Description: Miðgarðsormr
about to swallow the ox-head bait on the end of Þórr's fishing line.
Source: AM 738 4to
Folio or Page: 42r
Medium: ink drawing on paper with coloured ink wash
Date: 1680
Dimensions (mm): 90 x 285
Provenance:
Árni Magnússon received the manuscript from Magnús Jónsson in Leirá,
and he received it from Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir in Bæ. It was
previously owned by Sigurður Gíslason in Bæ.
Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi received the manuscript on
September 30, 1991.
Rights:
Images from ÁM 738 4to are displayed
with permission from the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í
íslenskum fræðum in Iceland. Link to
E-manuscript. This image is from f. 42r.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Reykjavik: Stofnun
Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. AM 738
4to. 1680. Hand
copied paper manuscript.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Artist Not
Known
Artist not known for this illustration in the AM738 manuscript.
Creatures: animals, birds, monsters etc.
Jörmungandr (non.)
Jormungand (en.)
A monstrous serpent who is the progeny of Loki and the giantess
Angrboða. This serpent is also known as Miðgarðsormr and, in English,
the Midgard Serpent.
Miðgarðsormr (non.)
Midgard
Serpent (en.)
A monstrous serpent who is the progeny of Loki and the giantess
Angrboða. This serpent is also known as Jörmungandr and in English as
the Midgard Serpent.
Gods and Goddesses
Þórr (non.)
Thor (en.)
In the Prose Edda, Þórr is the son of Óðinn
and the giantess Jörð. However, in Heimskringla, he is a mortal.
Myths
Þórr's Fishing Trip
This myth relates the story of Þórr's almost successful attempt to
catch Miðgarðsormr on a fishing line. The giant Hymir does not cut
Þórr's fishing line in the poem Hymiskiða. Hymir only cuts the line in
Snorri's Edda.
AM 738 4to (is.)
Edda Oblongata (la.)
This manuscript is known by its shelf mark AM738. However, it is also known as the Edda Oblongata
because its height is unusually tall compared to its width. It was
created circa 1680 by an unknown scribe.
Prose Edda (is.)
Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century prose work concerning Old Norse
mythology and poetics.
