“Grottasǫngr”: New interpretation

Abstract

This article highlights the various genre structures in the composition of the Grottasǫngr, an additional song of the “Elder Edda” that refers to the mythological cycle, and interprets it as a holistic phenomenon with linguo-stylistic features characteristic of it as a variant of eschatology, beloved in the Eddic tradition with its “death of the gods” that are described by means of an audio code. The uniqueness of the Grottasǫngr lies in the fact that this is the only Eddic in which, as a symbol of the mythopoetic model of the universe, there is a mill with explicit features of animation (it produces the basic goods) and ambivalence is demonstrated (serving the anthropocentric sphere and returning to the wild). In accordance with the nature of the denotation, an audio code is used for its description. Two symbols of the model of the universe are compared — the world tree (ash Yggdrasil) and the mill (Grotti), which mark the different poles of binary oppositions: vertical — horizontal, universal (related to both the macrocosm and the microcosm) — anthropocentric, static — dynamic. On the basis of the analysis carried out, we can postulate the core of content in the form of a cosmological song and reconstruct the version of the creation myth coded by synonymous linguistic elements: O.-Icel. Grotti, ‘grinding’, cf. O.-E. grindan ‘to grind’ & O.-Icel. mála ‘to grind’, and also to note the use of a charm as the dominant form of meta description, serving the communicative intention of the main characters — giantesses possessing magical power and striving to achieve the desired result (release from uninterrupted work at the mill).