''Fjölsvinnsmál'' (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

: 'The Lay of Fjölsvinn') is the second of two

poems commonly published under the title '' Svipdagsmál'' "The Lay of Svipdagr". These poems are found together in several 17th-century paper manuscripts with ''Fjölsvinnsmál''. In at least three of these manuscripts, the poems appear in reverse order and are separated by a third eddic poem titled ''Hyndluljóð''. For a long time, the connection between the two poems was not realized, until in 1854 Svend Grundtvig pointed out a connection between the story told in ''Gróagaldr'' and the first part of the medieval Scandinavian ballad of ''Ungen Sveidal''/''Herr Svedendal''/''Hertig Silfverdal'' (

TSB Banking A trustee savings bank is a type of financial institution. * In the United Kingdom: ** Trustee Savings Bank, a bank in the United Kingdom that merged with Lloyds Bank in 1995 to form Lloyds TSB until 2013 ** Lloyds TSB, the name used by ...

A 45,

DgF ''Danmarks gamle Folkeviser'' is a collection of (in principle) all known texts and recordings of the old Danish popular ballads. It drew both on early modern manuscripts, such as Karen Brahes Folio, and much more recent folk-song collecting activi ...

70, SMB 18, NMB 22). Then in 1856, Sophus Bugge noticed that the last part of the ballad corresponded to ''Fjölsvinnsmál''. Bugge wrote about this connection in ''Forhandlinger i Videnskabs-Selskabet i Christiania 1860'', calling the two poems together ''Svipdagsmál''. Subsequent scholars have accepted this title.

Einar Ólafur Sveinsson Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, often abbreviated Einar Ól. Sveinsson (12 December 1899 – 18 April 1984) was an Icelandic scholar of Old Norse literature who was Professor of Icelandic Literature at the University of Iceland. His writings on and ed ...

, "Svipdag's Long Journey," ''Hereditas'', Folklore of Ireland Society, Dublin, 1975. In the first poem, Svipdagr enlists the aid of his dead mother,

Gróa In Norse mythology, Gróa (possibly from Old Norse "growing"Orchard (1997:63).) is a völva (seeress) and practitioner of ''seiðr''. She is the wife of Aurvandil the Bold. Attestations ''Prose Edda'' Gróa appears in the ''Prose Edda'' book ...

, a witch, to assist him in the completion of a task set by his cruel stepmother. At the commencement of ''Fjölsvinnsmál'', Svipdagr has arrived at a castle on a mountain top. There he encounters a watchman, Fjölsviðr, who tells him to be gone before asking him his name. Svipdagr conceals it, only revealing it later in the poem. A game of question and answers ensues, wherein Svipdagr learns that Menglöð lives in the castle guarded by Fjölsviðr, and that the castle may not be entered by any save one: Svipdagr. He gives his true name and the gates are opened and Menglöð greets Svipdagr. The poem is considered to be among the youngest of the

Eddic poems The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the '' Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic m ...

. Nevertheless, it is cryptic and some stanzas are corrupt.

References

Bibliography

External links

Thorpe's translationBellows' translationGuðni Jónsson's edition
Eddic poetry Sources of Norse mythology {{DEFAULTSORT:Fjolsvinnsmal