Gripla - 20.12.2005, Síða 200

GRIPLA198
is usually identified as a god by the name of T‡r, a relatively minor figure of
the extant mythology who is known mainly from two Old Icelandic texts: the
eddic poem Lokasenna, which describes Ægir’s feast and immediately follows
Hymiskvi›a in the Codex Regius, and Snorra Edda, an early thirteenth-cen-
tury treatise on the art of poetry ascribed to the Icelander Snorri Sturluson
(1178/9-1241). Both sources relate that the wolf Fenrir tore T‡r’s right hand
off. This is the main myth of T‡r, and his lack of one hand is his primary dis-
tinction.
In Gylfaginning 25 of his Edda, Snorri describes T‡r as an exceptionally
brave god who rules victory in battle, and T‡r is defined as a víga gu› ‘battle-
god’ in Skáldskaparmál 9 of Snorra Edda.2 fiórr’s companion in Hymiskvi›a
shows no martial qualities, however, though there is a battle between fiórr and
the giants near the end of the poem, and the notion that fiórr’s companion is
one-handed seems highly doubtful in view of stanzas 33-34 (see below).
Furthermore: aside from his (supposed) role in Hymiskvi›a as the son of
Hymir and fiórr’s travel companion, the one-handed T‡r appears nowhere as
fiórr’s special friend or companion, and neither is he elsewhere associated
with Hymir or the giants. In fact, sonr Ó›ins ‘son of Ó›inn’ is listed as a
kenning for T‡r in Skáldskaparmál 9. The kenning may be spurious, but the
contradiction needs noting, and all the more so since fiórr’s dealings with
Hymir are described at some length in Snorra Edda (see below).
The notion that T‡r was the son of a giant seems also suspect on account
of his name, which is essentially divine. The Old Norse common noun t‡r
means ‘god’ like many of its Indo-European cognates, including the Latin
deus,3 and in its primal sense ‘god’ the common noun could evidently be ap-
plied to any male god, such as Ó›inn, fiórr or Loki, though its use is mainly
poetic and t‡r may be regarded as a poetic noun or heiti. For example, t‡r de-
notes Loki in Haustlƒng 8,4 and fiórr is defined as karms t‡r ‘god of the
chariot’ in fiórsdrápa 19,5 but the term is far more often applied to Ó›inn.6 The
2 The present study follows the chapter numbers of Skáldskaparmál in Faulkes I 1998.
3 For discussion of the etymology and semantics see Seebold 1991:29-45 and Hopkins 1932.
4 See North 1997:4-5. Loki is here called fróðugr týr ‘wise god’, and the referent is entirely
clear from the context. The poem is ascribed to a Norwegian and dated to c. 900.
5 Finnur Jónsson 1908 I A:151; B:143. The poem is ascribed to an Icelander and dated to ca.
1000.
6 Examples of the common noun in the singular are encountered throughout the medieval
period and also in early modern Icelandic poetry. Most examples occur in appellations or
kennings for Óðinn, such as Hertýr, Sigtýr or Valtýr, and Óðinn is also simply called or