Eil Þdr 9III/1 — Fríðar ‘of Fríðr’
Óðu fast, en Fríðar
flaut, eiðsvara Gauta
setrs víkingar snotrir
sverðrunnit fen, gunnar.
Þurði hrǫnn at herði
hauðrs run*kykva nauðar
jarðar skafls af afli
áss hretviðri blásin,
Eiðsvara víkingar setrs Gauta, snotrir gunnar, óðu fast, en sverðrunnit fen Fríðar flaut. Hretviðri blásin hrǫnn áss þurði af afli at herði nauðar skafls jarðar hauðrs run*kykva,
The oath-bound vikings of the seat of Gauti <= Óðinn> [= Ásgarðr > = Þórr and Þjálfi], wise in war, waded firmly, and the sword-filled fen of Fríðr <female mythical being> [RIVER] flowed. The tempest-blown wave of the ridge [RIVER] rushed mightily at the strengthener of the distress [TORMENTOR] of the quickeners of the stream of the land of the snow-drift of the earth [(lit. ‘stream-quickeners of the land of the snow-drift of the earth’) RIDGE > MOUNTAIN > RIVER > GIANTESSES > = Þórr],
notes
[1, 4] sverðrunnit fen Fríðar ‘the sword-filled fen of Fríðr <female mythical being> [RIVER]’: Sverðrunnit lit. ‘running with swords’. Kock (NN §2250, followed by Reichardt 1948, 354) rightly rejects Finnur Jónsson’s (1900b, 385-6; Skj B) emendation to svarðrunnit ‘streaming over the greensward’. He calls attention to Slíðr, the sword-filled underworld river in Vsp 36/1-4 (also mentioned in Grí 28/6), and the phrase hlaupár hjalts ‘the fast-flowing streams of the sword’ in st. 6/3, 4 (see Note there) is enough to justify adhering to the mss here. In both places, the river appears to be personified as a female mythical figure whose name does not have a determinant. The same is true of Mǫrn (st. 8; cf. st. 10/5). Finnur Jónsson’s emendation to svarðrunnit, lit. ‘flowing over the scalp’ (adopted by Clunies Ross 1981, 375), goes against all mss and is only comprehensible on the unexpressed assumption that grass, seen as the hair of the earth, makes the ‘scalp of the earth’ a field or meadow.
kennings
- sverðrunnit fen Fríðar — the sword-filled fen of Fríðr <female mythical being> [RIVER]