Þjóð Haustl 19^III

Ok harðbrotin herju
heimþingaðar Vingnis
hvein í hjarna mœni
hein at Grundar sveini,
þar svát eðr í Óðins
ólaus burar hausi
stála vikr of stokkin*
stóð Eindriða blóði,

Ok harðbrotin hein {heimþingaðar {herju Vingnis}} hvein at {sveini Grundar} í {mœni hjarna}, svát {vikr stála}, eðr ólaus í hausi {burar Óðins}, stóð þar, of stokkin* blóði Eindriða,

And the hard-broken whetstone {of the home-visitor {of the female follower of Vingnir <giant>}} [GIANTESS > GIANT = Hrungnir] flew whining towards {the boy of Grund <= Jǫrð>} [= Þórr] into {the roof-ridge of his brain} [SKULL], so that {the pumice of steel weapons} [WHETSTONE], still stuck in the skull {of the son of Óðinn} [= Þórr], stood there, spattered with the blood of Eindriði <= Þórr>,

Mss: R(24r), Tˣ(24v), W(51) (SnE)

Readings: [1] harðbrotin: so Tˣ, harðbrotinn R, W    [2] ‑þingaðar: so W, ‘þingoþar’ R, ‘þuingadar’ Tˣ    [3] hjarna: ‘hinka’ R, Tˣ, hina W    [5] svát (‘sua at’): so Tˣ, svá R, W    [7] vikr: so all others, ‘virtr’ R;    stokkin*: stokkinn R, Tˣ, stǫkkvi W    [8] Eind‑: ein‑ Tˣ, W

Editions: Skj AI, 20, Skj BI, 18, Skald I, 12; SnE 1848-87, I, 282-3, II, 23, SnE 1931, 105, SnE 1998, I, 24.

Context: As for st. 14.

Notes: [All]: Stanza 19 describes the moment when a piece of Hrungnir’s whetstone flew through the air and lodged in Þórr’s head, causing him to fall to the ground. The whetstone, which Hrungnir used as a weapon, had shattered in a mid-air collision with Þórr’s hammer, according to Skm (SnE 1998, I, 22). — [1] herju ‘of the female follower’: Lit. ‘of the female troop member’. Herja is also the name of a valkyrie (see Þul Valkyria 1/3 and Note there). — [2] Vingnis ‘of Vingnir <giant>’: Here and in Þul Jǫtna I 5/8 Vingnir appears to be the name of a giant, but elsewhere it is applied to Þórr (SnE 2005, 54; cf. Vm 51) or his foster-father (SnE 1998, I, 14), probably following a learned geneaology in the Prologue to SnE (SnE 2005, 5), while in yet another context the phrase stjóri Vingnis ‘Vingnir’s guide’ appears in a list of heiti for oxen (Þul Øxna 1/8). — [3] í mœni hjarna ‘into the roof-ridge of his brain [SKULL]’: The determinant of this unusual kenning is not certain; both R and Tˣ have the meaningless ‘hinka’, while W has ‘hina’. The emendation to hjarna ‘brain’, based on W’s reading and assuming that the scribe failed to copy a superscript ‘ar’ abbreviation in his exemplar, has been adopted by all eds. It is possible, as Marold (1983, 174) has suggested, that W’s ‘hina’ might have stood for hinna, a rare word, meaning a membrane or skin, otherwise used in poetry only in the C14th Anon Pét 4/6^VII. The base-word mœnir means the ridge of a roof, and is used here pars pro toto for ‘roof’. — [5-8]: The second helmingr links syntactically and grammatically with the first helmingr of st. 20, which begins with the conj. áðr ‘until’. The whetstone fragment remains in Þórr’s skull until he is operated on by the sorceress Gróa (see st. 20 and Note to [All] there). — [6] ólaus ‘stuck’: Lit. ‘un-loose’. — [8] Eindriða ‘of Eindriði <= Þórr>’: Both the forms Einriði (so Tˣ, W) and Eindriði (so R) are found in Old Norse texts; cf. AEW: Eindriði, Eindriðr.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
5. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. 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.
8. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Internal references
10. 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].
11. (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 19 April 2024)
12. David McDougall (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Pétrsdrápa 4’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 799-800.
13. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Øxna 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. 885.