Gripla - 20.12.2005, Síða 201

fiÓRR’S TRAVEL COMPANIONIN H Y M I S K V I ‹ A 199
plural form, tívar, was a generic term for the gods in Old Norse poetry, and the
Poetic Edda contains many examples: Vƒluspá 44 (= 49 and 58), 52 and 62;
Hávamál 159; Vafflrú›nismál 38 and 42; Grímnismál 5 and 45; Hymiskvi›a 1
and 4; Lokasenna 1 and 2; firymskvi›a 14; and Baldurs draumar 1. For two
skaldic examples, one might cite Haustlƒng 1 and 3,7 a poem that thus exemp-
lifies use of the plural tívar alongside the singular (common noun) t‡r.
Hymiskvi›a contains at least two instances of the common noun t‡r. The
plural form occurs twice near the beginning of the poem, in stanzas 1 (valtívar
‘gods of the slain (or of the battle-field)’) and 4 (mærir tívar ‘glorious gods’).
The singular form occurs also twice, in stanzas 4 and 33, but commentators
have usually assumed that it refers in both instances to the one-handed t‡r
named T‡r. Editors have in both cases accordingly replaced the lower case ‘t’
in the manuscripts with a capital ‘T’ (names are in fact not normally capitaliz-
ed in the manuscripts), and readers are also led to take t‡r as a proper noun in
the (occasional) editorial interpolation T‡r kva› ‘T‡r said’, which identifies
the speaker in lines 3-4 of stanza 6 (see below). This interpretation is not sup-
ported by the image of the one-handed T‡r in other sources (see above), and
further doubt is raised when one considers that essential alliteration falls on t‡r
in both cases, for essential alliteration can, of course, determine diction.
3
Hymiskvi›a begins with the gods demanding a feast from the sea-giant Ægir,
who in turn requires a massive ale-cauldron, which the gods do not have. The
gods are at a loss until T‡r, or (a certain) t‡r, reveals to his friend fiórr that his
father the giant Hymir owns a vast cauldron that they can obtain if they resort
to vélar, that is ‘cunning’, ‘tricks’ or ‘guile’:
entitled týr/Týr. The notion of a one-handed týr named Týr has led to confusion already in
the days of Snorri as his misunderstanding of týr as a proper noun in divine kennings or
appellations like Sigtýr, Hangatýr or Farmatýr = Óðinn demonstrates. See Skáldskaparmál 1
in Faulkes I 1998:5. On the construction of such divine kennings see Düwel 1978:332-345, in
particular 335-336.
7 In st. 3, a variant reading gives sing. dat. tívi instead of pl. dat. tívum, in which case Óðinn is
the most obvious referent, and this reading seems equally apposite if not preferable.