Ormr Woman 6^III

Hróðrar njóti funa Fríðr
— Fundins mærða*k salar grund —
(fastan lagðak flagðs gust)
fjarðar (á brims garð).

{Fríðr {funa fjarðar}} njóti hróðrar; mærða*k {grund {salar Fundins}}; lagðak {fastan gust flagðs} á {garð brims}.

May {the Fríðr <goddess> {of the fire of the fjord}} [GOLD > WOMAN] enjoy my praise; I honoured {the land {of the hall of Fundinn <dwarf>}} [STONE > WOMAN]; I set {my steadfast gust of the troll-woman} [MIND] on {the fence of the surf} [WAVE].

Mss: 2368ˣ(132), 738ˣ(124v), 1496ˣ(54v) (LaufE)

Readings: [2] mærða*k: mærda og 2368ˣ, mærðar ok 738ˣ, 1496ˣ

Editions: LaufE 1979, 397; Jón Helgason 1966a, 177.

Context: The fragment is quoted in LaufE with the heading ein half staka ‘a half-stanza’ (2368ˣ, 738ˣ) or vísa ‘verse’ (1496ˣ) and lacks any explicit connection to the immediate context. Since it immediately follows the section on kennings for ‘shield’, in which garðr is a cited base-word, possibly the phrase garð brims (‘fence of the surf’) must have been interpreted as such a kenning.

Notes: [1, 4] Fríðr funa fjarðar ‘the Fríðr <goddess> of the fire of the fjord [GOLD > WOMAN]’: The goddess-name Fríðr is not noted in SnE but has five attestations in kennings for ‘woman’ (Meissner 405; cf. LP: Fríðr). The first two elements in this kenning Fríðr funa ‘the Fríðr of fire’, prominently placed at the end of l. 1 and separated from the remaining kenning element fjarðar in line 4, could be interpreted as alluding by way of an antonym to the name Snæfríðr (‘snow-Fríðr’). The poet’s dedicatee in the frame would thus be contrasted via paronomasia with the female protagonist in the inset story. For skaldic treatment of fire and snow as antonyms see Poole (1982, 129-30). For contrastive naming via antonyms cf. Ísodd bjarta ‘Isolt the bright’ and Ísodd svarta ‘Isolt the black’ in Tristrams saga. — [2] mærða*k ‘I honoured’: Emendation suggested by Jón Helgason (1966a). — [2] salar Fundins ‘of the hall of Fundinn <dwarf> [STONE]’: This kenning type is based on the belief that dwarfs live in rocks and mountains (Reichborn-Kjennerud 1934a, 280); only three attestations of the type occur (Meissner 89). The apparent clustering of dwarf-heiti here and in st. 5/4 above is appropriate to the theme of Snæfríðardrápa, since Snæfríðr’s father Svási was himself a dwarf according to Flat. Cf. also the dwarf-names in Hhárf Snædr 1/5, 7^I. — [3-4]: The collocation gust fjarðar á garð brims ‘the gust of the fjord on the fence of the surf’ maintains continuity of images relating to wind at sea. — [3] gust flagðs ‘gust of the troll-woman [MIND]’: A well-established kenning type whose rationale is not fully clear (Meissner 138-9; see also Quinn 2012). — [4] garð brims ‘the fence of the surf [WAVE]’: This must be a kenning for ‘wave’, formed according to the pattern ‘mountain/cliff/crag of the sea’ (Meissner 99). It is evidently an ofljóst construction for the name of the poet’s beloved, which might have been Sæunn lit. ‘Sea-wave’, Unnr ‘Wave’ or similar (Jón Helgason 1966a).

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Jón Helgason. 1966a. ‘Verse aus der Laufás-Edda’. In Rudolph et al. 1966, 175-80.
6. Poole, Russell. 1982. ‘Ormr Steinþórsson and the Snjófríðardrápa’. ANF 97, 122-37.
7. Reichborn-Kjennerud, Ingjald. 1934a. ‘Den gamle dvergetro’. In Rooth 1934, 278-88.
8. Quinn, Judy. 2012. ‘The “Wind of the Giantess”: Snorri Sturluson, Rudolf Meissner and the Interpretation of Mythological Kennings along Taxonomic Lines’. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 8, 207-59.
9. Internal references
10. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
11. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Haraldr hárfagri Hálfdanarson, Snæfríðardrápa 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. 68.
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 26 April 2024)