Þul Himins I 1III/15 — Vetmímir ‘Vetmímir’
Níu eru himnar á hæð talðir;
veit ek inn nezta, sá es Vindbláinn,
sá es Heiðornir ok Hreggmímir;
annarr heitir Andlangr himinn
— þat máttu skilja — þriði Víðbláinn;
Víðfeðmi kveðk vesa inn fjórða,
Hrjóðr — ok Hlýrni hygg inn sétta —
Gimir, Vetmímir; get ek nú vesa
átta himna upp um talða;
Skatyrnir stendr skýjum efri;
hann es útan alla heima.
Níu himnar eru talðir á hæð; ek veit inn nezta, sá es Vindbláinn, sá es Heiðornir ok Hreggmímir; annarr heitir Andlangr himinn – máttu skilja þat – þriði Víðbláinn; kveðk Víðfeðmi vesa inn fjórða, Hrjóðr – ok hygg Hlýrni inn sétta – Gimir, Vetmímir; get ek nú vesa átta himna upp um talða; stendr Skatyrnir efri skýjum; hann es útan alla heima.
Nine heavens are counted on high; I know the lowest, it is Vindbláinn, it is Heiðornir and Hreggmímir; the second is called Andlangr himinn – you can understand that – the third [is] Víðbláinn; Víðfeðmir I say is the fourth; Hrjóðr – and Hlýrnir I believe is the sixth – Gimir, Vetmímir; I say that now eight heavens have been counted; Skatyrnir stands above the clouds; it is beyond all the worlds.
readings
[15] Vetmímir: vetrmímir C, ‘[…]tt[…]ímir’ B, ‘vettmimir’ 744ˣ
notes
[15] Vetmímir (m.): This is the name of the eighth heaven. The first element of this heiti, Vet- is obscure. Mss R, A have Vet- as do mss R(37r), Tˣ(38v) of Skm (adopted in SnE 1998, I, 85), while other variants in Skm are ‘vefmimir’ A(14v), ‘vitmimir’ C(6r). (a) Falk (1925b, 38) explains it as a corrupt form of MLat. Pheton for Greek Φαέν, a name for Jupiter. (b) According to de Vries (see AEW: Vetmímir), it is more likely that the correct form is the C variant Vetrmímir ‘winter-Mímir’. The heiti would then refer to the stormy sky during the winter (cf. Hreggmímir, l. 6 above, and vetrímnir ‘winter-fighter’, Þul Himins II l. 4). (c) The first component of the 744ˣ variant ‘vettmimir’ (‘[…]tt[…]ímir’ B) can be normalised as Vétt-, i.e. vétt-, vætt- ‘battle’, which in Old Norse occurs only in poetic compounds. Véttmímir ‘Battle-Mímir’ as a name for ‘heaven’ is, however, difficult to explain.