Þjóð Haustl 4III/4 — vin ‘the friend’
Fjallgylðir bað fyllar
fet-Meila sér deila
(hlaut) af helgum skutli
(hrafnásar vin blása).
Ving-Rǫgnir lét vagna
vígfrekr ofan sígask,
þars vélsparir vôru
varnendr goða farnir.
Fjallgylðir bað fet-Meila deila sér fyllar af helgum skutli; vin hrafnásar hlaut blása. Vígfrekr ving-Rǫgnir vagna lét sígask ofan, þars vélsparir varnendr goða vôru farnir.
The mountain-wolf [GIANT = Þjazi] bade step-Meili <god> [= Hœnir] share out to him his fill from the holy trencher; the friend of the raven-god [= Óðinn > = Loki] had to blow [the fire]. The killing-greedy swinging Rǫgnir <= Óðinn> of killer whales [GIANT = Þjazi] let himself sink down where the stratagem-sparing defenders of the gods [= Óðinn, Hœnir and Loki] were situated.
readings
[4] vin: ‘vm’ or vin W
notes
[3, 4] vin hrafnásar hlaut blása ‘the friend of the raven-god [= Óðinn > = Loki] had to blow [the fire]’: Many eds (e.g. Skj B; Skald) adopt the more common nom. form vinr ‘friend’ over the mss’ vin but this is not necessary as both forms are attested (cf. ANG §§285 Anm. 2, 388 and Anm.). Óðinn is the raven-god, for he possesses two ravens, Huginn ‘Thought’ and Muninn ‘Memory’, who fly around the world every day to bring him information about whatever is going on (cf. Grí 20, SnE 2005, 32-3); the raven-god’s friend is probably Loki here rather than Hœnir (so NN §1016), as there seems to be a contrast with the god referred to in l. 2. Blása ‘blow’ is assumed to refer to the need for the gods to blow on the fire to keep the earth-oven cooking; Kock (NN §1016), however, suggests that it means to get angry, puff with rage, citing Fritzner: blása 2 (cf. ONP: 2blása A. 4 ‘breathe heavily, sigh, blow, snort’) but this interpretation does not give weight to the sense of the verb hlaut ‘had to, was obliged to’.
kennings
- vin hrafnásar — the friend of the raven-god [= Loki]
grammar
case: nom.