Chapter 25
SVÁFA AND THÓRGERTH HÖLGABRÚTH
Page 1
Saxo's narrative is as follows: Helgi (Helgo), king of Hálogaland, sent out men several times to woo in his name Thora, a daughter of Gusi (Cuso), king of the Finns and Bjarms. It was customary at that time for young men to woo on their own account; but Helgi had such a bad impediment in his speech that he was ashamed to talk, not merely to strangers, but even to those of his own house. Gusi dismissed the messengers with the answer, that the man who dared not plead his own cause did not deserve to get his daughter to wife. Helgi then succeeded in inducing Höth (Hotherus) to go to Norway with a fleet and woo for him. Höth pleaded so well that Gusi finally answered that he would take counsel with his daughter and do as she wished. Thora's answer was favourable, and Gusi consented to the betrothal. Later, Saxo tells how Höth poured out his sorrow to Helgi, and how he gave Helgi and Thora rich gifts.
This story, as appears from Olrik's investigations, was brought by the Icelander Arnald Thorvaldsson from the west coast of Norway to Denmark. With the help of Storm's and Detter's (3) articles on the subject, I shall try to get nearer to the source of the tale.
In my opinion, Thórgerth Hölgabrúth, and the Thora spoken of in Saxo, arose from a remodelling of Sváfa, especially from Sváfa as she appears in the Hrímgerth lay. (4)
Sváfa is Helgi's bride, just as Thora is Helgi's bride, and as Thórgerth is called Hölgabrúđr, 'the bride of Hölgi, Helgi.' In conversation with Helgi, Hethin calls Sváfa 'thy bride' (H. Hj., 32), and Helgi addresses Sváfa as brúđr (H. Hj., 7, 41).
When the woman whom I take to be a remodelled Sváfa received the name ţórgerđr, the second part of her name, -gerđr, was doubtless chosen because Sváfa is placed in opposition to Hrímgerđr. The name ţórgerđr designates her as the Gerđr, or supernatural woman, closely connected with the god Thor. That she was brought into connection with Thor seems to be due to the fact that the man who remodelled the Sváfa story imagined Atli, who converses with Hrímgerth, to be the god Thor in human form.
He was led to this opinion by the following considerations. Atli says: 'I am the worst enemy of female trolls; often have I killed night riding witches.' (5) Now Thor was precisely the person of whom this could truly be said. Atli had also shared in the killing of the giant Hati, who has the same name as one of the sun wolves; and it was he who kept Hrímgerth talking until the sun rose, and she was changed by its rays into stone. (6) This also would suit the god Thor; for, according to the poem Alvíssmál, he kept the dwarf Allwise talking until the latter was transformed by the sun's rays into stone.
We have further evidence that Helgi's watchman Atli was really regarded, later, as the god Thor in human form: in a verse in Snorri's Edda, (7) Atli is given as one of Thor's names. This conception of Thor is analogous to that by which Odin is often made to appear in human form, sometimes as a man in the king's service---e.g. as Brúni at the court of Harald Hildetann.
Moreover, it is clear that Thórgerth was thought of, at any rate at a later time, as a being closely connected with Thor; for in a story in Njálssaga, chap. 88, we read that Earl Hákon and Dale-Guthbrand worshipped together in a temple in which there were images of Thor and the sisters Thórgerth Höldabrúđr, and Irpa.
Saxo calls the bride of Helgi, king of Hálogaland, not Thórgerth, but Thora. Storm thinks this name but a shortened form of Thórgerth, used as a term of endearment. Detter calls attention to the fact that Saxo also tells of another Thora who was Helgi's bride---namely, of that Thora who bore to the Danish King Helgi a daughter Yrsa (Ursa), who in her turn bore to her own father a son Hrólf (Rolpho), later king of Denmark. It looks, therefore, as if Thórgerth, the name of the bride of Helgi, king of Hálogaland, was changed by Saxo into Thora, under the influence of the name of Thora, the love of Helgi, king of Denmark.
Just as hail falls on the high trees from the manes of the horses of Sváfa and her maidens when they ride through the air, so showers of hail are called forth by Thórgerth Hölgabrúth. Just as Sváfa saves Helgi's ships in a storm, and comes afterwards among the men to moor his fleet, and just as, according to the prose account, she often protects him in battle, so Thórgerth is on the ship of Earl Hákon, who is of Hölgi's race, to protect him in the sea fight in the Hjörung bay. In the version of the Jómsvíkingasaga preserved in Arngrím Jónsson's translation, Earl Hákon addresses Thórgerth in worship thus: 'Thou who wakest the winds and settlest them to rest, thou who callest forth storms, hail showers, and torrents of rain.' (8)
Thórgerth, like Sváfa, is the daughter of a king. Sváfa is called 'golden' or 'glittering with much gold,' (9) and receives rings from Helgi. Thórgerth bears in the temple a gold ring on her arm, and offerings of gold and silver are made to her.
Saxo tells that Thora's suitor had so bad an impediment in his speech that he was ashamed to talk not only to strangers, but also to his own family. This feature has its explanation in the statement in the prose passage regarding the young Helgi Hjör., that he was taciturn. The first time Sváfa speaks with him she upbraids him for his habitual silence (H. Hj., 6).
We read also in Saxo that Helgi sent men on different occasions to Thora's father to woo her for him, but that the suit was rejected because he did not come himself. Finally, Hother succeeded in obtaining Thora as Helgi's bride. This account is based on features which are applied in the Eddic lay to Helgi's father Hjörvarth. Hjörvarth sent messengers to woo Sigrlinn, but his offer was rejected; later, however, he won his bride by the help of his messenger, Atli. (10) The name Atli the author of the Thora story could not use for the king's messenger, since he imagined Atli to be the god Thor in human form. Perhaps he chose Hothar as the messenger, because eloquence was ascribed to this hero in some other tale with which the poet was familiar. (11)
From Sváfa were transferred to Thórgerth not only the power of calling forth showers of hail, but also that of pacifying storms. These marvellous powers were ascribed to Finns and Bjarms elsewhere in Scandinavian stories. (12) That explains why Thora (i.e. Thórgerth Hölgabrúth) in Saxo's story is represented as the daughter of Cuso or Gusi, king of the Finns and Bjarms. The name Gusi or Gusir seems to be Norse, not Lappish, (13) and to mean 'the maker of wind (of gusts of wind.)'
Helgi, the bridegroom of Thora or Thórgerth, owes his origin to Helgi, Sváfa's bridegroom. The latter Helgi is in the Eddic poem a Norwegian hero. When the heroine was made into the daughter of a Finnish king, it was natural that her bridegroom, the Norwegian hero, should be identified with Helgi or Hölgi, the eponym of the Háleygir, and made king of Hálogaland, in order that his home might be brought nearer that of his bride. This identification is also found in Saxo, who mentions him as Helgo Halogiae rex.
Since Helgi, the betrothed of Thora, has his origin in Helgi, the betrothed of Sváfa, then the form of his name with e, viz. Helgi (which Saxo presupposes) is more original than Hölgi or Hřlgi. These are parallel forms of Helgi, and were especially used by Norwegians. (14)
In old Icelandic the form Hölgi is only used of the eponymous hero of Hálogaland, and was doubtless the usual form of his name; for popular etymology sought a linguistic bond (which did not exist originally) between the name of the hero and his country. The reason why the saga king with whom Thórgerth is united is usually called Hölgi in Icelandic documents, and not Helgi, appears to be that he was identified with the hero of the race of the Háleygir. (15)
The author of the First Helgi lay was born in the west of Norway, and lived among Irish poets. In the First Helgi lay, which he composed in Britain, he describes Sigrún with features borrowed to some extent from Irish battle goddesses. This same poet composed the Hrímgerth lay, in which Sváfa clearly resembles Sigrún in the First Lay, and is described with features drawn from the Irish battle goddesses. The influence of Irish conceptions, which thus affected the portrayal of Sváfa in the Hrímgerth lay, becomes still greater in the description of Thórgerth Hölgabrúth, where other Irish ideas appear.
Although Sváfa is represented as a supernatural woman endowed with marvellous powers, she is, nevertheless, not thought of either as a goddess or as a female troll. With Thórgerth Hölgabrúth, on the contrary, the situation is different. From the very fact that Thora is represented as the daughter of the Finnish King Gusi, we see that she was regarded as at least a half-troll by nature; and in later times this side of Thórgerth's character is made more prominent. In the versified list of names inserted in Snorri's Edda we find Hölgabrúđr among the names of female trolls. Her surname is changed in Iceland into Hölgatroll (in this form as early as in the Grammatical Treatise of about 1140), holda troll, hörga tröll, Hörđatröll, Huldartröll, in the Faroes into illgerđsfrú. She appears in many fabulous stories as the worst of trolls.
This conception of Thórgerth Hölgabrúth as opposed to Sváfa seems to me to have developed under the influence of the Irish accounts of Badb and other supernatural female beings who are brought into connection with battle and war. They are regarded as malicious, (16) and as gifted with magic powers. (17)
While Sváfa is not thought of as a goddess, Thórgerth is classed among the gods, and is said to have been worshipped in temples and to have received sacrifices. (18) The Irish Badb is also called a goddess. (19) When once the conception of Thórgerth as a heathen goddess was established, there could easily develop in later times, under the influence of ideas common in the Middle Ages, fabulous tales of her temple and statue, of sacrifices to her and worship of her. All that, however, was foreign to historical heathendom among the Scandinavians. (20)
With Thórgerth is associated a sister Irpa, who in the battle of the Jómsvíkings is said to have been seen on Hákon's ships along with Thórgerth, and to have acted exactly like her. Irpa is not mentioned in Saxo in the story of Helgi and Thora, and indeed she would seem useless in a story of Helgi's wooing. Snorri says in Skáldskaparmál that both Hölgi and Thórgerth received divine worship; but he does not mention Irpa. She can scarcely be explained by the Sváfa story, and does not seem to have been very prominent in the oldest form of the account of Thórgerth Hölgabrúth.
This introduction of the sister, who also helps Hákon in battle, seems to me to be due to Irish influence. Among the Irish two war goddesses are several times mentioned together. Thus in a poem in the Book of Leinster, Badb and Nemain appear, and in another place in the same MS., Fea and Nemain. In Irish genealogies these goddesses are said to have been sisters. Moreover, Badb, Macha, and Morrigan (or Ana), who are all battle goddesses or battle furies, are also said to have been sisters. (21)
Irpa means 'the brown one,' from the adjective jarpr, 'brown.' This name may have been given the sister because she was thought of as a female troll. (22) Björn Haldorsen states that irpa can signify a she wolf. In an Irish story about Cuchulinn, the war fury Morrigan transforms herself into a she wolf. (23)
The surname Hölgabrúth, and the relation of the Thórgerth story to the Lay of Helgi Hjör., show that Saxo's account, in which Thora (i.e. Thórgerth) is Helgi's bride, is more original than Snorri's in Skáldskaparmál, (24) where Thórgerth Hölgabrúth is the daughter of King Hölgi in Hálogaland. Since, as it appears, it was due to Irish influence that Thórgerth was given a sister Irpa, it is probable that it was also due to Irish influence that at the same time Helgi or Hölgi was no longer represented as her bridegroom, but as her father. (25)
1.
In Arkiv f. nord. Filol., II, 125 ff. Back
2. Ed. Müller, Bk, III, pp. 116 ff. Back
3. Der Mythus von Hölgi, þórgerðr und Irpa, in Ztsch.
f. d. Alt., XXXII, 394-402. The same author previously suggested a different
theory in Arkiv f. nord. Filol., IV, 66, note 2. Back
4. Neither Storm, nor Detter, nor Olrik (Sakses Oldhist., II, 24) has
suggested any connection between Helgi or Hölgi, the bridegroom of
Thora or Thórgerth, and Helgi Hjör.; but Detter connects this
Helgi with Hrólf's father Helgi. Back
5. Mjök em ek gífrum gramastr......ek hefi opt........kvalðar
kveldriður (H. Hj., 15). Back
6. Dagr er nú, Hrímgerðr! en þik dvalða hefir
Atli til aldrlaga. (H. Hj., 30). Back
7. I, 553, 2.----In the story of Regner and Swanwhite, in Saxo (Bk. II,
p. 71), which shows the influence of the Hrímgerth lay, Regner
says, when in the night surrounded by trolls he speaks with Swanwhite,
that he fears no trolls, but only the god Thor. This indicates, perhaps,
that the author of the Regner story also regarded Atli in the Hrímgerth
lay as Thor in human form. Back
8. Ed. Gjessing, chap. 15, p. 44. Back
9. H. Hj., 25: margullin (i.e. marg-gullin) mær. Back
10. Olrik (S. O. II, 24 f) thinks that the story of Helgi and Thora, which
was composed by a Norwegian saga writer, presupposes earlier stories of
actual events. So far, in my opinion, he is right; but I cannot agree
with the view he seems to hold that the story has no connection with any
heroic lay. I have, I think, shown that it is a saga writer's remodelling
of an heroic poem. Back
11. Did the relation between Helgi Hjör. and Heðinn (dat. Heðni)
have any influence on the relation between Helgi, Thora's bridegroom,
and Höðr (dat. Heði)? There are other points of contact between
Heðinn and Höðr. See my Studien über die Enstehung der
nord. Götter-u. Heldensagen, pp. 92-97, 174 f. Back
12. Cf. Fritzner in (Norsk) Hist. Tidsskrift, IV,
200 ff; Uhland, Schriften, VI, 403. Back
13. This is Olrik's opinion (S. O., I, 65, note 1). Gusi is doubtless
connected with ON gustr, 'a gust of wind,' Dialectal Norw. gusa, 'to blow
gently' (in Ross), gósa, 'currents of air' (in Aasen). I conjecture
that the form Gusir, with short first syllable, arose from Gusi by analogy.
Detter (Ztsch. f. d. Alt., XXXII, 456) has already brought the name into
connection with gustr; but he writes incorrectly Gúsi, and refers
it to gjóta. Back
14. In this point I disagree with Storm, Arkiv, II, 128. In Hauksbók
the man's name Helgi, -a, appears in the forms Hælgi, Hælga;
the woman's name Helga, -u, in the form Hælga, -u. These forms with
æ I regard as Norwegianisms. We find also Hæylgi, Dipl. Norv.,
I, No. 363 (Year 1359, Indre Sogn); Hælghi, D. N., II, No. 318 (1353,
Oslo); Heylghi, D. N., III, No. 496 (1391, Vestfold); to these Prof. O.
Rygh has kindly called to my attention. Ivar Aasen in Norsk Navnebog,
p. 22, has the masc. forms Hølge. (Hølje) and Holge (Holje)
from Telemarken, Nummedalen, and Hallingdalen; Høye from Telemarken.
These are, doubtless, forms of the same name as Helgi. Wiel has from Ringerike
Holge, masc., but Helge, fem. Thus it appears that both Hölgi and
Hølgi were used. Cf. hölzti (in Tel. and other places hóste)
and Hølzti (heyllzti in Mansöngskviða, 8 and 28), alongside
helzti from helzt til, hölðar from the stem haliþ-, and
others. A u-sound is called forth between the l and a following consonant.
Back
15. In Njálssaga, chap. 113, we find: þórgerðr
dóttir Háleygs (in one MS. Helga) konungs af Hálogalandi;
but this is, as Storm has pointed out in Arkiv, II, 128, a corruption
of Hervör dóttir þórgerðar Eylaugs dóttur
konungs (in other MSS. hersis ór Sogni) in Landnámabók,
I, 10. Back
16. Fé (Fea) was the name of one of the battle goddesses, and fé
was used of all that was bad (Rev. Celt., I, 35; Cormac's Glossary, trans.,
75). Of the battle god Neit and his wife Nemon we read: 'poisonous were
the pair'; 'both were wicked' (Rev. Celt., I, 36). Back
17. Rev. Celt., I, 33. They are called lamiae, i.e. witches (Rev. Celt.,
XII, 128). Back
18. Thórgerth is blótuð (Sn. Ed., I, 400). In Njálss.,
chap. 89, Thórgerth is named as one of the goð; likewise in
Harðarsaga, chap. 19. Back
19. Rev. Celt., I, 34. Back
20. Cf. Vigfusson, C. P. B., I, 402; Golther, Handbuch d. germ. Myth.,
p. 484. Back
21. See Rev. Celt., I, 35 and 36 f. Back
22. Íma is the designation of a female troll, and of a she wolf;
cf. ímleitr, 'dark,' of the wolf. Back
23. Stokes and Windisch, Irische Texte, II, 2, p. 252 f. Back
24. Sn. Edda, I, 400. Back
25. According to Irish genealogies (Rev. Celt., I, 35), the war goddesses
Fé and Nemon were daughters of Elcmar of Brug (Newgrange, near
Boyne). It may be that a Norseman who regarded Thórgerth as corresponding
to an Irish war goddess, identified Thórgerth's (or Thora's) bridegroom
Helgi (or Hölgi) with Elcmar, and therefore made Helgi (or Hölgi)
into the father of Thórgerth and Irpa. The second part of Elcmar
may have been thought to be már, 'great,' and therefore separated
from the rest. The fact that there was an old Irish adjective elc, 'bad,'
may also have had some influence. Cf. further the fact that the man who
in Hyndl. 18 is called Jösurmarr (iosurmar) is called Jöfurr
in Flat., I, 25 (= Fornald., II, 9). Back
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