Bragi Troll 1III/2 — skap ‘mind’
Skald kalla mik,
skapsmið Viðurs,
Gauts gjafrǫtuð,
grepp óhneppan,
Yggs ǫlbera,
óðs skap-Móða,
hagsmið bragar.
Hvats skald nema þat?
Kalla mik skald, Viðurs skapsmið, Gauts gjafrǫtuð, óhneppan grepp, Yggs ǫlbera, skap-Móða óðs, hagsmið bragar. Hvats skald nema þat?
They call me poet, smith of Viðurr’s <= Óðinn’s> mind [(lit. ‘Viðurr’s mind-smith’) POETRY > POET], getter of Gautr’s <= Óðinn’s> gift [(lit. ‘Gautr’s gift-getter’) POETRY > POET], unscanty poet, server of Yggr’s <= Óðinn’s> ale [(lit. ‘Yggr’s ale-server’) POETRY > POET], creating-Móði <god> of poetry [POET], skilled smith of poetry [POET]. What’s a poet if not that?
readings
[2] skapsmið: so Tˣ, U, A, skapskíð R, skipsmið C
notes
[2] skapsmið ‘mind-smith’: The base-word of an inverted tvíkent kenning for ‘poet’, with one of Óðinn’s names as determinant, the allusion being to the myth of how Óðinn obtained the mead of poetry from the giant Suttungr and then made it available in regurgitated form for the gods and talented human poets (cf. SnE 1998, I, 3-5). ‘Óðinn’s mind’ (or thought) is thus the mead of poetry itself. This myth is also the basis of the inverted kennings for ‘poet’, as Óðinn’s gift-getter and his ale-server, in ll. 3 and 5, Óðinn’s gift and his ale referring to the mead of poetry. Bragi’s references to the mead myth, with its creative alimentary associations, nicely counter the destructive alimentary references in the troll-woman’s kennings (Anon (SnE) 9/3, 7). Skap- (< skapa ‘create’) may possibly have the sense ‘creating, creative’ here (as it probably does in skap-Móði, l. 6) rather than ‘thought, mind’, in which case the kenning would not be inverted, and Viðurs would have the sense ‘belonging to, associated with Viðurr’, as god of poetry. Ms. R reads skapskíð ‘mind (or ‘creating’)-ski’ against the majority mss’ skapsmið. Skíð would then have to be a base-word of a man-kenning, but most uses of this word in skaldic verse refer to objects (e.g. ships, swords) rather than humans. Ms. C reads skipsmið ‘ship-smith’, a lectio facilior, possibly influenced by poetry-kennings of the type skip dverga ‘dwarfs’ ship’ (SnE 1998, I, 11).
kennings
- Viðurs skap — of Viðurr’s <= Óðinn’s> mind, [POETRY]
- Viðurs skapsmið, — smith of Viðurr’s <= Óðinn’s> mind, [POET]