The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 43 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 1996
50. Gotthorm: Gunnar’s half-brother, and slayer of Sigurth.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1579
4. “A fane will I ask, | and altars many,
Gold-horned cattle | the prince shall give me,
If Sigrlin yet | shall sleep in his arms,
Or free of will | the hero shall follow.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1409
39. “Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know:
Is there no meat | that men may give them,
And leap within while they eat?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1797
5. “Who rules the ship | by the shore so steep?
Where is the home | ye warriors have?
Why do ye bide | in Brunavagar,
Or what the way | that ye wish to try?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1789
Helgi went as a spy to the home of King Hunding in disguise. Hæming, a
son of King Hunding’s, was at home. When Helgi went forth, then he met
a young herdsman, and said:
The Poetic Edda, passage 3525
Sǣ′-kon-ung, father of Hildigun, 223.
The Poetic Edda, passage 255
61. Washed and fed | to the council fare,
But care not too much for thy clothes;
Let none be ashamed | of his shoes and hose,
Less still of the steed he rides,
(Though poor be the horse he has.)
The Poetic Edda, passage 939
39. “My hand do I lack, | but Hrothvitnir thou,
And the loss brings longing to both;
Ill fares the wolf | who shall ever await
In fetters the fall of the gods.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1335
17. Hildigun (or Hildiguth): with this the poem returns to Ottar’s
direct ancestry, Hildigun being Friaut’s mother. Line 4: cf. the
refrain-line in the Voluspo (stanzas 27, 29, etc.).
The Poetic Edda, passage 1628
43. “Kiss me, Svava, | I come not back,
Rogheim to see, | or Rothulsfjoll,
Till vengeance I have | for the son of Hjorvarth,
The king who was noblest | beneath the sun.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2662
8. Regarding Frigg as a goddess of healing cf. Svipdagsmol, 52, note.
Regarding Freyja as the friend of lovers cf. Grimnismol, 14, note. A
line is very possibly missing from this stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2357
10. In her wrath to battle | she roused herself:
“Gunnar, now | thou needs must lose
Lands of mine | and me myself,
No joy shall I have | with the hero ever.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1515
38. “And from the teeth | of the twain I wrought
A brooch for the breast, | to Bothvild I gave it;
Now big with child | does Bothvild go,
The only daughter | ye two had ever.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1714
46. “Sooner would I | at Frekastein
Feed the ravens | with flesh of thine
Than send your bitches | to seek their swill,
Or feed the swine; | may the fiends take you!”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1273
5. “From the stall now one | of thy wolves lead forth,
And along with my boar | shalt thou let him run;
For slow my boar goes | on the road of the gods,
And I would not weary | my worthy steed.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1312
43. A heart ate Loki,— | in the embers it lay,
And half-cooked found he | the woman’s heart;—
With child from the woman | Lopt soon was,
And thence among men | came the monsters all.
The Poetic Edda, passage 985
24. Samsey: perhaps the Danish island of Samsö. Othin was the god of
magic, but there is no other reference to his ever having disguised
himself as a witch.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1970
47. “To Gunnar soon | his bride will say
That ill didst thou | thine oath fulfill,
When the goodly king, | the son of Gjuki,
With all his heart | the hero trusted.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2044
Sigurth went home to Hjalprek’s house; thereupon Regin egged him on to
fight with Fafnir.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1422
52. “Lyfjaberg is it, | and long shall it be
A joy to the sick and the sore;
For well shall grow | each woman who climbs it,
Though sick full long she has lain.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1681
13. The warriors forth | to the battle went,
The field they chose | at Logafjoll;
Frothi’s peace | midst foes they broke,
Through the isle went hungrily | Vithrir’s hounds.
The Poetic Edda, passage 297
103. Though glad at home, | and merry with guests,
A man shall be wary and wise;
The sage and shrewd, | wide wisdom seeking,
Must see that his speech be fair;
A fool is he named | who nought can say,
For such is the way of the witless.
The Poetic Edda, passage 396
105. Rati (“the Traveller”): the gimlet with which Othin bored through
the mountain to reach Suttung’s home.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1640
Prose. Eylimi: this name is another link with the Sigurth story, as it
is likewise the name of the father of Sigurth’s mother, Hjordis.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1573
The whole problem of the origin, character and home of the Helgi poems
has been discussed in great detail by Bugge in his Helge-Digtene i den
Ældre Edda, Deres Hjem og Forbindelser, which, as translated by W. H.
Schofield under the title The Home of the Eddic Poems, is available for
readers of English. This study is exceedingly valuable, if not in all
respects convincing. The whole matter is so complex and so important in
the history of Old Norse literature, and any intelligent reading of the
Helgi poems is so dependent on an understanding of the conditions under
which they have come down to us, that I have here discussed the
question more extensively than the scope of a mere introductory note to
a single poem would warrant.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3067
4. These two lines may be all that is left of a four-line stanza. The
manuscript and many editions combine them with stanza 5, while a few
place them after stanza 5 as a separate stanza, reversing the order of
the two lines. Kings of the folk: Guthrun’s brothers, Gunnar and Hogni,
slain by Atli.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1823
22. “What hero great | is guiding the ships?
A golden flag | on the stem he flies;
I find not peace | in the van of your faring,
And round the fighters | is battle-light red.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3297
Guth″-rūn-ar-kvith′-a II (On′-nur, en Forn′-a), the Second (Old) Lay of
Guthrun, 230, 255, 325, 407, 410–412, 416, 419, 450–465, 467, 476, 493,
495, 496, 501, 505.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3549
Sin′-fjot-li, son of Sigmund, 270, 290, 293, 300–304, 307, 309, 318,
321, 322, 332–335.
The Poetic Edda, passage 785
6. Three good dwellings: this has been generally assumed to mean three
separate establishments, but it may refer simply to the three parts of
a single farm, the dwelling proper, the cattle-barn and the storehouse;
i.e., Thor is not even a respectable peasant.
The Poetic Edda, passage 328
134. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,—
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
Scorn not ever | the gray-haired singer,
Oft do the old speak good;
(Oft from shrivelled skin | come skillful counsels,
Though it hang with the hides,
And flap with the pelts,
And is blown with the bellies.)
The Poetic Edda, passage 2546
30. “Grimhild, I may not | gladness find,
Nor hold forth hopes | to heroes now,
Since once the raven | and ravening wolf
Sigurth’s heart’s-blood | hungrily lapped.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1735
9. Elm: a not uncommon word for “man.” Blood-flecked: i.e., won in
battle.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2807
19. “They will slaughter soon, | and so blood do we see,
Oft oxen it means | when of eagles one dreams;
True is Atli’s heart, | whatever thou dreamest.”
Then silent they were, | and nought further they said.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1374
7. “Then next I will chant thee, | if needs thou must travel,
And wander a purposeless way:
The bolts of Urth | shall on every side
Be thy guards on the road thou goest.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3157
Bil′-rost, the rainbow bridge, 102, 376.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3312
Hā′-mund, son of Sigmund, 293, 334.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1623
38. “What chanced with Helgi, | Hjorvarth’s son?
Hard to me | is harm now come;
If the sea smote him, | or sword bit him,
Ill shall I bring | to all his foes.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1176
2. Forward he went | on the midmost way,
He came to a dwelling, | a door on its posts;
In did he fare, | on the floor was a fire,
Two hoary ones | by the hearth there sat,
Ai and Edda, | in olden dress.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2028
Sigurth was there continually with Regin, who said to Sigurth that
Fafnir lay at Gnitaheith, and was in the shape of a dragon. He had a
fear-helm, of which all living creatures were terrified. Regin made
Sigurth the sword which was called Gram; it was so sharp that when he
thrust it down into the Rhine, and let a strand of wool drift against
it with the stream, it cleft the strand asunder as if it were water.
With this sword Sigurth cleft asunder Regin’s anvil. After that Regin
egged Sigurth on to slay Fafnir, but he said:
The Poetic Edda, passage 149
31. Valkyries: these “Choosers of the Slain” (cf. stanza 1, note) bring
the bravest warriors killed in battle to Valhall, in order to
re-enforce the gods for their final struggle. They are also called
“Wish-Maidens,” as the fulfillers of Othin’s wishes. The conception of
the supernatural warrior-maiden was presumably brought to Scandinavia
in very early times from the South-Germanic races, and later it was
interwoven with the likewise South-Germanic tradition of the
swan-maiden. A third complication developed when the originally quite
human women of the hero-legends were endowed with the qualities of both
Valkyries and swan-maidens, as in the cases of Brynhild (cf. Gripisspo,
introductory note), Svava (cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, prose after
stanza 5 and note) and Sigrun (cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 17 and
note). The list of names here given may be an interpolation; a quite
different list is given in Grimnismol, 36. Ranks of the gods: some
editors regard the word thus translated as a specific place name.
Herjan (“Leader of Hosts”): Othin. It is worth noting that the name
Hild (“Warrior”) is the basis of Bryn-hild (“Warrior in Mail-Coat”).
The Poetic Edda, passage 2851
63. Then the heroes died | ere the day was yet come;
Their fame did they leave | ever lofty to live.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The Poetic Edda, passage 2301
5. Grieving could not | Guthrun weep,
Such grief she had | for her husband dead,
And so grim her heart | by the hero’s body.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2530
14. From the mountain forth | five days I fared,
Till Hoalf’s hall | so high I saw;
Seven half-years | with Thora I stayed,
Hokon’s daughter, | in Denmark then.
The Poetic Edda, passage 141
22. Heith (“Shining One”?): a name often applied to wise-women and
prophetesses. The application of this stanza to Gollveig is far from
clear, though the reference may be to the magic and destructive power
of gold. It is also possible that the stanza is an interpolation. Bugge
maintains that it applies to the Volva who is reciting the poem, and
makes it the opening stanza, following it with stanzas 28 and 30, and
then going on with stanzas 1 ff. The text of line 2 is obscure, and has
been variously emended.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1343
25. In the manuscript line 1 stands after line 4 of stanza 29. Probably
a stanza enumerating Jormunrek’s sons has been lost. Many editors
combine lines 3–4 of stanza 22 and lines 2–4 of stanza 25 into one
stanza. Jormunrek: the historical Ermanarich, king of the Goths, who
died about 376. According to Norse tradition, in which Jormunrek played
a large part, he slew his own sons (cf. Guthrunarhvot and Hamthesmol).
In the saga Jormunrek married Sigurth’s daughter, Svanhild. Stanzas
25–27 connect Ottar’s descent with the whole
Volsung-Sigurth-Jormunrek-Gjuki genealogy. The story of Sigurth is the
basis for most of the heroic poems of the Edda, of the famous
Volsungasaga, and, in Germany, of the Nibelungenlied. On his battle
with the dragon Fafnir cf. Fafnismol.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2927
39. It is probable that a considerable passage has been lost between
stanzas 39 and 40, for the Volsungasaga paraphrase includes a dialogue
at this point. The manuscript indicates no gap, and most editions
combine stanzas 39 and 40 as a single stanza. The prose passage,
indicating the substance of what, if anything, is lost, runs as
follows: “‘Be welcome among us, and give me that store of gold which is
ours by right, the gold that Sigurth had, and that now belongs to
Guthrun.’ Gunnar said: ‘Never shalt thou get that gold, and men of
might shalt thou find here, ere we give up our lives, if it is battle
thou dost offer us; in truth it seems that thou hast prepared this
feast in kingly fashion, and with little grudging toward eagle and
wolf.’” The demand for the treasure likewise appears in the
Nibelungenlied.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1542
21. Several editions make one stanza out of lines 3–4 of stanza 20 and
lines 1–2 of stanza 21, and another out of the next four lines. The
evil was open: i.e., the gold in the chest was destined to be their
undoing.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3095
PRONOUNCING INDEX OF PROPER NAMES
The Poetic Edda, passage 1060
6. Line 1: cf. Voluspo, 48, 1. The manuscript does not indicate Loki as
the speaker of lines 3–4. Hlorrithi: Thor.