Þul Ásynja 3III/2 — Freyja ‘Freyja’
Grét ok at Óði gulli Freyja;
heiti eru hennar Hǫrn ok Þrungva,
Sýr, Skjǫlf ok Gefn ok it sama Mardǫll;
dœtr eru hennar Hnoss ok Gersimi.
Freyja grét ok gulli at Óði; heiti hennar eru Hǫrn ok Þrungva, Sýr, Skjǫlf ok Gefn ok it sama Mardǫll; dœtr hennar eru Hnoss ok Gersimi.
Freyja also wept gold for Óðr; her names are Hǫrn and Þrungva, Sýr, Skjálf and Gefn, and likewise Mardǫll; her daughers are Hnoss and Gersimi.
readings
[2] Freyja: ‘fr[…]’ B, ‘freyía’ 744ˣ
notes
[1-2] Freyja grét ok gulli at Óði ‘Freyja also wept gold for Óðr’: In Gylf (SnE 2005, 29), it is told that Freyja was married to a certain Óðr (cf. mey Óðs ‘Óðr’s girl’ for Freyja in Vsp 25/6 (NK 6); see also SnE 1998, I, 30, as well as ESk Øxfl 1-3, 9 and Anon Bjark 5). Óðr is considered to be an older form of Óðinn, and it supposedly originated from Gmc *wōþu-; cf. ON óðr ‘mind, wit, soul, sense; song, poetry’ and the adj. óðr ‘frantic, furious’ (AEW: Óðinn and Óðr 2; see also ARG II, 87). Snorri tells us that when Óðr went away on long travels, Freyja stayed behind weeping, and her tears were red gold. For this reason skalds should call gold ‘Freyja’s weeping’ (cf. also Skm, SnE 1998, I, 40, 43). According to Snorri (Gylf, SnE 2005, 29), Freyja went in search of Óðr when he was missing. While on her journeys among various peoples she assumed different names, four of which (Mardǫll, Hǫrn, Gefn, Sýr) are mentioned both in the story in SnE and in the present stanza.