Anon (SnE) 9III/6 — fjarðar ‘fjord’
Troll kalla mik,
tungl sjǫt-Rungnis,
auðsúg jǫtuns,
élsólar bǫl,
vilsinn vǫlu,
vǫrð náfjarðar,
hvélsvelg himins.
Hvats troll nema þat?
Kalla mik troll, tungl sjǫt-Rungnis, auðsúg jǫtuns, bǫl élsólar, vilsinn vǫlu, vǫrð náfjarðar, hvélsvelg himins. Hvats troll nema þat?
They call me troll, moon of dwelling-Rungnir [TROLL], wealth-sucker of a giant [TROLL-WOMAN], trouble of the storm-sun [TROLL], delightful company of a prophetess [TROLL-WOMAN], guardian of the corpse-fjord [GRAVE > TROLL], swallower of the wheel of the sky [(lit. ‘wheel-swallower of the sky’) SUN > TROLL]. What’s a troll if not that?
readings
[6] náfjarðar: ‘nattfara’ C
notes
[6] náfjarðar ‘of the corpse-fjord [GRAVE]’: Here (taking the reading of R), with Skj B and Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 83), understood as a kenning for a grave. The cpd could also be construed as nafjarðar ‘hub-land [SHIELD]’ (cf. SnE 1998, II, 361: náfjǫrðr), though it is hard to see how this would yield a troll-kenning, or as nafjarðar < nǫf ‘brink, cliff-edge’ + jǫrð ‘earth, land’ (so NN §2458). Ms. C’s variant ‘nattfara’ could yield nôttfara ‘(guardian) of night-expeditions [TROLL-WOMAN]’, referring to the habit of such beings as active at night.
kennings
- náfjarðar, — of the corpse-fjord, [GRAVE]
- vǫrð náfjarðar, — guardian of the corpse-fjord, [TROLL]
grammar
case: gen.