Preserving Blunders in Eddic Poems: Formula Variation in Numbered Inventories of Vafþrúðnismál and Grímnismál

The rise of interest in the orality of eddic poetry has tended to view the preserved corpus as oral poems without considering their transition into writing and its potential implications. The present article is an exploratory study of variation in the ordinal inventories of questions and knowledge in Vafþrúðnismál and Grímnismál. Variation in formula usage might reflect individual creativity and a dynamic handling of the poetic system. The two cases in focus, however, show a correlation between the variations and indicators that the expressions or their organization were not ideal. In both cases, indicators in the poem’s text suggest that it is a product of oral presentation transcribed by a second individual. A detailed examination of formulae in Vafþrúðnismál point to difficulties where a b-line for vocalic alliteration is expected, for which the solutions seem to get worse rather than better, leading to the possibility that the presenter was bored or disinterested. Several features point to difficulties at the beginning of Grímnismál’s inventory, while exceptional variation in formula use leads to a possibility that some variation may be linked to the transcriber rather than the presenter. That blunders of presentation have been preserved in both poems rather than revised, either during the initial documentation or in later copying, reflecting ideas of what these texts are in relation to the tradition.
Keywords: eddic poetry, performance, variation, documentation