According to the Norse version of the Volund saga, one of the precautions resorted to is to sever the sinews of his knees (str. 17 and the prose). It is Nidadr's queen who causes this cruel treatment. In Fjölsvinnsmal the nameless mythic personality who deprived the "airy one" of his weapon has left it to be kept by a feminine person, Sinmara. The name is composed of sin, which means "sinew," and mara, which means "the one that maims." (Mara is related to the verb merja, "to maim"—see Vigfusson's Dict.) Thus Sinmara means "the one who maims by doing violence to the sinews." The one designated by this epithet in Fjölsvinnsmal has therefore acted the same part as Mimer-Nidadr's queen in the Volundarkvida.
Mimer-Nidadr, who imprisons Volund and robs him of his sword and the incomparable arm-ring, is the father of Nat and her sisters (see No. 85). He who robs "the airy one" of his treasures must also have been intimately related to the dises of night, else he would not have selected as keeper of the weapon Sinmara, whose quality as a being of night is manifested by the meaning incubus nocturnes which is the name Mara acquired. In Fjölsvinnsmal (str. 29) Sinmara is called hin fölva gygr, "the ashes-coloured giantess"—a designation pointing in the same direction.
She is also called Eir aurglasis (str. 28), an expression which, as I believe, has been correctly interpreted as "the dis of the shining arm-ring" (cp. Bugge Edda, p. 348). In Volundarkvida the daughter of Mimer-Nidadr receives Volund's incomparable arm-ring to wear.
According to Fjölsvinnsmal "the airy one" makes his weapon fyr nágrindr nedan. The meaning of this expression has already been discussed in No. 60. The smith has his abode in the frost-cold and foggy Nifelheim, while he is at work on the sword. Nifelheim, the land fyr nágrindr nedan, as we already know, is the northern subterranean border-land of Mimer's domain. The two realms are separated by Mount Hvergelmer, on which the Na-gates are set, and where the world-mill, called Eylúdr and Lúdr have their foundation-structure (see Nos. 59, 60, 79, 80). In its vicinity below the southern slope of the Hvergelmer mountain Nat has her hall (Nos. 84, 93). According to Fjölsvinnsmal Sinmara also dwells here. For Fjölsvin says that if Svipdag is to borrow the sword which she keeps, he must carry the above-mentioned hooked bone "to Lúdr and give it to Sinmara" (ljósan ljá skaltu i Lúdr bera Sinmöra at selja—str. 30). Lúdr, the subterranean world-mill, which stands on the Nida mountain above Nat's hall, has given its name to the region where it stands. In Volundarkvida Mimer-Nidadr suddenly appears with his wife and daughter and armed Njarians in the remote cold Wolfdales, where Volund thinks himself secure, and no one knows whence these foes of his come. The explanation is that the "Wolfdales" of the heroic saga were in the mythology situated in Nifelheim, the border-land of Mimer's realm. Like "the airy one," Volund made his sword fyr nágrindr nedan; the latter, like the former, was robbed of the weapon as soon as it was finished by a lower-world ruler, whose kinswomen are dises of the night; and in the saga of the one, as of the other, one of these night dises has caused a maiming by injuring the sinews.
Thus we can also understand why Svipdag must traverse Nifelheim, "meet Nat on Nifelway," visit the world-mill, wade across Hel-rivers, and encounter Mimer himself, "the weapon-honoured." If Svipdag wants the sword made by Loptr, he must risk these adventures, since the sword is kept in the lower world by a kinswoman of Mimer.
The heroic saga about Volund is therefore identical with the myth concerning the maker of the sword which opens Asgard for Svipdag. The former, produced in Christian times, is only a new version of the latter. Volund is a foe of the gods, an elf-prince who was deeply insulted by beings more powerful than himself (No. 87). "The airy one" must likewise be a foe of the gods, since the weapon he has made is dangerous to the golden cock of the world-tree, and is bought by "the eleven wards" with the opening of Asgard's gate and the giving of Menglad as wife to Svipdag. Its danger to Asgard must also be suggested by Fjölsvin's statement, that the splendid hall, called Hýrr, "the gladdener," "the soul-stirring," that hall which is situated within the castle wall, which is encircled by vaferflames, and which from time out of mind has been celebrated among men—that this hall has already long trembled á brodds oddi, "on the point of the sword" (str. 32). No other weapon can here be meant than one which was fraught with the greatest danger to the safety of the gods, and which filled them with anxiety; and unless we wish to deny that there is sense and connection in the poem, this sword can be no other than that which Svipdag now has with him, and which, having been brought to Asgard, relieves the gods of their anxiety. And to repeat the points of similarity, Volund, like "Loptr," makes his weapon in the northern border-land of Mimer's domain; and when the sword is finished he is surprised by subterranean powers. In Loptr's saga, as in Volund's, a magnificent arm-ring is mentioned, and in both a dis of night received this ring to wear. In Loptr's saga, as in Volund's, a night-dis is mentioned who injures sinews. And Volund himself calls himself Byrr, "the wind," which is a synonym of Loptr.
Thus Svipdag has made a journey to the lower world to get possession of the sword of Volund, and he has been successful.
99.
SVIPDAG'S FATHER ORVANDEL, THE STAR-HERO. EXPLANATION OF HIS EPITHET SÓLBJARTR.
The conversation between Fjölsvin and Svipdag ends when the latter gives his name, and requests the former to ask Menglad if she wishes to possess his love. Menglad then hastens to meet him, but before she shows what she feels for him, he must confirm with his own name and that of his father's that he really is the one he pretends to be—the one she has long been longing for. The young hero then says: Svipdagr ek heitir, Sólbjartr hét minn fadir (str. 47).