SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

The Languages of Alvissmdl
popular noa- or taboo-language comprises at least one of
the elements in the lexicography of Aloissmdl,
But not everything in the poem's vocabulary has its
roots in the language of popular magic. In disposition
Aloissmdl is strongly reminiscent of Vafftruonismdl and
Boer is in my opinion right when he asserts that Aloissmdl
imitates that poem. Thor introduces all his questions,
mutatis mutandis, with these words:
This seems like an
Vafftruonismdl
Segou mer, GagnrMr,
allz pu a g6lfi vill
pins urn freista frama,
hve sa hestr heitir ...
Segnu mer pat, Alviss,
- oll of rok fira
vorumk, dvergr, at vitir ­
hve su iQrl'5 heitir -
amalgam of the two variants in
Segou pat it eina,
ef pitt rel'5i dugir
ok pu, Vafprul'5nir, vitir ...
In the final stanza of Vafftruonismdl the giant admits that
Odin is the victor in their test of wisdom.
Feigom munni meelta ek mina forna stafi
ok urn ragna rok,
With fated mouth the fall of gods
And mine olden tales have I told.
In the final stanza of Aloissmdl the dwarf admits:
f eino bri6sti ek sak aldregi
fleiri forna stafi.
In a single breast I have never seen
More wealth of wisdom old.
The expression fornir stafir ('olden tales', 'old wisdom')
fits better in Vafftruonismdl than in Alvissmdl and was
presumably borrowed from it by the poet of Aloissmdl.
In the language of the inhabitants of Hel the moon is
called hverfanda hvdl, which for an Icelander probably
meant 'whirling wheel'. Such a meaning is undoubtedly
the one we meet in the well-known passage in Hduamdl