1983. Kenningkunst: Ein Beitrag zu einer Poetik der Skaldendichtung. Quellen und Forschungen zur Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte der germanischen Völker, new ser. 80. Berlin: de Gruyter.
12. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. Wood, Cecil. 1960b. ‘Scaldic Notes’. SS 32, 153-8.
14. Clunies Ross, Margaret. 1998b. Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society. Volume 2: The Reception of Norse Myths in Medieval Iceland. VC 10. [Odense]: Odense University Press.
15. Internal references
16. (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 20 April 2024)
17. 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.
18. Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Glúmr Geirason, Gráfeldardrápa 4’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 252.