Eil Þdr 1III/2 — nets ‘net’
Flugstalla réð felli*
fjǫrnets goða at hvetja
— drjúgr vas Loptr at ljúga —
lǫgseims faðir heiman.
Geðreynir kvað grœnar
Gauts herþrumu brautir
vilgi tryggr til veggjar
viggs Geirrøðar liggja.
Faðir lǫgseims réð at hvetja felli* fjǫrnets goða flugstalla heiman; Loptr vas drjúgr at ljúga. Vilgi tryggr geðreynir Gauts herþrumu kvað grœnar brautir liggja til viggs veggjar Geirrøðar.
The father of the sea-thread [= Miðgarðsormr > = Loki] decided to goad the preparer of the life-net [KILLER] of the gods of precipice-altars [MOUNTAINS > GIANTS > = Þórr] to leave home; Loptr <= Loki> was assidious at lying. The by no means trustworthy mind-tester of the Gautr <= Óðinn> of host-thunder [BATTLE > WARRIOR = Þórr > = Loki] said that green paths lay towards the steed of the wall [HOUSE] of Geirrøðr <giant>.
readings
[2] ‑nets: ‘‑niotz’ R, ‘‑motz’ Tˣ, ‘natz’ W
notes
[1-2] felli* fjǫrnets ‘the preparer of the life-net [KILLER]’: Lit. ‘one who casts his net for the life (of a person)’. Most eds emend fellir m. nom. sg. (so all mss) to felli m. acc. sg.; only Genzmer (1934, 65) retains the nom. fellir (for his interpretation see below). Fjǫrnets has been emended in accordance with most eds, following Konráð Gíslason (see Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 375), as none of the ms. readings makes any sense (‘-niotz’ R, ‘‑motz’ Tˣ or ‘natz’ W). Fjǫrnets has been explained in various ways. This edn follows Björn Magnússon Ólsen (1902, 201-3), who offers the most convincing interpretation. According to him, fjǫrnets must mean ‘the net in which life gets caught’; cf. laxanet ‘salmon net’ and þorskanet ‘cod net’. For fella net Björn Magnússon Ólsen (ibid.) arrives at the meaning ‘prepare the net’ in light of lexical material from Modern Icelandic and Norwegian; the resulting interpretation is ‘the preparer of the net for (the giants’) lives’. Guðmundur Finnbogason (1924, 173) and Davidson (1983, 567) concur. Davidson (ibid.) suggests that this could be an allusion to the myth of Þórr as the fisher who catches Miðgarðsormr. Finnur Jónsson (1900b, 376) interprets fjǫrnet as an image for ‘life’, livet set under bildet af et knytted næt ‘life reflected in the image of a meshed net’; hence fellir fjǫrnets is ‘killer’. Genzmer (1934, 65) points out that life cannot be killed and he adopts Björn Magnússon Ólsen’s interpretation ‘who prepares (casts) the net for the life’. He combines fellir fjǫrnets with goða ‘of the gods’ only, however, and interprets ‘the caster of the net for the lives of the gods’ as a kenning for Loki (Genzmer 1934, 68), which he takes as the subject of the sentence. Kock (NN §443) emends to fjǫrnjóts ‘one who enjoys living (or life) with another’, which he connects with goða flugstalla ‘of the gods of the mountains [GIANTS]’ to form a giant-kenning. However, fjǫr is not attested in the sense ‘living together’ and, moreover, fjǫrnjóts fails to supply the needed aðalhending in this line. Elsewhere, Kock (NN §2249, followed by Reichardt 1948, 332), gives a different and doubtful interpretation, suggesting that the correct word could be fjǫrnnet, meaning ‘earth-net’, supposedly a periphrasis for ‘sea’. He combines this with flugstalla, which results in ‘steep bluff by the sea’.
kennings
- felli* fjǫrnets — the preparer of the life-net [KILLER]
- felli* fjǫrnets goða flugstalla — the preparer of the life-net of the gods of precipice-altars [= Þórr]