Þdís Þórr 2^III

Ball í Keilu kolli,
Kjallandi brauzt alla,
áðr drapt Lút ok Leiða,
lézt dreyra Búseyru,
heptir Hengjankjǫptu,
Hyrrokkin dó fyrri,
þó vas snemr in sáma
Svívǫr numin lífi.

Ball í kolli Keilu, brauzt alla Kjallandi, áðr drapt Lút ok Leiða, lézt dreyra Búseyru, heptir Hengjankjǫptu, Hyrrokkin dó fyrri, þó vas snemr in sáma Svívǫr numin lífi.

There was a clang on Keila’s crown, you broke all of Kjallandi, you had already killed Lútr and Leiði, you caused Búseyra to bleed, you bring Hengjankjǫpta to a halt, Hyrrokkin had died previously, yet the swarthy Svívǫr was [even] earlier deprived of life.

Mss: R(22r), Tˣ(22v), W(47), U(28r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Ball: Gall W;    kolli: kosti Tˣ    [2] Kjall‑: ‘kall‑’ U    [3] Lút: lit U;    Leiða: ‘loþa’ U    [5] heptir (‘heftir þv’): so W, ‘hepp ok þv’ R, Tˣ, heptuð U;    Hengjan‑: ‘hengiann’ W, ‘hangan’ U;    ‑kjǫptu: so Tˣ, W, ‘keoptv’ R, ‘kepto’ U    [6] Hyrrokkin: ‘hyr rærin’ U    [7] snemr: meirr U;    sáma: mæra U    [8] lífi: so all others, lífa R

Editions: Skj AI, 144, Skj BI, 135, Skald I, 74; SnE 1848-87, I, 260-1, II, 310, III, 19, SnE 1931, 97, SnE 1998, I, 17.

Notes: [All]: Most of the verbs in this stanza, with the exception of ball ‘there was a clang, it resounded’ (l. 1), dó ‘[she] had died’ (l. 6) and vas ‘was’ (l. 7), which are in the 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic., are 2nd pers. sg. forms, directly addressing Þórr. In order to produce metrically regular lines, it has been necessary to delete the suffixed or free-standing 2nd pers. sg. pronouns that accompany them in all mss, except for U’s heptuð (l. 5), which is 2nd pers. pl., a form favoured by Skj B and Skald, but rejected here in favour of W’s heptir, which is supported by the reading of R, Tˣ, where the scribes seem to have misunderstood an abbreviated <tir>. — [All]: Little or nothing is known about a number of Þórr’s giant adversaries listed in this stanza, most of them female. His killing of giantesses and other supernatural females seems to have been well known; cf. Hárb 23, 37-9. — [1] Keilu ‘Keila’s’: An otherwise unknown giantess. The common noun keila appears in a þula as a kind of fish, cusk or tusk (Brosmius brosme), much used for stockfish in Scandinavia (Þul Fiska 4/4) and also in a list of heiti for a hen in ms. B (Þul Hana 1/7). The underlying meaning seems to be ‘narrow crevice in a ravine, waterway’ (AEW: keila), a sense probably transferred to the female sexual organs. — [2] Kjallandi: Otherwise only listed among names for troll-women (Þul Trollkvenna 5/4). — [3] Lút ok Leiða ‘Lútr and Leiði’: Apparently giants, although all the other beings listed in this stanza are female. Lútr ‘stooped, bent’ is the name of one of the children of thralls in Rþ 12/9. — [5] Hengjankjǫptu (acc.) ‘Hengjankjǫpta’: Lit. ‘female with a dewlap or drooping jaw’. Þul Trollkvenna 2/2 records a form Hengikepta. — [6] Hyrrokkin: ‘One withered by fire’. Cf. Þul Trollkvenna 2/1 and Note. Name of the giantess who attended the god Baldr’s cremation riding on a wolf with snakes for reins, and managed to launch the god’s funeral ship. This enraged Þórr, who was restrained from killing her then and there, according to Gylf (SnE 2005, 46). Úlfr Uggason treats this subject in Húsdr 11, although he does not name the giantess. It is not known whether Þorbjǫrn is referring to this occasion or to some other, when he says that Hyrrokkin had died previously. It is generally assumed that the Viking-Age carving on DR 284, originally from Hunnestad, Skåne (see DRI I, 284), and now in Lund, represents Hyrrokkin riding the wolf with snakes for reins. — [8] Svívǫr: Nothing is known of this giantess; Þul Trollkvenna 3/7 mentions a Sívǫr. LP: Sívǫr suggests this name means ‘always cautious’; not very plausible, as most giantess-names seem to be pejorative. Simek (1993, 308) proposes ‘shame-mouth’ for Svívǫr, with the second element from vǫrr ‘lip’. For other possible etymologies, see Note to Þul Trollkvenna 3/7.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
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. DRI = Jacobsen, Lis and Erik Moltke. 1941-2. Danmarks Runeindskrifter. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
8. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
12. Internal references
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 16 April 2024)
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna 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. 725.
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna 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. 727.
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna heiti 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. 730.
18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hana 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. 947.
19. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fiska heiti 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. 856.
20. Not published: do not cite ()
21. Not published: do not cite ()
22. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Úlfr Uggason, Húsdrápa 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 422.