Ótt Lv 3I/8 — Naumu ‘with a Nauma’
Heðan sék reyk, þanns rjúka
rǫnn of fiskimǫnnum
— stór eru skalds of skærur
skellibrǫgð — ór helli.
Nú frýrat mér nýrar
nenningar dag þenna;
hlíti ek fyr hvítan
hornstraums dǫgurð Naumu.
Heðan ór helli sék reyk, þanns rǫnn rjúka of fiskimǫnnum; stór eru skellibrǫgð skalds of skærur. Nú frýrat mér nýrar nenningar þenna dag; ek hlíti Naumu hornstraums fyr hvítan dǫgurð.
From here out of the cave I see smoke, which mansions waft over fishermen; great are the roaring tricks of the poet in the dawn light. Now no-one will be jibing me into a new achievement today; I am content with a Nauma <giantess> of the horn-stream [ALE > WOMAN] instead of a white breakfast.
readings
[8] Naumu: so 73aˣ, 71ˣ, Nauma DG8, 76aˣ, nômu Tóm
notes
[8] Naumu ‘with a Nauma <giantess>’: Nauma features quite frequently in woman-kennings, providing the base-word in the same way that names of goddesses and valkyries frequently do (LP: 1. nauma; Meissner 407), and hence may have been regarded as a goddess name, as seemingly in Þjóð Yt 22/5-6, though no such deity is mentioned in SnE or elsewhere. In the present instance, however, Nauma may be thought of as a giantess, since the stanza is set in a cave, and in the kenning salr Naumu ‘hall of Nauma [CAVE]’ in Grett Lv 28/6V (Gr 60) Nauma seems to be a giantess, denizen of rocks and caves. The two possibilities could perhaps be reconciled by adopting Brøgger’s suggestion (1924-6, 26) that Nauma was a minor deity whose domain is the abodes of the dead – grave-mounds and cairns.
kennings
- Naumu hornstraums — with a Nauma <giantess> of the horn-stream [WOMAN]
grammar
case: dat.