ESk Øxfl 1^III

Þars Mardallar milli
(meginhurðar) liggr skurða
(Gauts berum galla þrútinn)
grátr (dalreyðar látra).

Þars {grátr Mardallar} liggr milli skurða; berum {galla {meginhurðar Gauts}}, þrútinn {látra {dalreyðar}}.

Where {the tears of Mardǫll <= Freyja>} [GOLD] lie between the grooves; we [I] carry {the destroyer {of Gautr’s <= Óðinn’s> mighty door}} [SHIELD > AXE/SWORD], swollen {with lairs {of the valley-char}} [SNAKE > GOLD].

Mss: R(28r), Tˣ(29r), W(73) (SnE)

Readings: [2] ‑hurðar: urð þar W    [3] þrútinn: so Tˣ, W, ‘þrvttinn’ R

Editions: Skj AI, 477, Skj BI, 449, Skald I, 221; SnE 1848-87, I, 346-7, III, 56, SnE 1931, 125, SnE 1998, I, 43.

Context: Grátr Mardallar ‘Mardǫll’s tears, weeping’ is given in Skm as one of several kennings for ‘gold’.

Notes: [All]: The first clause must belong syntactically to the previous, no longer extant half-stanza. — [All]: The stanza is attributed to Einarr Skúlason in all mss. — [1, 4] grátr Mardallar ‘the tears of Mardǫll <= Freyja> [GOLD]’: Lit. ‘the weeping of Mardǫll’. According to Old Norse myth, the goddess Freyja wept tears of gold for her husband, Óðr (SnE 2005, 29): Óðr fór í braut langar leiðir, en Freyja grætr eptir, en tár hennar er gull rautt ‘Óðr went away on long journeys, and Freyja weeps for him, and her tear is red gold’. See also Note to Anon Bjark 5/6. — [2, 3] galla meginhurðar Gauts ‘the destroyer of Gautr’s <= Óðinn’s> mighty door [SHIELD > AXE/SWORD]’: This kenning is ambiguous (see Introduction above). — [4] látra dalreyðar ‘with lairs of the valley-char [SNAKE > GOLD]’: Lit. ‘of lairs of the valley-char’. This phrase qualifies þrútinn ‘swollen’ (see SnE 1998, II, 342: látr and NS §§104, 137). Usually one would expect the qualifier to be in the dat. rather than in the gen. (see Fritzner: þrútinn). Reyðr is a fish, the Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), but the word can also mean ‘whale’ (any whale of the species Balaenoptera). See Notes to Steinn Óldr 11/7^II, Sturl Hrafn 7/8^II, Þul Fiska 2/2 and Þul Hvala 1/5.

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. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
5. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
6. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
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. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Bjarkamál in fornu 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. 502.
11. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘(Biography of) Einarr Skúlason’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 140.
12. (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 27 April 2024)
13. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fiska 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. 853.
14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hvala 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. 858.
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 376-7.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hrafnsmál 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 733-4.