Gamlkan Has 42VII/8 — grundar ‘of the earth’
Ungr skyldi þat ǫldu
eyktemjandi fremja,
gífrs es gǫmlum hœfir
gunntjalds boða at halda.
Trauð verðr hǫnd, en hlýða
hrynvengis má engum
Gaut, nema gǫr verk bœti,
grundar mens, af venju.
Ungr eyktemjandi ǫldu skyldi fremja þat es hœfir gǫmlum boða gífrs gunntjalds at halda. Hǫnd verðr trauð, en engum Gaut hrynvengis mens grundar má hlýða, nema bœti verk gǫr af venju.
A young tamer of the horse of the wave [(lit. ‘horse-tamer of the wave’) SHIP > SEAFARER] should do what it befits an old messenger of the troll-wife of the battle-tent [SHIELD > AXE > WARRIOR] to keep doing. The hand becomes unwilling, but no Gautr <= Óðinn> of the ringing-land of the necklace of the earth [= Miðgarðsormr > GOLD > MAN] may be saved, unless he makes reparation for deeds done out of habit.
notes
[8] mens grundar ‘of the necklace of the earth [= Miðgarðsormr]’: Finnur Jónsson offers two possible interpretations in LP. In the entry on grund, this phrase is listed among the kennings for ‘sea’, presumably based on the assumption of ON myth that the round earth was encircled by the sea. In this case it is difficult to understand what might be meant by the sea’s hrynvengi ‘ringing land’. In the entry on hrynvengi, the translation slangens klingende land ‘the serpent’s ringing-land’ is suggested. This is close to the kenning from RvHbreiðm HlIII cited above. In this case, men grundar may either be a kenning for a snake or, more likely in terms of the ON myth that placed the World Serpent in the ocean surrounding the earth, a specific allusion to Miðgarðsormr. It has been interpreted in the latter sense here.
kennings
- mens grundar — of the necklace of the earth [= Miðgarðsormr]
- hrynvengis mens grundar — of the ringing-land of the necklace of the earth [GOLD]
- engum Gaut hrynvengis mens grundar — no Gautr <= Óðinn> of the ringing-land of the necklace of the earth [MAN]