[30]. Hallow: just what this means is not clear, but there are [[182]]references to other kinds of consecration, though not of a bride, with the “sign of the hammer.” According to Vigfusson, “the hammer was the holy sign with the heathens, answering to the cross of the Christians.” In Snorri’s story of Thor’s resuscitation of his cooked goat (cf. Hymiskvitha, 38, note) the god “hallows” the goat with his hammer. One of the oldest runic signs, supposed to have magic power, was named Thor’s-hammer. Vor: the goddess of vows, particularly between men and women; Snorri lists a number of little-known goddesses similar to Vor, all of them apparently little more than names for Frigg.
[33]. Some editors reject this line, which, from a dramatic standpoint, is certainly a pity. In the manuscript it begins with a capital letter, like the opening of a new stanza. [[183]]
ALVISSMOL
The Ballad of Alvis
Introductory Note
No better summary of the Alvissmol can be given than Gering’s statement that “it is a versified chapter from the skaldic Poetics.” The narrative skeleton, contained solely in stanzas 1–8 and in 35, is of the slightest; the dwarf Alvis, desirous of marrying Thor’s daughter, is compelled by the god to answer a number of questions to test his knowledge. That all his answers are quite satisfactory makes no difference whatever to the outcome. The questions and answers differ radically from those of the Vafthruthnismol. Instead of being essentially mythological, they all concern synonyms. Thor asks what the earth, the sky, the moon, and so on, are called “in each of all the worlds,” but there is no apparent significance in the fact that the gods call the earth one thing and the giants call it another; the answers are simply strings of poetic circumlocutions, or “kennings.” Concerning the use of these “kennings” in skaldic poetry, cf. introductory note to the Hymiskvitha.
Mogk is presumably right in dating the poem as late as the twelfth century, assigning it to the period of “the Icelandic renaissance of skaldic poetry.” It appears to have been the work of a man skilled in poetic construction,—Thor’s questions, for instance, are neatly balanced in pairs,—and fully familiar with the intricacies of skaldic diction, but distinctly weak in his mythology. In other words, it is learned rather than spontaneous poetry. Finnur Jonsson’s attempt to make it a tenth century Norwegian poem baffles logic. Vigfusson is pretty sure the poem shows marked traces of Celtic influence, which is by no means incompatible with Mogk’s theory (cf. introductory note to the Rigsthula).
The poem is found only in Regius, where it follows the Thrymskvitha. Snorri quotes stanzas 20 and 30, the manuscripts of the Prose Edda giving the name of the poem as Alvissmol, Alsvinnsmol or Olvismol. It is apparently in excellent condition, without serious errors of transmission, although interpolations or omissions in such a poem might have been made so easily as to defy detection.