Gripla - 20.12.2018, Síða 141

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English word. this sense fits the relevant context in Völuspá, and also the
interpretation that Pétur Pétursson has proposed on the basis of possible
biblical themes in this poem.5
2. Earlier scholarship
there are two main interpretations of the word aldrnari. It has most of-
ten been taken to mean ‘fire’, and it has also been suggested that it refers
to askr Yggdrasils, the tree of life in old norse mythology. a third view
holds that it means ‘the one who makes something narrow’. this section
will trace the history of these explanations, duly considering the basis and
merits of each and addressing their respective weaknesses.
2.1. aldrnari ‘fire’
the traditional interpretation of the word aldrnari assumes that it means
‘fire’. this hypothesis seems to have first been proposed by Sveinbjörn
Egilsson in his Lexicon poeticum.6 There it is stated that aldrnari is a mas-
culine noun, composed of the words aldr ‘age, life’ and næra ‘nourish’; a
Latin translation is added: vitae nutritor ‘the one who nourishes life’. the
word is considered to mean ignis ‘fire’ or ignis perpetuus ‘perennial fire’,
so that the phrase geisar eimr (sic) við aldrnara is given the meaning saevit
ignis contra ignem ‘fire rages against fire’, or in other words, ignis per omnia
grassatur ‘fire attacks everything’. the reading geisar eimi ok aldrnari, found
in Hauksbók and the manuscripts of Snorra-Edda, shows a notable differ-
ence from the one in Codex regius in that the conjunction ok followed by
a nominative occurs instead of the preposition við with an accusative. the
Latin translation given for this variant is saevit ignis et aestus ‘fire and heat
rage’. In support of the idea of fire raging against fire, Sveinbjörn refers
to the poem Hákonarflokkr of Sturla Þórðarson, where a similar image
appears:
5 Pétur Pétursson, “Manifest and Latent Biblical themes in Völuspá,” The Nordic Apocalypse:
Approaches to Völuspá and Nordic Days of Judgement, ed. by Terry Gunnell and Annette
Lassen (turnout: Brepols, 2013), 185–201.
6 Sveinbjörn Egilsson, Lexicon poeticum antiquae linguae septentrionalis (Copenhagen: J. P.
Qvist, 1860), 8.
ALDRNARI