Bragi Þórr 2^III

Vaðr lá Viðris arfa
vilgi slakr, es rakðisk,
á Eynæfis ǫndri,
Jǫrmungandr at sandi.

Vaðr {arfa Viðris} lá vilgi slakr á {ǫndri Eynæfis}, es Jǫrmungandr rakðisk at sandi.

The fishing line {of Viðrir’s <= Óðinn’s> heir} [= Þórr] lay not at all slack on {the ski of Eynæfir <sea-king>} [SHIP], when Jǫrmungandr <= Miðgarðsormr> unwound himself on the sand.

Mss: R(21v), Tˣ(22r), W(47), U(27v) (SnE)

Readings: [2] es (‘er’): né U    [3] Eynæfis: so U, ‘eynefis’ R, Tˣ, ‘ænefis’ W;    ǫndri: andri Tˣ, ‘an[…]’ U

Editions: Skj AI, 4, Skj BI, 4, Skald I, 2, NN §219; SnE 1848-87, I, 252-5, II, 308, III, 15, SnE 1931, 95, SnE 1998, I, 14-15.

Context: This helmingr, along with sts 3 and 4, are quoted in the section of Skm that deals with kennings for the god Þórr. Stanza 2 is introduced by the clause Svá kvað Bragi skáld ‘Thus spoke Bragi the poet’.

Notes: [All]: Both Skj and Skald place this helmingr after what is here st. 3, but equally good sense (in terms of the known myth) is created by the sequence adopted here, which also follows the order in which sts 2, 3 and 4 are cited in Skm. According to this reading, Þórr perceives his fishing line go taut against the side of the ship (Bragi uses litotes to describe this) as the World Serpent uncoils itself on the sea-floor, having swallowed Þórr’s baited hook, before the god raises his hammer (see st. 3) in readiness to strike his adversary’s head as it emerges from the waves. Other interpretations of the stanza are possible. Skj B understands Miðgarðsormr to unwind upon the sand after Þórr has pulled him up from the bottom da midgårdsormen efterhånden (ved optrækningen) slæbtes henad sandbunden ‘when the Midgard serpent gradually (in the course of being pulled up) was dragged towards the sandy bottom’, while Kock (NN §219), followed by Turville-Petre (1976, 5), combines lá vilgi slakr at sandi and rakðisk á Eynæfis ǫndri ‘[the fishing line] lay by no means slack upon the sand [when Jǫrmungandr] unwound himself upon Eynæfir’s ski’. — [3] á ǫndri Eynæfis ‘on the ski of Eynæfir <sea-king> [SHIP]’: The same ship-kenning occurs in Anon Krm 11/3^VIII (Ragn). See also Þul Sækonunga 2/1 and Note there. — [4] Jǫrmungandr: A name for the World Serpent, Miðgarðsormr, occurring in Vsp 50/3, probably meaning ‘The powerful staff’; cf. LP: gandr 1, jǫrmungandr; LT: iǫrmun-gandr. — [4] at sandi ‘on the sand’: Understood here as the sand of the sea-floor not the sea-shore.

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. 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. Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1976. Scaldic Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon.
8. LT = La Farge, Beatrice and John Tucker. 1992. Glossary to the Poetic Edda, based on Hans Kuhn’s Kurzes Wörterbuch. Skandinavistische Arbeiten 15. Heidelberg: Winter.
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. Internal references
12. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 16 April 2024)
13. (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 16 April 2024)
14. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 11’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 738.
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 680.
16. Not published: do not cite ()