Anon Bjark 5^III

Ýtti ǫrr hilmir         — aldir við tóku —
Sifjar svarðfestum,         svelli dalnauðar,
tregum Otrs gjǫldum,         tôrum Mardallar,
eldi Órunar,         Iðja glysmôlum.

Ǫrr hilmir ýtti – aldir tóku við – {{svarðfestum} Sifjar}, {svelli {dalnauðar}}, {tregum gjǫldum Otrs}, {tôrum Mardallar}, {eldi Órunar}, {glysmôlum Iðja}.

The generous prince distributed – the men received [it] – {Sif’s <goddess’s> {scalp-cords}} [HAIR > GOLD], {ice {of the bow-compulsion}} [ARM > SILVER], {the reluctant payment for Otr} [GOLD], {the tears of Mardǫll <= Freyja>} [GOLD], {the fire of Órun <river>} [GOLD], {the shining speeches of Iði <giant>} [GOLD].

Mss: R(32v), Tˣ(34r), W(75), U(31r), A(10r), B(3v), 744ˣ(17r-v), C(4r) (SnE); papp10ˣ(42r), 2368ˣ(93), 743ˣ(73v) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] Ýtti: so all others, Veitti R;    hilmir: ‘hialmir’ Tˣ    [3] Sifjar: so W, U, A, papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ, svíar R, ‘su uar’ Tˣ, ‘siafar’ B, ‘sif[…]’ C;    svarð‑: svar‑ Tˣ;    ‑festum: ‑festi A    [4] dalnauðar: so all others, ‘dalnꜹnar’ R    [5] Otrs gjǫldum: ‘[…]’ B, ‘otrs gio᷎lldum’ 744ˣ    [6] Mardallar: ‘marþallar’ U, ‘[…]dallar’ B, mardallar 744ˣ    [7] Órunar: ‘odrunar’ Tˣ, ‘oranar’ W, ‘oronar’ U, ‘ǫlrvnar’ A, ‘o᷎runnar’ B, ‘arunar’ C, ‘Oränar’ papp10ˣ, ‘uranar’ 2368ˣ, ‘Uranar’ 743ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 181, Skj BI, 171, Skald I, 91; SnE 1848-87, I, 402-3, II, 321-2, 432, 516, 581, III, 68-9, SnE 1931, 143, SnE 1998, I, 60-1; LaufE 1979, 271-2, 349.

Context: As for st. 4.

Notes: [All]: Aside from the silver-kenning in l. 4, all the other kennings in this stanza are gold-kennings based on allusions to myths or mythological entities. — [1] ýtti ‘distributed’: Lit. ‘pushed’. This, the majority mss’ reading, alliterates, while R’s veitti ‘granted’ does not, nor is the verb veita compatible with the datives in ll. 3-8, since it takes the acc., not the dat., of what is granted. — [3] svarðfestum Sifjar ‘Sif’s <goddess’s> scalp-cords [HAIR > GOLD]’: This unique gold-kenning (cf. Meissner 226) depends upon a myth told in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 41-2) in which the god Loki once cut off the hair of Sif, wife of the god Þórr. The latter flew into a rage and demanded that Loki produce a substitute head of golden hair for Sif which would grow from her scalp as if it were natural. Loki managed to get some dwarfs to manufacture such an object, along with other precious possessions that the gods came to own. — [4] svelli dalnauðar ‘ice of the bow-compulsion [ARM > SILVER]’: Aside from the fact that this is the only silver-kenning in sts 4-6, it is also anomalous as being without a mythological basis. Dalnauðr ‘bow-compulsion’, a hap. leg., refers to the arm that impels the bow. — [5] tregum gjǫldum Otrs ‘the reluctant payment for Otr [GOLD]’: Lit. ‘of Otr’. A gold-kenning depending on a story told in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 45-6) of how the god Loki killed an otter, which turned out to be an anthropomorphic being, Otr ‘Otter’, son of Hreiðmarr and brother of Fáfnir and Reginn (see Notes to st. 4/4 and 4/6 above). The gods were forced to pay as much gold as was needed to fill the dead otter’s skin and cover it completely in compensation to his family, hence the payment can be described as tregr ‘reluctant’. The gold itself was obtained under duress from a dwarf named Andvari, who placed a curse on it to the effect that it was to cause the death of whoever possessed it. SnSt Ht 41/2 uses the gold-kenning otrgjǫld ‘otter-payments’; cf. Note to Bjark 4/6. — [6] tôrum Mardallar ‘the tears of Mardǫll <= Freyja> [GOLD]’: Mardǫll is an alternative name for the goddess Freyja (cf. Þul Ásynja 3/1-2 and 6), who is said to have wept tears of gold at the frequent absences of her peripatetic husband Óðr (SnE 2005, 29), possibly an alternative name for the god Óðinn. Gold-kennings of this type (Meissner 227) are not very common in early skaldic poetry (Þhorn Lv 1/2^I and Ólhelg Lv 9/6^I are the only examples, and the reading of the former is uncertain), but are used no less than four times by Einarr Skúlason in ESk Øxfl (1/1, 4, 2/1, 2, 3, 3/5, 8, 9/4), once (1/1, 4) referring to Freyja as Mardǫll, while SnSt Ht 42/6, 8 has the gold-kenning fagrregn hvarma Mardallar ‘the fair rain of the eyelids [TEARS] of Mardǫll <= Freyja> [GOLD]’. There is also a reference to Mardǫll’s tears in Anon Mhkv 8/3. — [7] eldi Órunar ‘the fire of Órun <river> [GOLD]’: Gold-kennings were commonly formed from base words meaning ‘fire’ and determinants referring to any body of water, including rivers (cf. Meissner 225, 229-37; SnE 1998, I, 41). The river-name Órun is recorded only here and in Þul Á 2/5, where it occurs as a substantivised adj. having the meaning ‘furious one’; see Note to that line. — [8] glysmôlum Iðja ‘the shining speeches of Iði <giant> [GOLD]’: This gold-kenning belongs to the type that depends on a mytheme related in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 3). It concerns a giant named Ǫlvaldi who owned a great deal of gold. When he died, his riches had to be distributed equally between his three sons, Þjazi, Iði and Gangr. They ensured a fair distribution of their inheritance by each taking exactly equal numbers of mouthfuls of gold, hence gold can be called the mouthful, voice or speech of giants or of one of these three giants (Meissner 227-8). This kenning type is first attested in an early poem, Bragi Frag 6/2-3; another example is at st. 6/3 below.

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. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
5. 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.
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 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 500.
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. Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1222.
14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Ásynja heiti 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. 768.
15. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Øxarflokkr’ 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. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1149> (accessed 27 April 2024)
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Á 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. 840.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Fragments 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 62.
18. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 9’ 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. 528.
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 41’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1150.
20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 42’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1151.
21. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Lausavísa 1’ 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. 117.