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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to stanza

2. Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, 4. Sexstefja, 3 [Vol. 2, 114-16]

[3-4] ómynda elju Rindar ‘the rival of Rindr <giantess> lacking bride-payment [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)]’: Rindr is the mother of Váli (SnE 1998, I, 19), and one of the numerous mistresses of Óðinn, hence a rival not only to his wife Frigg but also to another mistress, Jǫrð, goddess and personification of the earth (SnE 1998, I, 30, 35; see also Note to Anon Nkt 8/1, 2). The evidence for Rindr’s status (giantess or goddess) is somewhat ambivalent. Jǫrð here stands for a particular territory, taken by conquest and not paid for (ómynda), like a woman for whom no mundr, the customary payment from bridegroom to bride which legitimises the marriage, has been paid.

