StarkSt Vík 32^VIII (Gautr 40)

Sjá þykkjaz þeir         á sjálfum mér
jötunkuml         átta handa,
er Hlórriði         fyr hamar norðan
Hergríms bana         höndum rænti.

Þeir þykkjaz sjá jötunkuml átta handa á mér sjálfum, er Hlórriði rænti {bana Hergríms} höndum fyr norðan hamar.

They think they can see the giant-marks of the eight arms on myself where Hlórriði <= Þórr> tore off the arms {of Hergrímr’s slayer} [= Starkaðr] north of the crag.

Mss: 590b-cˣ(6v) (Gautr)

Editions: Skj AII, 328, Skj BII, 348, Skald II, 188, FF §29; FSN 3, 37, Gautr 1900, 33, FSGJ 4, 34; Edd. Min. 43.

Context: As for Gautr 39.

Notes: [All]: This stanza refers to an episode in Starkaðr’s early life, also probably alluded to in the use of the word tjálgur ‘branches’ in Vík 5/2 (Gautr 13). This episode is known to Saxo (Saxo 2015, I, vi. 5. 2, pp. 378-9) and the composer of the prose Gautr (Gautr 1900, 11-13), as well as to the composer of the redaction of Heiðr in UppsUB R715ˣ, though in each case the story is slightly different, the main difference being that in some accounts an older, additional generation of giantlike beings with the names of Starkaðr and Stórvirkr precedes that of the Starkaðr central to Gautr and Vík. Saxo reports that Starkaðr was thought to have been born a giant with six arms. The god Þórr cut off four of them to give Starkaðr human form. Line 4 of this stanza claims he originally had eight arms, and the beginning of Heiðr according to R715ˣ gives the same number (Heiðr 1924, 90; Heiðr 1960, 67), but attributes this peculiarity to the older Starkaðr Áludrengr (see below). Vetrl Lv 1/3^III lists Starkaðr as one of the giants that Þórr attacked and slew. Earlier in the prose text of Gautr (Gautr 1900, 12) the connection of Starkaðr’s giant family with Þórr is established, though the motif of the god’s tearing off Starkaðr’s extra arms is not mentioned. It is told there that Starkaðr’s father Stórvirkr was the son of an exceedingly wise giant named Starkaðr Áludrengr, and a woman named Álfhildr, daughter of King Álfr of Álfheimr, whom he abducted from her father. Þórr killed Starkaðr senior at the insistence of King Álfr because of this abduction. A similar account appears in the R715ˣ version of Heiðr (Heiðr 1924, 91; Heiðr 1960, 66-7). — [3]: This line is in kviðuháttr. — [3-4] jötunkuml átta handa ‘the giant-marks of the eight arms’: That is, the scars on his body where Þórr had torn off Starkaðr’s superfluous arms. They are giant marks in that they indicate Starkaðr’s giant nature; jötunkuml is a hap. leg. — [5-8]: This helmingr refers to an event in Starkaðr’s life which is not attested elsewhere except in the R715ˣ version of Heiðr, and there it is associated with Starkaðr Áludrengr. Ms. R715ˣ tells that a certain Hergrímr hálftrǫll ‘Half-troll’ abducted a woman named Ǫgn Álfasprengi from Jǫtunheimar, while Starkaðr Áludrengr, to whom she had been betrothed, was away in the north beyond the rivers Élivágar (cf. Vafþr 31/1, SnE 2005, 9, 10). When Starkaðr returned he challenged Hergrímr to single combat for the woman. They fought við inn efsta fors at Eiði ‘by the uppermost waterfall at Eið’ and Starkaðr killed Hergrímr though he did not get back his betrothed, who committed suicide. It is not said that Þórr had anything to do with the Hergrímr episode, as ll. 5-8 of this stanza seem to imply. However, this narrative is very similar to another, told shortly after the first in the R715ˣ version of Heiðr, in which Þórr kills Starkaðr because he abducted another woman, Álfhildr, against her father’s wishes. On this, see Note to [All] above. — [5] Hlórriði ‘Hlórriði <= Þórr>’: On this name for the god Þórr, see Note to Þul Þórs l. 5^III. — [6] fyr norðan hamar ‘north of the crag’: It is not certain whether this is a reference to a particular place or to a generalised rocky, northern setting appropriate to giants. Skj B and Skald capitalise Hamarr as a p. n. It is possible that R715ˣ’s location of the fight between Starkaðr and Hergrímr as ‘by the uppermost waterfall at Eið’ refers to the same place; Eið ‘isthmus’ is a common p. n. (see Note to Sigv Austv 2/1^I).

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. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
8. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
9. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
10. Gautr 1900 = Ranisch, Wilhelm, ed. 1900. Die Gautrekssaga in zwei Fassungen. Palaestra 11. Berlin: Mayer & Müller.
11. Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
12. Saxo 2015 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford Medieval Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
13. Internal references
14. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Gautreks saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 241. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=9> (accessed 23 April 2024)
15. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 23 April 2024)
16. Not published: do not cite ()
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (forthcoming), ‘ Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3118> (accessed 23 April 2024)
18. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Þórs heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 758. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3186> (accessed 23 April 2024)
19. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur 2’ 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. 585.
20. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2017, ‘Vetrliði Sumarliðason, Lausavísa 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. 425.
21. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 13 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 259.
22. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 39 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 31)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 283.