THE COMPARATIVe VǪLUSPÁ
Stanzas 7-9
Joseph S. Hopkins for Mimisbrunnr.info, August 2022
The present page consists of an entry of Mimisbrunnr.info’s The Comparative Vǫluspá. The Mimisbrunnr.info team designed The Comparative Vǫluspá as a resource to assist in the study of both the poem and its English language translations. You can read about the project’s approach and goals here.
The Comparative Vǫluspá features six public domain English editions of Vǫluspá presented in reverse chronological order, specifically those of Lee M. Hollander (first edition, 1928), Henry Adams Bellows (1923), Olive Bray (1908), Guðbrandur Vigfússon and York Powell (1883), Benjamin Thorpe (1866), and Sharon Turner (1836). We precede these with Gustav Neckel’s 1914 Old Norse edition of the poem, which is also in the public domain in the United States, and which we’ve used as a basis for the project’s stanza order.
Please note that if this is your first encounter with the poem, The Comparative Vǫluspá can serve as an introduction, but you stand to benefit from Carolyne Larrington’s revised edition (2014) as your foundation. Not only do Larrington’s notes reflect contemporary scholarship but her revised edition contains two separate translations of the poem from two notably different manuscripts of the poem. Translators often combine these manuscripts and this can lead to significant confusion for non-specialists.
STANZA 7:
Hittoz æsir á Iðavelli
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Hittoz æsir á Iðavelli,
þeir er hǫrg ok hof há timbroðo;
afla lǫgðo, auð smiðoðo,
tangir skópo, ok tól gørðo.
On the Itha-field met the mighty gods;
shrines and temples they timbered high,
forges they formed to fashion gold,
tongs they did shape and tools they made;
At Ithavoll met the mighty gods,
Shrines and temples they timbered high;
Forges they set, and they smithied ore,
Tongs they wrought, and tools they fashioned.
Gathered the gods on the Fields of Labour;
they set on high their courts and temples;
they founded forges, wrought rich treasures,
tongs they hammered and fashioned tools.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
The Anses met on Ida-plain,
and raised high places and temples,
setting forges, and fashioning treasures,
shaping tongs, and making tools.
The Æir met on Ida's plain;
they altar-steads and temples high constructed;
their strength they proved, all things tried,
furnaces established, precious things forged,
formed tongs, and fabricated tools;
a. Turner, 1836:
The Asæ met on the fields of Ida,
And framed their images and temples.
They placed the furnaces. They created money.
They made tongs and iron tools.
STANZA 8:
Teflo í túni
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Teflo í túni, teitir vóro,
var þeim vettergis vant ór gulli,
unz þriár kvómo, þursa meyiar,
ámátkar miǫk, ór iǫtunheimom.
Played at draughts in the gard: right glad they were,
nor aught lacked they of lustrous gold;—
till maidens three from the thurses came,
awful in might, from etin-home.
In their dwellings at peace they played at tables.
Of gold no lack did the gods then know, —
Till thither came up giant-maids three.
Huge of might, out of Jotunheim.
d. Bray, 1908:
They played at tables in court, were joyous,—
little they wanted for wealth of gold.—
Till there came forth three of the giant race,
all fearful maidens, from Jotunheim.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
They played at tables in the court
and were happy,
they lacked not gold till there came
three most loathsome Titan maids from Giant-land.
at tables played at home; joyous they were;
to them was naught the want of gold,
until there came Thurs-maidens three,
all powerful, from Jötunheim.
They played at dice. They were merry.
No vicious desire of gold arose among them.
Till three of the Thursa Virgins come,
Two very powerful from Jotun-heim.
STANZA 9:
Þá gengo regin
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Þá gengo regin ǫll á rǫkstóla,
gennheillog goð, ok um þat gættoz:
hverr skyldi dverga dróttir skepia,
ór Brimis blóði ok ór Bláins leggiom.
Then gathered together the gods for counsel,
the holy hosts, and held converse:
who the deep-dwelling dwarfs was to make
of Brimir’s blood and Bláïn’s bones.
Then sought the gods their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held.
To find who should raise the race of dwarfs
Out of Brimir's blood and the legs of Blain.
d. Bray, 1908:
Then went all the Powers to their thrones of doom,—
the most holy gods,— and o’er this took counsel:
whom should they make the lord of dwarfs
out of Ymir’s blood, and his swarthy limbs.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Then all the Powers, the most high Gods,
assembled to their judgment-seats and took counsel together,
who should create dwarf-kind from the bloody surf
and the Giants’s black bones;
Then went all the powers to their judgment-seats,
the all-holy gods, and thereon held council,
who should of the dwarfs the race create,
from the sea-giant's blood and livid bones.
The Gods then went to their divine stools,
Inquiring of the Holy Deities, this,—
Who ought to be the Lord of the Duerga, (the dwarfs,)
Or to create them
From Bruner's blood, and the legs of Blavis?