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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þjóð Haustl 18III/2 — fjalfrs ‘of the hiding-place’

Fjǫrspillir lét falla
fjalfrs ólágra gjalfra
bǫlverðungar Belja
bolm á randar holmi.
Þar hné grundar gilja
gramr fyr skǫrpum hamri,
en berg-Dana bagði
brjótr við jǫrmunþrjóti.

Fjǫrspillir bǫlverðungar Belja lét bolm fjalfrs ólágra gjalfra falla á holmi randar. Þar hné gramr grundar gilja fyr skǫrpum hamri, en brjótr berg-Dana bagði við jǫrmunþrjóti.

The life-destroyer of the evil-causing troop of Beli <giant> [GIANTS > = Þórr] made the bear of the hiding-place of not low roaring waters [CAVE > GIANT = Hrungnir] fall on the island of the shield-rim [SHIELD]. There the ruler of the land of ravines [MOUNTAINS > GIANT = Hrungnir] sank down on account of the tough hammer, and the breaker of rock-Danes [GIANTS > = Þórr] caused injury to the mighty obstinate one.

readings

[2] fjalfrs: ‘fialbrs’ all

notes

[2, 4] bolm fjalfrs ólágra gjalfra ‘the bear of the hiding-place of not low roaring waters [CAVE > GIANT = Hrungnir]’: As often in giant-kennings, an animal base-word is employed (cf. Meissner 258-9). Here Hrungnir is compared to a bear, and his dwelling to a mountain cave, which is fjalfr ólágra gjalfra ‘the hiding-place of not low [i.e. high] roaring waters’. Ólágr lit. ‘un-low’ could be understood in two senses: high, in the sense of stormy, rising high (of roaring waters or seas), or high in the sense of high up in the mountains. The latter is probably the more likely here.

kennings

grammar

case: gen.

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