The Lay of Alvíss

Summary

A

Alvíssmál is a wisdom poem in ljóðaháttr. The dwarf Alvíss ('All-wise') arrives to claim Thor's daughter, promised to him as bride. Thor confronts him at his threshold and sets a condition: Alvíss may have the bride if he can answer thirteen questions about what various things are called among different beings.

The questions form a systematic catalog of heiti (poetic synonyms). Thor asks what earth, sky, moon, sun, cloud, wind, calm, sea, fire, forest, night, grain, and ale are called among men, Æsir, Vanir, giants, elves, and dwarfs. Alvíss answers each question with six or seven names.

The catalog provides a unique glimpse into the Old Norse poetic synonym tradition and the social stratification of the cosmology: different categories of beings have different perspectives on the same phenomena.

The poem's point is Thor's cunning. He has no intention of giving away his daughter. By keeping Alvíss occupied with questions through the night, dawn arrives and the dwarf is turned to stone by sunlight. Thor declares himself the victor.

The story

Key concepts

• heiti , poetic synonyms; Alvíssmál is the most systematic compilation in Eddic poetry
• ljóðaháttr , the chant-metre Alvíssmál uses; associated with wisdom-dialogue
• dvergr , dwarfs in Old Norse tradition: subterranean smiths and wisdom-bearers who cannot endure sunlight
• kenning , Alvíssmál's synonym catalog borders on the kenning system yet is formally heiti (simple synonyms rather than compound circumlocutions)
• Þórr , in Alvíssmál Thor unusually appears as cunning rather than physically superior

Interpretive traditions

A What we know

Alvíssmál is preserved in Codex Regius (GKS 2365 4to), placed last among the mythological poems, before the heroic poems.

The poem's heiti catalog has a direct connection to Snorri's Skáldskaparmál, which compiles similar synonym lists. Alvíssmál may have served as a didactic reference for poets.

The motif that dwarfs are turned to stone by sunlight is attested in several independent Nordic sources and forms a fixed part of the Old Norse dwarf tradition.

The poem's systematic question-answer structure (13 identical question formulations) is textually established and unique in Eddic poetry.

B What we think we know

Whether Alvíssmál is primarily a didactic poem (intended to teach poets synonyms) or a narrative poem (the story of Thor's cunning) with a didactic frame is debated. The poem's placement last among the mythological poems may suggest the editor saw it as an appendix.

The dating is uncertain. Some heiti mentioned in the poem (e.g. 'Dvalins leika' for the sun) are found in older skaldic poetry, which may indicate early tradition. Other features point toward late composition.

How Thor's daughter came to be promised as bride to a dwarf is never explained in the poem. Whether this references a lost myth or is a narrative premise is unclear.

The six being-categories (men, Æsir, Vanir, giants, elves, dwarfs) form a cosmological schema resembling Snorri's account yet potentially older.

C What we do not know

The exact function of Alvíssmál's heiti in actual skaldic practice is unknown. Whether poets genuinely used all these synonyms, or whether the poem systematizes a partly fictive tradition, cannot be determined with current evidence.

Whether the cosmological hierarchy in the poem (six being-categories each with their own terminology) reflects a living mythological conception or is a poetic construction remains open.

Which daughter of Thor is meant is never stated. Thor's daughter Þrúðr is attested in other sources, yet the identification is uncertain.

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

• Neckel, Gustav, och Hans Kuhn. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 5. uppl. Heidelberg: Winter.

Translations

• Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.). 1923. The Poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. (PD)
• Larrington, Carolyne (trans.). 2014. The Poetic Edda. Rev. ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Scholarly works

• Lindow, John. 2001. Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
• de Vries, Jan. 1956–1957. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. 2 vols. Berlin: de Gruyter.
• Turville-Petre, E. O. G. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
• Clunies Ross, Margaret. 1994–1998. Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society, vols. I–II. Odense: Odense University Press.