Gripla - 20.12.2005, Qupperneq 208

GRIPLA206
Since T‡r’s lack of one hand was his primary distinction, one is bound to
question if the poet was thinking here of the one-handed T‡r. Why should he
— and not the mighty fiórr — try first to lift the cauldron? And why should he
fail not once but twice to do so? It appears to accord better with narrative
custom that the same protagonist make not one or two but three attempts at
some great difficulty, and it seems in any case less common that someone
(crippled or not), tries first and fails twice and is then replaced by another
protagonist for the third attempt. (Or are we to postulate that T‡r has not lost
his hand at this point, but that he then (once fiórr has slain his father and
captured the cauldron) attends Ægir’s feast as described in Lokasenna and is
by that time one-handed?) Perhaps one might here again think that the actual
referent of t‡r is Loki, but then Hymir has throughout been testing the strength
of fiórr and not his companion.
Not only is it awkward to think here of the one-handed T‡r struggling with
Hymir’s cauldron before (and in the presence of) his mighty friend fiórr, but
the appellative sense is entirely fitting in the context. If t‡r = fiórr in stanza 33,
then fiórr makes three attempts and finally succeeds – and the notion of two
failed attempts is an obvious reason to use t‡r (= fiórr) to alliterate with tysvar
‘twice’.17 fiórr is, to be sure, a t‡r like Loki, and one recalls that essential
alliteration falls also on t‡r in stanza 4: unz af tryg›om/ T‡r Hlórri›a . . .
7
To conclude: Hymiskvi›a employs the common noun t‡r twice in the plural,
in stanzas 1 (valtívar) and 4 (mærir tívar). The same word occurs only twice in
the singular, in stanzas 4 and 33, where it is assumed to be a proper noun, but
the word is primarily a poetic term meaning ‘god’ in Old Norse literature and
considerations of alliteration might very well have determined its use in both
stanzas. The appellative sense in both cases yields less nonsense and more
brewed’. [33] It’s your choice/ if you can take/ the ale-ship/ from our home.“/ Týr attempted/
twice to move it,/ but the cauldron nevertheless/ stood still. [34] Móði’s father [= Þórr]/
grasped it by the rim/ and kicked it all the way down/ across the floor in the hall./ He heaved
the cauldron up/ — husband of Sif [= Þórr] — on to his head/ and against his heels/ the
chain-hoops clanked.’ St. 34 is translated in light of Dronke 2003:58.
17 Given that there are three attempts made to lift the cauldron, it may seem tempting to posit
that þremi (dat. of þrƒmr ‘rim’ or ‘edge’) stems from the dat. þrim or þrimr ‘three’ in some
earlier form of the stanza or source on which the poet was building.