Þjóð Haustl 15III/5 — hof ‘the temple’
Knôttu ǫll, en Ullar,
endilôg, fyr mági
grund vas grápi hrundin,
ginnunga vé brinna,
þás hofregin hafrar
hógreiðar framm drógu
— seðr gekk Svǫlnis ekkja
sundr — at Hrungnis fundi.
Ǫll endilôg vé ginnunga knôttu brinna, en grund vas hrundin grápi fyr mági Ullar, þás hafrar drógu framm hofregin hógreiðar at fundi Hrungnis; ekkja Svǫlnis gekk seðr sundr.
All sanctuaries of hawks, low from end to end [SKIES/HEAVENS] were burning, and the ground was battered with hail in front of the kinsman of Ullr <god> [= Þórr], when the goats drew forward the temple-deity of the comfortable chariot [= Þórr] to a meeting with Hrungnir; the widow of Svǫlnir <= Óðinn> [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)] split asunder at once.
notes
[5, 6] hofregin hógreiðar ‘the temple-deity of the comfortable chariot [= Þórr]’: In the hap. leg. cpd hofregin, the second element, m. nom. sg. reginn, is unusually encountered in the n. pl. regin ‘gods, divine powers’, though here, as in its occurrence in Glúmr Gráf 4/6I, it is sg. See also Note to st. 12/6 above. Skj B emends hofregin to hafregin, understanding the cpd to mean ‘raised, lifted deity’, assuming the first element haf- to derive from the verb hefja ‘raise’ (cf. LP: haf-reginn). There is no reason why Þórr could not be called a hofreginn ‘temple-deity’, however; beginning with Adam of Bremen’s account (Schmeidler 1917, 258) of the temple at Uppsala, which places an image of Þórr in the most prominent position, and including close associations recorded in saga literature between Þórr and high-seat pillars, which sometimes had the god’s image carved on them (cf. Clunies Ross 1998b, 142-4), there is good reason to associate Þórr with sacred places.
kennings
- hofregin hógreiðar — the temple-deity of the comfortable chariot [= Þórr]