THE COMPARATIVe VǪLUSPÁ
Stanzas 37-39
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 37:
Stóð fyr norðan
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Stóð fyr norðan, á Niðavǫllom,
salr ór gulli Sindra ættar;
en annarr stóð á Ókólni,
biórsalr iǫtuns, en sá Brimir heitir.
Stood in the north on the Nitha-fields,
a dwelling golden which the dwarves did own;
an other stood on Ókólnir,
that tin's beer-hall who is Brimir hight.
Northward a hall in Nithavellir
Of gold there rose for Sindri's race;
And in Okolnir another stood,
Where the giant Brimir his beer-hall had.
To the northward stood on the Moonless Plains,
the golden hall of the Sparkler’s race;
and a second stood in the Uncooled realm,
a feast-hall of Jötuns, ‘Fire,’ ‘tis called:
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Northward in the mounts of Darkness [No-Moon]
stands a hall of gold, hostel of Dwarves.
But on Okoln [Uncold] stands another,
called Surf [Brimi], the Giant’s drinking-hall.
On the north there stood,
on Nida-fells, a hall of gold,
for Sindri's race;
and another stood in Ôkôlnir,
the Jötuns beer-hall which Brimir hight.
a. Turner, 1836:
There stands towards the north,
In Nidafiollum,
A golden palace called Sandra;
But another exists in Okolni.
The ale cellars of the Jotun
Which is called Brimir.
STANZA 38:
Sal sá hon
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Sal sá hon standa sólo fiarri,
Nástrǫndo á, norðr horfa dyrr;
fello eitrdropar inn um lióra,
sá er undinn, salr, orma hryggiom.
A hall standeth, from the sun so far,
on Ná-strand's shore: turn north its doors;
drops of poison drip through the louver,
its walls are clad with coiling snakes.
A hall I saw, far from the sun,
On Nastrond it stands, and the doors face north;
Venom drops through the smoke-vent down,
For around the walls do serpents wind.
d. Bray, 1908:
and far from the sun I saw a third
on the Strand of Corpses, with doors set northward:
down through the roof dripped poison-drops,
for that hall was woven with serpents’ backs.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Far from the sun on Corse-strand I behold of a hall,
whose doors stands northwards. In through its luffer
drops of venom are falling, its roof is thatched with adders.
She saw a hall standing, far from the sun,
in Nâströnd; its doors are northward turned
venom-drops fall in through its apertures:
entwined is that hall with serpent's backs.
She saw a palace stand far from the sun
In Nastrondum.
It looks at the doors of the north.
The building is twisted from the spines of serpents:
Poisoned torrents
Flow thro' its windows.
STANZA 39:
Sá hon þar
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Sá hon þar vaða þunga strauma
menn meinsvara ok morðvarga,
ok þannz annars glepr eyrarúno;
þar saug Níðhǫggr nái framgengna,
sleit vargr vera — vitoð er enn eða hvat?
Waist-deep wade there through waters swift mainsworn men and murderous,
eke those who betrayed a trusted friend's wife;
there gnaws Níthhogg naked corpses,
there the Wolf rends men — wit ye more, or how?
I saw there wading through rivers wild
Treacherous men and murderers too.
And workers of ill with the wives of men;
There Nithhogg sucked the blood of the slain,
And the wolf tore men; would you know yet more?
d. Bray, 1908:
I saw there wading the whelming streams
wolf-like murderers, men forsworn,
and those who another’s love-whisperer had wiled.
The dragon, Fierce-stinger, fed on corpses,
a wolf tore men. —Would ye know further, and what?
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
There shall the murderers and the mansworn wade
through heavy streams, while Nidhogg [Backbiter] the serpent
is sucking the corses of the dead, and a Wolf is ravening
on men.—Know ye yet or what?
She there saw wading the sluggish streams
bloodthirsty men and perjurers,
and him who the ear beguiles
of another's wife. There Nidhögg sucks
the corpses of the dead; the wolf tears men.
Understand ye yet, or what?
There she saw amid the dreadful streams
The perjured and the murderers:
And those who pulled the ears
Of another's wife.
Their Nidhoggur
Tore the flesh from their corpses.
The fierce Wolf devoured the men.
Know you more? It is this.