Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Síða 86

94
Færeyinga saga, chapter forty
It may be noted in this connection that the word grind
figures in the names of the barriers which enclosed the
worlds of the dead in early Norse belief.1) The barrier
was conceived in the form of a gate with bars or a grating
of some kind. Valholl is barred by Valgrind (Grímnismál
22). The gates of Hel’s domain are the helgrindr; and heU
grind in the singular is used of the opening of Angantý’s
burial mound.2) Particularly distinctive is the cliche fyrir
nágrindr neðan (Skírnismál 35, Lokasenna 63, Fjólsvinnsmál
26), with its suggestion of the dead in an underworld with
gratingdike barriers above them.
In popular belief a gate on a road may remain an effec^
tive barrier against the dead,3) and gates may also be re<
garded as particularly dangerous places.4) It is difficult to
dissociate this from the general idea of the fence as a
(ed. G. Indrebø (1920), 104), although it is amusing to speculate on
other possible motives. The practice sometimes followed of placing the
bier, often merely a plank, on top of the uncoffined corpse (KL V (1960),
438) was probably necrophilic in intention. The custom in Sætesdal of
surrounding the bier with stones whenever it was put down to allow
the bearers a rest (Johannes Skard, Gamalt or Sætesdal (1961—3), 11 112)
has been interpreted, perhaps unnecessarily, as designed to protect the
dead man, see Birkeli, op. cit., 34. According to the story, Egill thought
it important to carry his father SkallasGrímr to his grave without
stopping anywhere (í hríðinni), Egils saga, ch. 58 (Islenzk fornrit II
(1933), 175), and this was fear of, not for, the dead.
*) Cf. J. de Vries, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte (1956—7), II 376.
2) Finnur Jónsson, Edda Snorra Sturlusonar (1931), 11, 66; Den
n'orsk-islandske Skjaldedigtning (1912—15), A II 246.
3) »En gengángare hade ju svárt att komma genom en grind —«
(L. Hagberg, op. cit., 630). It has been suggested that the gatedike patterns
made with spruce branches as part of the widespread custom of dressing
up the road and ground outside houses at the time of a funeral were
intended to represent real gates that would hinder the return of the
dead (see C. W. von Sydow, ‘Nágra begravningsbruk’, Folkminnen och
folktankar 6 (1919), 8—9; Hagberg, op. cit., 302).
4) »Jo, kors da, sa gamlingen; det er nock inte trygt ved grin’ane
om kvelden eller ved nattetid, nei; det har jeg da baade hørt og set —«
(Kr. Bugge, Folkeminne optegnelser(Norsk folkeminnelag nr. 31,1934), 61).