Þjóð Haustl 11III/3 — þír ‘slave’
unz hrynsævar hræva
hund ǫl-Gefnar fundu
leiðiþír ok læva
lund ǫl-Gefnar bundu.
‘Þú skalt véltr, nema vélum,’
— vreiðr mælir svá — ‘leiðir
munstœrandi mæra
mey aptr, Loki, hapta.’
unz fundu hund hrynsævar hræva ǫl-Gefnar ok bundu leiðiþír ǫl-Gefnar, lund læva. ‘Þú skalt véltr, Loki,’ – vreiðr mælir svá – ‘nema leiðir aptr vélum mæra mey, munstœrandi hapta.’
until they found the hound of the roaring sea of corpses [BLOOD > WOLF] of the ale-Gefn <= Freyja> [WOMAN = Iðunn > = Loki] and bound the leading slave of ale-Gefn <= Freyja> [WOMAN = Iðunn > = Loki], the tree of deceits [MAN = Loki]. ‘You shall be harshly dealt with, Loki,’ – the angry one speaks thus – ‘unless you bring back by strategems the glorious girl, joy-increaser of the divine powers [= Iðunn].’
readings
[3] ‑þír: so all others, ‑þirr R
notes
[3] leiðiþír ‘the leading slave’: A hap. leg. cpd of uncertain meaning referring to Loki. Kock (NN §223) draws a parallel with OE lādteow, latteow ‘leader, guide, general’ (derived from lād ‘path’ plus þēow ‘slave, servant’), but there is no evidence that the Old Norse cpd could have this elevated sense, especially as the uncommon þírr ‘male slave’ seems to be equivalent to þræll or þjónn, both meaning ‘slave, servant’ (so SnE 1998, I, 106, 118, Þul Manna 10/7). Kock construes the cpd with læva to mean ‘the leader of crime [= Loki]’.
kennings
- leiðiþír ǫl-Gefnar, — the leading slave of ale-Gefn <= Freyja>, [= Loki]
grammar
case: acc.