Anon Bjark 5III/5 — Otrs ‘for Otr’
Ýtti ǫrr hilmir — aldir við tóku —
Sifjar svarðfestum, svelli dalnauðar,
tregum Otrs gjǫldum, tôrum Mardallar,
eldi Órunar, Iðja glysmôlum.
Ǫrr hilmir ýtti – aldir tóku við – svarðfestum Sifjar, svelli dalnauðar, tregum gjǫldum Otrs, tôrum Mardallar, eldi Órunar, glysmôlum Iðja.
The generous prince distributed – the men received [it] – Sif’s <goddess’s> scalp-cords [HAIR > GOLD], ice of the bow-compulsion [ARM > SILVER], the reluctant payment for Otr [GOLD], the tears of Mardǫll <= Freyja> [GOLD], the fire of Órun <river> [GOLD], the shining speeches of Iði <giant> [GOLD].
readings
[5] Otrs gjǫldum: ‘[…]’ B, ‘otrs gio᷎lldum’ 744ˣ
notes
[5] tregum gjǫldum Otrs ‘the reluctant payment for Otr [GOLD]’: Lit. ‘of Otr’. A gold-kenning depending on a story told in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 45-6) of how the god Loki killed an otter, which turned out to be an anthropomorphic being, Otr ‘Otter’, son of Hreiðmarr and brother of Fáfnir and Reginn (see Notes to st. 4/4 and 4/6 above). The gods were forced to pay as much gold as was needed to fill the dead otter’s skin and cover it completely in compensation to his family, hence the payment can be described as tregr ‘reluctant’. The gold itself was obtained under duress from a dwarf named Andvari, who placed a curse on it to the effect that it was to cause the death of whoever possessed it. SnSt Ht 41/2 uses the gold-kenning otrgjǫld ‘otter-payments’; cf. Note to Bjark 4/6.
kennings
- tregum gjǫldum Otrs, — the reluctant payment for Otr, [GOLD]