Eil Þdr 20III/3 — Synjar ‘of the Syn’
Glaums niðjum fór gǫrva
gramr með dreyrgum hamri;
of salvanið Synjar
sigr hlaut arinbrautar.
Kom at tvíviðar tívi,
tollurr karms þás harmi,
-brautar liðs, of beitti,
bekk- fall, jǫtuns rekka.
Gramr með dreyrgum hamri fór gǫrva niðjum Glaums; hlaut sigr of salvanið Synjar arinbrautar. Fall liðs bekkbrautar kom at tívi tvíviðar, þás tollurr karms of beitti rekka jǫtuns harmi.
The ruler with the bloody hammer [= Þórr] totally destroyed the descendants of Glaumr <giant> [GIANTS]; [he] gained victory over the hall-visitor of the Syn <goddess> of the hearth-stone-path [MOUNTAINS > GIANTESS > GIANT]. The fall of the retinue of the bench-road [HOUSE] came at the god of the bow [WARRIOR = Geirrøðr], when the pole of the wagon-cab [CHARIOTEER = Þórr] inflicted violence on the warriors of the giant.
readings
[3] Synjar: ‘syniot’ Tˣ, synja W
notes
[3, 4] salvanið Synjar arinbrautar ‘the hall-visitor of the Syn <goddess> of the hearth-stone-path [MOUNTAINS > GIANTESS > GIANT]’: This extended giant-kenning is formed according to the pattern ‘visitor of the giantess’. The base-word salvaniðr lit. means ‘one accustomed to the hall’. ‘Giantess’ is rendered according to the familiar pattern ‘goddess of the mountain’ in which ‘mountain’ is paraphrased by the kenning ‘path (i.e. whereabouts) of the hearth-stone’. Hearths were made of stone slabs; hence arinn denotes ‘stone’. The emendation of ‘brꜹti’ (R) to ‑brautar gen. is necessary to provide a determinant ‘stone’ or ‘mountain’ for Syn, a goddess (cf. Reichardt 1948, 386-7). Earlier solutions are not satisfactory, either because they employ tmesis extensively (cf. Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 399; Skj B: arin-Synjar salvanið-bauti ‘the killer of the visitor of stone-Syn’) or because of multiple emendations and incoherent syntax. Among the latter are Kock’s (NN §467) of Synjar salvaniðs Arinbauta ‘over the Syn <goddess> of the one who is used to the hall of Arinbauti (the hearth-hammerer)’ and Kiil’s (1956, 160) arinbauti laut of sigr salvaniðs Synjar ‘Arinbauti [stone-putter = Geirrøðr] crashed through the victory of the one who is used to the hall of Syn [= Þórr]’.
kennings
- Synjar arinbrautar. — of the Syn <goddess> of the hearth-stone-path. [GIANTESS]
- salvanið Synjar arinbrautar. — the hall-visitor of the Syn <goddess> of the hearth-stone-path. [GIANT]
grammar
case: gen.