Refr Frag 1III/4 — Freyr ‘Freyr’
Gekk í golli stokkna
gjǫfrífr Hôars drífu
askr — viðr œrinn þroska
ǫs-Freyr — sæing meyjar.
Gjǫfrífr askr drífu Hôars gekk í golli stokkna sæing meyjar; ǫs-Freyr viðr œrinn þroska.
The gift-rash ash-tree of the snow-storm of Hárr <= Óðinn> [BATTLE > WARRIOR] went into the gold-adorned bed of the woman; the tumult-Freyr <god> [WARRIOR] performs plenty of manly deeds.
readings
[4] Freyr: ‑þeys U
notes
[4] ǫs-Freyr ‘the tumult-Freyr <god> [WARRIOR]’: The mss offer different variants of the first element of this cpd: ‘es-’ (R, Tˣ), ‘as-’ (W, 2368ˣ), ‘el-’ (A, C), and ‘egg-’ (U). As all of them cause problems, it is difficult to opt for one of them. (a) This edn adopts the reading ‘as-’ (W, 2368ˣ) normalized to ǫs ‘tumult, battle’ (see LP: ǫs) as did Finnur Jónsson (Skj B and LP: es-Freyr). He follows a suggestion by Konráð Gíslason (Nj 1875-89, II, 317 n. 285), who calls attention to the uncommon word ǫs ‘tumult’, which is attested in poetry (see LP: ǫs) but not in Old Norse prose (but cf. ModNorw. as ‘toil, racket’). But even Konráð Gíslason and Finnur Jónsson (LP: es-Freyr) expressed doubts about this interpretation. (b) Kock (NN §1128) adopts él-Freyr ‘the storm-Freyr’ (so A, C) as a warrior kenning. Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 193) considers this option as well, although he settles on *as-Freyr in the text of his edn (SnE 1998, I, 65); he interprets as- or él-Freyr as a warrior-kenning and translates it as ‘tumult-/storm- (of battle) Freyr’ (SnE 1998, II, 236, 265). However, él does not mean ‘battle’ but ‘storm’ and though it does appear as a base-word in battle-kennings, it always requires a determinant (‘weapon’, ‘valkyrie’, ‘sea-king’ etc.). (c) It is not possible to construe a warrior-kenning with egg- (U), as egg- is part of the cpd eggþeys ‘of the sword-dew’. (d) Another solution could be to opt for ‘es’ from the main ms. R (also found in Tˣ), normalised to ess ‘steed’. Ess is a loanword whose origin has been explained in various ways – either from OE ess (so Fritzner: ess, but the word cannot be found in Old English dictionaries) or from MLG örs, ors (so AEW: ers, ess). Ess-Freyr ‘the steed-Freyr’ could be taken as an unusual ad hoc kenning for ‘lover’ formed to suit the situation (sexual activity). Cf. the sexual symbolism in Bósa saga, in which intercourse is expressed in Ek vil brynna fola mínum í vínkeldu þinni ‘I want to water my foal in your wine-well’ (Bósa saga ch. 11, Jiriczek 1893, 39-40). The choice of ess might be supported by its presence in the main ms. and by its status as lectio difficilior. The problem is the very unusual kenning.
kennings
- ǫs-Freyr — the tumult-Freyr <god> [WARRIOR]
grammar
case: nom.