The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 34 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 501
27. Neither the Regius nor the Arnamagnæan Codex indicates a lacuna.
Most editors have filled out the stanza with two lines from late paper
manuscripts: “And both of these | shall ever be, / Till the gods to
destruction go.” Bugge ingeniously paraphrases Snorri’s prose:
“Vindsval’s father | was Vosuth called, / And rough is all his
race.” Vindsval: “the Wind-Cold,” also called Vindljoni, “the
Wind-Man.” Svosuth: “the Gentle.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1395
25. “Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know:
What call they the gate? | for among the gods
Ne’er saw man so grim a sight.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 431
1. “Counsel me, Frigg, | for I long to fare,
And Vafthruthnir fain would find;
In wisdom old | with the giant wise
Myself would I seek to match.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2047
2. Snorri quotes this stanza. The name of the speaker is not given in
the manuscripts. Oin: nothing further is known of Andvari’s father.
Norn: cf. Voluspo, 20.
The Poetic Edda, passage 792
17. Thor is always eager for stories of this sort; cf. stanzas 31 and
33.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3085
23. Gjuki’s heirs: the original has “the well-born of Gjuki,” and some
editors have changed the proper name to Guthrun, but the phrase
apparently refers to Hamther and Sorli as Gjuki’s grandsons. In the
manuscript this stanza is followed by stanza 11, and such editors as
have retained this arrangement have had to resort to varied and complex
explanations to account for it.
The Poetic Edda, passage 825
6. “May we win, dost thou think, | this whirler of water?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2258
2. “Sigurth oaths | to me hath sworn,
Oaths hath sworn, | and all hath broken;
He betrayed me there | where truest all
His oaths, methinks, | he ought to have kept.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3493
Odd′-rūn, sister of Atli, 420, 438, 448, 449, 469–474, 476, 478, 479.
The Poetic Edda, passage 634
54. Possibly out of place, and probably more or less corrupt. Thund:
“The Thunderer.” Vak: “The Wakeful.” Skilfing: “The Shaker.” Vofuth:
“The Wanderer.” Hroptatyr: “Crier of the Gods.” Gaut: “Father.” Ofnir
and Svafnir: cf. stanza 34.
The Poetic Edda, passage 597
15. Glitnir (“the Shining”): the home of Forseti, a god of whom we know
nothing beyond what Snorri tells us: “Forseti is the son of Baldr and
Nanna, daughter of Nep. All those who come to him with hard cases to
settle go away satisfied; he is the best judge among gods and men.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 630
49. Nothing is known of Asmund, of Othin’s appearance as Jalk, or of
the occasion when he “went in a sledge” as Kjalar (“Ruler of Keels”?).
Thror and Vithur are also of uncertain meaning. Oski: “God of Wishes.”
Biflindi: the manuscripts vary widely in the form of this name.
Jafnhor: “Equally High” (cf. note on stanza 46). Omi: “The Shouter.”
Gondlir: “Wand-Bearer.” Harbarth: “Graybeard” (cf. Harbarthsljoth,
introduction).
The Poetic Edda, passage 2770
33. Apparently the remains of a Fornyrthislag stanza. Some editors
combine the two lines with the line here indicated as stanza 30.
Champer of bits: horse. The manuscript indicates no gap.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3390
Hreith′-mar, father of Regin, 7, 357–359, 361–363.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2968
83. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.
Hniflung: the Volsungasaga says that “Hogni had a son who was called
Hniflung,” but the name appears to be nothing more than the familiar
“Niflung” applied in general to the sons of Gjuki and their people. On
the spelling cf. note on stanza 44. This son of Hogni appears in later
versions of the story. In the Thithrekssaga he is called Aldrian, and
is begotten by Hogni the night before his death. Aldrian grows up and
finally shuts Attila in a cave where he starves to death. The poet here
has incorporated the idea, which finds no parallel in the Atlakvitha,
without troubling himself to straighten out the chronology.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1449
28. Gastropnir: “Guest-Crusher.” Leirbrimir’s (“Clay-Giant’s”) limbs: a
poetic circumlocution for “clay”; cf. the description of the making of
earth from the body of the giant Ymir, Vafthruthnismol, 21.
The Poetic Edda, passage 731
11. “Why shouldst thou hide thy name, | if quarrel thou hast
not?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2529
13. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Best of all | methought ’twould be
If I my life | could only lose,
Or like to birch-wood | burned might be.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2172
Sigurth sat beside her and asked her name. She took a horn full of mead
and gave him a memory-draught.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2437
22. Some editions combine lines 3–4 with stanza 23. Gram: Sigurth’s
sword (cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14); the word here, however,
may not be a proper name, but may mean “the hero.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1214
40. His messengers went | by the ways so wet,
And came to the hall | where Hersir dwelt;
His daughter was fair | and slender-fingered,
Erna the wise | the maiden was.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2476
66. In place of lines 3–4 the manuscript has one line “Two at his head,
| and a pair of hawks”; the addition is made from the Volsungasaga
paraphrase. The burning or burying of slaves or beasts to accompany
their masters in death was a general custom in the North. The number of
slaves indicated in this stanza does not tally with the one given in
stanza 69, wherefore Vigfusson rejects most of this stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 972
7. In the manuscript this stanza begins with a small letter, and
Heinzel unites it with stanza 6.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2382
35. “Never a husband | sought I to have,
Before the Gjukungs | fared to our land;
Three were the kings | on steeds that came,—
Need of their journey | never there was.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1251
28. Bugge thinks lines 5–6, like 23, 4, got in here from the lost
stanzas describing Kon’s bride and his marriage.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1206
32. Rig knew well | wise words to speak,
Soon did he rise, | made ready to sleep;
So in the bed | himself did he lay,
And on either side | the others were.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1679
11. Of Sigmund’s son | then next they sought
Hoard and rings, | the sons of Hunding;
They bade the prince | requital pay
For booty stolen | and father slain.
The Poetic Edda, passage 899
1. “Speak now, Eldir, | for not one step
Farther shalt thou fare;
What ale-talk here | do they have within,
The sons of the glorious gods?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3281
Grīm′-hild, wife of Gjuki, 226, 349, 350, 354, 403, 405, 436, 448,
455–457, 459–461, 474, 519, 524, 526.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3600
Thjalf′-i, Thor’s servant, 126, 127, 133, 141, 149.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2338
20. Line 4 looks like an interpolation (cf. Fafnismol, 9, line 4), but
some editors instead have queried line 5. How Guthrun’s curse is
fulfilled is told in the subsequent poems. That desire for Sigurth’s
treasure (the gold cursed by Andvari and Loki) was one of the motives
for his murder is indicated in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma (stanza 16),
and was clearly a part of the German tradition, as it appears in the
Nibelungenlied.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2689
From the standpoint of narrative material there is little that is
distinctively Norse in either the Atlakvitha or the Atlamol. The story
is the one outlined in the prose Drap Niflunga (largely based on these
two poems), representing almost exclusively the southern blending of
the Attila and Burgundian legends (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo).
In the Atlakvitha, indeed, the word “Burgundians” is actually used.
Brynhild is not mentioned in either poem; Sigurth’s name appears but
once, in the Atlamol. Thus the material goes directly back to its
South-Germanic origins, with little of the Northern making-over which
resulted in such extensive changes in most parts of the Sigurth story.
The general atmosphere, on the other hand, particularly in the Atlamol,
is essentially Norse.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2633
11. “I remember the evil | one eve thou spakest,
When a draught I gave | to Gunnar then;
Thou didst say that never | such a deed
By maid was done | save by me alone.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 919
19. “Why, ye gods twain, | with bitter tongues
Raise hate among us here?
Loki is famed | for his mockery foul,
And the dwellers in heaven he hates.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2874
84. To her heart came ever | the fate of Hogni,
She told him ’twere well | if he vengeance should win;
So was Atli slain,— | ’twas not slow to await,—
Hogni’s son slew him, | and Guthrun herself.
The Poetic Edda, passage 85
29. I know where Othin’s | eye is hidden,
Deep in the wide-famed | well of Mimir;
Mead from the pledge | of Othin each morn
Does Mimir drink: | would you know yet more?
The Poetic Edda, passage 471
41. “The heroes all | in Othin’s hall
Each day to fight go forth;
They fell each other, | and fare from the fight
All healed full soon to sit.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2790
3. Wise was the woman, | she fain would use wisdom,
She saw well what meant | all they said in secret;
From her heart it was hid | how help she might render,
The sea they should sail, | while herself she should go not.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1476
3. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
One in her arms | took Egil then
To her bosom white, | the woman fair.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2204
30. Brawls and ale | full oft have been
An ill to many a man,
Death for some, | and sorrow for some;
Full many the woes of men.
The Poetic Edda, passage 129
7. Ithavoll (“Field of Deeds”?): mentioned only here and in stanza 60
as the meeting-place of the gods; it appears in no other connection.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2656
1. Olden tales: this may be merely a stock phrase, or it may really
mean that the poet found his story in oral prose tradition.
Morningland: the poem’s geography is utterly obscure. “Morningland” is
apparently identical with “Hunland” (stanza 4), and yet Oddrun is
herself sister of the king of the Huns. Vigfusson tries to make
“Mornaland” into “Morva land” and explain it as Moravia. Probably it
means little more than a country lying vaguely in the East. With stanza
28 the confusion grows worse.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3123
Am′-bōtt, daughter of Thræll, 207.
The Poetic Edda, passage 539
11. The sixth is Thrymheim, | where Thjazi dwelt,
The giant of marvelous might;
Now Skathi abides, | the god’s fair bride,
In the home that her father had.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2879
88. “Most noble was all | when of old we journeyed,
Great honor did we have | of heroes full worthy;
Of cattle had we plenty, |and greatly we prospered,
Mighty was our wealth, | and many received it.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3667
Yng (or Yng′-vi), son of Halfdan the Old, 221, 307, 308, 364, 365.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2914
25. The meaning of line 4 is uncertain, but apparently it refers to the
guardian spirits or lesser Norns (cf. Fafnismol, 12–13 and notes).
The Poetic Edda, passage 2564
6. No gap indicated in the manuscript. Some editions combine these two
lines with either stanza 5 or stanza 7.
The Poetic Edda, passage 812
56. Line 2: the phrases mean simply “a long way”; cf. “over stock and
stone.” Verland: the “Land of Men” to which Thor must come from the
land of the giants. The Arnamagnæan Codex has “Valland” (cf. stanza 24
and note), but this is obviously an error. Fjorgyn: a feminine form of
the same name, which belongs to Othin (cf. Voluspo, 56 and note); here
it evidently means Jorth (Earth), Thor’s mother. The road: the rainbow
bridge, Bifrost; cf. Grimnismol, 29 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2195
21. “I shall not flee, | though my fate be near,
I was born not a coward to be;
Thy loving word | for mine will I win,
As long as I shall live.”