Þul Ásynja 4III/5 — Eir ‘Eir’
Enn eru aðrar Óðins meyjar:
Hildr ok Gǫndul, Hlǫkk, Mist, Skǫgul;
þá es Hrund ok Eir, Hrist, Skuld talið.
Enn eru aðrar meyjar Óðins: Hildr ok Gǫndul, Hlǫkk, Mist, Skǫgul; þá es Hrund ok Eir, Hrist, Skuld talið.
There are yet other maids of Óðinn: Hildr and Gǫndul, Hlǫkk, Mist, Skǫgul; then Hrund and Eir, Hrist, Skuld are listed.
readings
[5] Eir: so C, mist R, Tˣ, om. A, ‘[…]’ B, ‘mist’ 744ˣ
notes
[5, 6] Eir, Hrist, Skuld: This reading is attested only in ms. C (and adopted in Skj B and Skald). Mss R and Tˣ have Mist rather than Eir, while in ms. A the second name is omitted (illegible in B, but ‘mist’ in 744ˣ). The confusion here is evidently caused by the next name, Hrist, since Hrist and Mist traditionally appear together (cf. Grí 36/1 (NK 64): Hrist oc Mist and Þul Valkyrja 1/3: Hrist, Mist; see also Note there). Mist is already mentioned in l. 4, however. The generally accepted reading of l. 5, based on ms. C, is problematic because Eir, which means ‘peace, clemency’, is not a valkyrie but one of the Ásynjur whose name is frequently found in kennings for ‘woman’. It also occurs in skaldic poetry as a half-kenning denoting ‘woman’, and it is mentioned in Þul Kvenna II 3/3. In Gylf (SnE 2005, 29), Snorri characterises Eir as an extremely good physician (leiknir beztr). Hence her name does not belong in this list of warlike women.