Anon Stríðk 1III/3 — hráka ‘the spittle’
Þess sitk, þægra hnossa
Þrúðr, ávalt, in prúða,
hverjum leik á hráka
hnugginn Gleipnis tuggu,
at urðhœings jarðar
ýtendr fyr mér nýtir
greipar svells ins gjalla
Gefn stríðkera nefni.
In prúða Þrúðr þægra hnossa, sitk ávalt, hnugginn hverjum leik, á hráka Gleipnis tuggu þess, at nýtir ýtendr jarðar urðhœings nefni Gefn ins gjalla svells greipar stríðkera fyr mér.
Beautiful Þrúðr <goddess> of delightful ornaments [WOMAN], I live always, deprived of every pleasure, in the spittle of Gleipnir’s <magic fetter’s> mouthful [= Fenrir > = Ván
notes
[3, 4] hráka Gleipnis tuggu ‘the spittle of Gleipnir’s <magic fetter’s> mouthful [= Fenrir > = Ván <river> (ván ‘hope’)]’: Magnús Ólafsson explains this ofljóst kenning in the prose immediately following the stanza (LaufE 1979, 375) and also alludes to it in a note to a poem he sent to Arngrímur Jónsson (LaufE 1979, 458 n. 4). Gleipnir is the name of a magic fetter with which the gods bound the wolf Fenrir (Gylf, SnE 2005, 27-9). They placed a sword between the captive wolf’s upper and lower jaws, and from his open mouth a stream of saliva ran out: þat er á sú er Ván heitir ‘that is the river called Ván’. As the common noun ván means ‘hope’, the whole kenning is ofljóst for this concept and the main clause of the helmingr is to be understood as sitk ávalt á ván þess, at … ‘I live always in hope of this, that …’. Ván is named in Grí 28/8 among mythic rivers, and listed in Þul Á 1/3.
kennings
- hráka Gleipnis tuggu — the spittle of Gleipnir’s <magic fetter’s> mouthful [= Ván
(ván ‘hope’)]
grammar
case: dat.