Þjóð Haustl 5III
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 439.
Fljótt ‘quickly’
(not checked:)
2. fljótr (adj.): quick
foldar ‘of the earth’
(not checked:)
fold (noun f.): land
kennings
Þekkiligr dróttinn foldar‘The gracious lord of the earth ’
= Óðinn
The gracious lord of the earth → Óðinn
dróttinn ‘lord’
(not checked:)
dróttinn (noun m.; °dróttins, dat. dróttni (drottini [$1049$]); dróttnar): lord, master
kennings
Þekkiligr dróttinn foldar‘The gracious lord of the earth ’
= Óðinn
The gracious lord of the earth → Óðinn
Fárbauta ‘of Fárbauti’
(not checked:)
Fárbauti (noun m.): Fárbauti
kennings
mǫg Fárbauta‘the son of Fárbauti ’
= Loki
the son of Fárbauti → Loki
kennings
mǫg Fárbauta‘the son of Fárbauti ’
= Loki
the son of Fárbauti → Loki
notes
[2] mǫg Fárbauta ‘the son of Fárbauti <giant> [= Loki]’: Fárbauti is named in Gylf (SnE 2005, 26) as Loki’s giant father. The same kenning for Loki is in ÚlfrU Húsdr 2/4.
Várar ‘of the Vár’
(not checked:)
2. Vár (noun f.; °-s; -): a goddess
[2] Várar: ‘vǫro’ R, ‘[…]ra’ Tˣ, vara W
kennings
hval Várar þrymseilar‘the whale of the Vár of the bowstring ’
= OX
the Vár of the bowstring → Skaði
the whale of SKAÐI → OX
notes
[2, 4] hval Várar þrymseilar ‘the whale of the Vár <goddess> of the bowstring [= Skaði > OX]’: None of the proposed readings of these lines are entirely satisfactory. Most eds emend the mss’ various forms to Várar, gen. sg. of the goddess name Vár, and understand the kenning Vár þrymseilar ‘the Vár of the bowstring’ (lit. ‘the Vár of the noise-band’; cf. Þul Boga 1/3, where þrymr ‘noise’ is listed as a bow-heiti) to refer to the giantess Skaði, daughter of Þjazi, who is said in Gylf (SnE 2005, 24) to live in the mountains at Þrymheimr, Þjazi’s home, where she travels around on skis with bow and arrows and shoots game (she is referred to as ǫndurgoð ‘ski-deity’ in st. 7/4). It is not entirely clear why an ox should be termed Skaði’s whale, unless to emphasise its large size and appropriateness as quarry of a giant huntress – after all the party of gods had come upon a herd of oxen in their travels through mountains and wildernesses, according to Skm. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 323) suggests that whales could be seen as Njǫrðr’s oxen, alluding to the mythological circumstance that Skaði was unhappily married to Njǫrðr, god of the sea, but this seems rather far-fetched. Kock (NN §137) adopts the form Vôru rather than Várar in l. 2 and, basing himself (NN §2504) on a statement in Magnús Ólafsson’s Laufás Edda (LaufE 1979, 266) which could be understood to mean that hvalr þrymseilar alone is a kenning for an ox, he construes Vôru with an emended þægiligr ‘acceptable, agreeable’ (l. 4) to mean ‘acceptable to Vár’. Marold (1983, 158-9) construes þekkiligr Vôru ‘acceptable to Vár’ with dróttinn foldar ‘lord of the earth’ (rather than the ox-kenning) and emends l. 4 to hval seilar Þryms ‘whale of the rope of Þrymr <giant> [OX]’, i.e. Þrymr’s draught animal.
Várar ‘of the Vár’
(not checked:)
2. Vár (noun f.; °-s; -): a goddess
[2] Várar: ‘vǫro’ R, ‘[…]ra’ Tˣ, vara W
kennings
hval Várar þrymseilar‘the whale of the Vár of the bowstring ’
= OX
the Vár of the bowstring → Skaði
the whale of SKAÐI → OX
notes
[2, 4] hval Várar þrymseilar ‘the whale of the Vár <goddess> of the bowstring [= Skaði > OX]’: None of the proposed readings of these lines are entirely satisfactory. Most eds emend the mss’ various forms to Várar, gen. sg. of the goddess name Vár, and understand the kenning Vár þrymseilar ‘the Vár of the bowstring’ (lit. ‘the Vár of the noise-band’; cf. Þul Boga 1/3, where þrymr ‘noise’ is listed as a bow-heiti) to refer to the giantess Skaði, daughter of Þjazi, who is said in Gylf (SnE 2005, 24) to live in the mountains at Þrymheimr, Þjazi’s home, where she travels around on skis with bow and arrows and shoots game (she is referred to as ǫndurgoð ‘ski-deity’ in st. 7/4). It is not entirely clear why an ox should be termed Skaði’s whale, unless to emphasise its large size and appropriateness as quarry of a giant huntress – after all the party of gods had come upon a herd of oxen in their travels through mountains and wildernesses, according to Skm. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 323) suggests that whales could be seen as Njǫrðr’s oxen, alluding to the mythological circumstance that Skaði was unhappily married to Njǫrðr, god of the sea, but this seems rather far-fetched. Kock (NN §137) adopts the form Vôru rather than Várar in l. 2 and, basing himself (NN §2504) on a statement in Magnús Ólafsson’s Laufás Edda (LaufE 1979, 266) which could be understood to mean that hvalr þrymseilar alone is a kenning for an ox, he construes Vôru with an emended þægiligr ‘acceptable, agreeable’ (l. 4) to mean ‘acceptable to Vár’. Marold (1983, 158-9) construes þekkiligr Vôru ‘acceptable to Vár’ with dróttinn foldar ‘lord of the earth’ (rather than the ox-kenning) and emends l. 4 to hval seilar Þryms ‘whale of the rope of Þrymr <giant> [OX]’, i.e. Þrymr’s draught animal.
þekkiligr ‘The gracious’
(not checked:)
þekkiligr (adj.): liked, agreeable
kennings
Þekkiligr dróttinn foldar‘The gracious lord of the earth ’
= Óðinn
The gracious lord of the earth → Óðinn
með ‘among’
(not checked:)
með (prep.): with
þegnum ‘the fellows’
(not checked:)
þegn (noun m.; °dat. -/-i; -ar): thane, man, franklin
þrymseilar ‘of the bowstring’
(not checked:)
þrymseil (noun f.)
kennings
hval Várar þrymseilar‘the whale of the Vár of the bowstring ’
= OX
the Vár of the bowstring → Skaði
the whale of SKAÐI → OX
notes
[2, 4] hval Várar þrymseilar ‘the whale of the Vár <goddess> of the bowstring [= Skaði > OX]’: None of the proposed readings of these lines are entirely satisfactory. Most eds emend the mss’ various forms to Várar, gen. sg. of the goddess name Vár, and understand the kenning Vár þrymseilar ‘the Vár of the bowstring’ (lit. ‘the Vár of the noise-band’; cf. Þul Boga 1/3, where þrymr ‘noise’ is listed as a bow-heiti) to refer to the giantess Skaði, daughter of Þjazi, who is said in Gylf (SnE 2005, 24) to live in the mountains at Þrymheimr, Þjazi’s home, where she travels around on skis with bow and arrows and shoots game (she is referred to as ǫndurgoð ‘ski-deity’ in st. 7/4). It is not entirely clear why an ox should be termed Skaði’s whale, unless to emphasise its large size and appropriateness as quarry of a giant huntress – after all the party of gods had come upon a herd of oxen in their travels through mountains and wildernesses, according to Skm. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 323) suggests that whales could be seen as Njǫrðr’s oxen, alluding to the mythological circumstance that Skaði was unhappily married to Njǫrðr, god of the sea, but this seems rather far-fetched. Kock (NN §137) adopts the form Vôru rather than Várar in l. 2 and, basing himself (NN §2504) on a statement in Magnús Ólafsson’s Laufás Edda (LaufE 1979, 266) which could be understood to mean that hvalr þrymseilar alone is a kenning for an ox, he construes Vôru with an emended þægiligr ‘acceptable, agreeable’ (l. 4) to mean ‘acceptable to Vár’. Marold (1983, 158-9) construes þekkiligr Vôru ‘acceptable to Vár’ with dróttinn foldar ‘lord of the earth’ (rather than the ox-kenning) and emends l. 4 to hval seilar Þryms ‘whale of the rope of Þrymr <giant> [OX]’, i.e. Þrymr’s draught animal.
þrymseilar ‘of the bowstring’
(not checked:)
þrymseil (noun f.)
kennings
hval Várar þrymseilar‘the whale of the Vár of the bowstring ’
= OX
the Vár of the bowstring → Skaði
the whale of SKAÐI → OX
notes
[2, 4] hval Várar þrymseilar ‘the whale of the Vár <goddess> of the bowstring [= Skaði > OX]’: None of the proposed readings of these lines are entirely satisfactory. Most eds emend the mss’ various forms to Várar, gen. sg. of the goddess name Vár, and understand the kenning Vár þrymseilar ‘the Vár of the bowstring’ (lit. ‘the Vár of the noise-band’; cf. Þul Boga 1/3, where þrymr ‘noise’ is listed as a bow-heiti) to refer to the giantess Skaði, daughter of Þjazi, who is said in Gylf (SnE 2005, 24) to live in the mountains at Þrymheimr, Þjazi’s home, where she travels around on skis with bow and arrows and shoots game (she is referred to as ǫndurgoð ‘ski-deity’ in st. 7/4). It is not entirely clear why an ox should be termed Skaði’s whale, unless to emphasise its large size and appropriateness as quarry of a giant huntress – after all the party of gods had come upon a herd of oxen in their travels through mountains and wildernesses, according to Skm. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 323) suggests that whales could be seen as Njǫrðr’s oxen, alluding to the mythological circumstance that Skaði was unhappily married to Njǫrðr, god of the sea, but this seems rather far-fetched. Kock (NN §137) adopts the form Vôru rather than Várar in l. 2 and, basing himself (NN §2504) on a statement in Magnús Ólafsson’s Laufás Edda (LaufE 1979, 266) which could be understood to mean that hvalr þrymseilar alone is a kenning for an ox, he construes Vôru with an emended þægiligr ‘acceptable, agreeable’ (l. 4) to mean ‘acceptable to Vár’. Marold (1983, 158-9) construes þekkiligr Vôru ‘acceptable to Vár’ with dróttinn foldar ‘lord of the earth’ (rather than the ox-kenning) and emends l. 4 to hval seilar Þryms ‘whale of the rope of Þrymr <giant> [OX]’, i.e. Þrymr’s draught animal.
hval ‘the whale’
(not checked:)
hvalr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-; -ir/-ar): whale
kennings
hval Várar þrymseilar‘the whale of the Vár of the bowstring ’
= OX
the Vár of the bowstring → Skaði
the whale of SKAÐI → OX
notes
[2, 4] hval Várar þrymseilar ‘the whale of the Vár <goddess> of the bowstring [= Skaði > OX]’: None of the proposed readings of these lines are entirely satisfactory. Most eds emend the mss’ various forms to Várar, gen. sg. of the goddess name Vár, and understand the kenning Vár þrymseilar ‘the Vár of the bowstring’ (lit. ‘the Vár of the noise-band’; cf. Þul Boga 1/3, where þrymr ‘noise’ is listed as a bow-heiti) to refer to the giantess Skaði, daughter of Þjazi, who is said in Gylf (SnE 2005, 24) to live in the mountains at Þrymheimr, Þjazi’s home, where she travels around on skis with bow and arrows and shoots game (she is referred to as ǫndurgoð ‘ski-deity’ in st. 7/4). It is not entirely clear why an ox should be termed Skaði’s whale, unless to emphasise its large size and appropriateness as quarry of a giant huntress – after all the party of gods had come upon a herd of oxen in their travels through mountains and wildernesses, according to Skm. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 323) suggests that whales could be seen as Njǫrðr’s oxen, alluding to the mythological circumstance that Skaði was unhappily married to Njǫrðr, god of the sea, but this seems rather far-fetched. Kock (NN §137) adopts the form Vôru rather than Várar in l. 2 and, basing himself (NN §2504) on a statement in Magnús Ólafsson’s Laufás Edda (LaufE 1979, 266) which could be understood to mean that hvalr þrymseilar alone is a kenning for an ox, he construes Vôru with an emended þægiligr ‘acceptable, agreeable’ (l. 4) to mean ‘acceptable to Vár’. Marold (1983, 158-9) construes þekkiligr Vôru ‘acceptable to Vár’ with dróttinn foldar ‘lord of the earth’ (rather than the ox-kenning) and emends l. 4 to hval seilar Þryms ‘whale of the rope of Þrymr <giant> [OX]’, i.e. Þrymr’s draught animal.
deila ‘share out’
(not checked:)
2. deila (verb; °-ld-): share out, deal
Enn ‘But’
(not checked:)
2. en (conj.): but, and
af ‘from’
(not checked:)
af (prep.): from
breiðu ‘the broad’
(not checked:)
breiðr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): broad, wide
bjóði ‘food-board’
(not checked:)
1. bjóðr (noun m.): table, ground
bragðvíss ‘the cunning’
(not checked:)
bragðvíss (adj.): [cunning]
kennings
bragðvíss ósvífrandi ása‘the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods ’
= Þjazi
the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods → Þjazi
notes
[6, 7] bragðvíss ósvífrandi ása ‘the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods [= Þjazi]’: Both Holtsmark (1949, 23-4) and Marold (1983, 159-60) consider this kenning refers to Loki, not Þjazi, the latter on the ground that, as Loki was instructed to carve the ox in the first helmingr, he should be the expected subject of the second, which describes the division of the beast. This argument is not supported by the narrative of Skm (see Note to [All] above). The cpd ósvífrandi is related etymologically to the strong verb svífa ‘swing, float, hover’; cf. the adj. ósvífr ‘unyielding, bold’ (AEW: svífa).
lagði ‘snatched’
(not checked:)
leggja (verb): put, lay
ósvífrandi ‘unyielding opponent’
(not checked:)
ósvifrandi (noun m.): unyielding
[7] ósvífrandi: ósviptandi W
kennings
bragðvíss ósvífrandi ása‘the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods ’
= Þjazi
the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods → Þjazi
notes
[6, 7] bragðvíss ósvífrandi ása ‘the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods [= Þjazi]’: Both Holtsmark (1949, 23-4) and Marold (1983, 159-60) consider this kenning refers to Loki, not Þjazi, the latter on the ground that, as Loki was instructed to carve the ox in the first helmingr, he should be the expected subject of the second, which describes the division of the beast. This argument is not supported by the narrative of Skm (see Note to [All] above). The cpd ósvífrandi is related etymologically to the strong verb svífa ‘swing, float, hover’; cf. the adj. ósvífr ‘unyielding, bold’ (AEW: svífa).
ása ‘of the gods’
(not checked:)
2. Áss (noun m.; °áss, dat. ási/ás; ásar): god
kennings
bragðvíss ósvífrandi ása‘the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods ’
= Þjazi
the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods → Þjazi
notes
[6, 7] bragðvíss ósvífrandi ása ‘the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods [= Þjazi]’: Both Holtsmark (1949, 23-4) and Marold (1983, 159-60) consider this kenning refers to Loki, not Þjazi, the latter on the ground that, as Loki was instructed to carve the ox in the first helmingr, he should be the expected subject of the second, which describes the division of the beast. This argument is not supported by the narrative of Skm (see Note to [All] above). The cpd ósvífrandi is related etymologically to the strong verb svífa ‘swing, float, hover’; cf. the adj. ósvífr ‘unyielding, bold’ (AEW: svífa).
upp ‘up’
(not checked:)
upp (adv.): up
þjór ‘ox’
(not checked:)
þjórr (noun m.; °; -ar): [ox] < þjórhlutr (noun m.)
[8] þjór‑: ‘þio[…]’ R, ‘þiorir’ Tˣ, ‘þor’ W
hluti ‘parts’
(not checked:)
hlutr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -i/-; -ir, acc. -i/-u): part, thing < þjórhlutr (noun m.)
[8] ‑hluti: so W, ‘hlifi’ R, ‘luti’ Tˣ
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
|
Fljótt bað foldar dróttinn |
The gracious lord of the earth [= Óðinn] bade the son of Fárbauti <giant> [= Loki] share out quickly the whale of the Vár <goddess> of the bowstring [= Skaði > OX] among the fellows. But the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods [= Þjazi] thereupon snatched four ox-parts up from the broad food-board.
As for st. 1.
Lines 1-4 of this stanza recall the first helmingr of st. 4, both in subject-matter and vocabulary. The difference is that in st. 4 Þjazi is represented as disrupting the orderly sharing of food by trying to take over Óðinn’s role as leader and chief food-distributor. In st. 5/1-4 Óðinn reasserts his authority (and the kenning for Óðinn reflects this, just as that for Þjazi in st. 4/5 alerts one to his usurping of Óðinn’s role), and this forces Þjazi to snatch far more than his fair share of the ox, four parts, described in the prose narrative of Skm (SnE 1998, I, 1) as lær oxans tvau ok báða bógana ‘the ox’s two thighs and both shoulders’.
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