Anon (LaufE) 9III/2 — eitri ‘poison’
Á sá hann falla eitri blandna;
fákr sparn fótum foldar sveita.
Hann sá á falla, blandna eitri; fákr sparn sveita foldar fótum.
He saw a river flow, mixed with poison; the horse kicked the blood of the earth [WATER] with its feet.
notes
[2] blandna eitri ‘mixed with poison’: The reference to this poisonous river is obscure, but it recalls the mythical rivers Élivágar, which according to Vafþr were mixed with poison. Cf. Vafþr 31/1-3 (NK 50): Ór Élivágom | stucco eitrdropar ‘Drops of poison were flung from the Élivágar’. See also Gylf (SnE 2005, 9-10). Jón Helgason (1966a) sees mythical allusions here as well, possibly to Óðinn’s journey to Hel in Bdr or to the river Slíðr described in Vsp 36/1-2 (NK 8): Á fellr austan | um eitrdala ‘A river flows from the east through valleys of poison’. See also Eil Þdr 6/7-8.