Hamlet (legend) - Prose Edda

In the Skáldskaparmál section of the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson quotes a poem by the skald Snæbjörn, which could be considerably older than the version found in Gesta Danorum and Chronicon lethrense. The mysterious lines are quoted in Skáldskaparmál as an example of Amlóði's churn as a kenning for the sea:

Sem Snæbjörn kvað:

94.

Hvatt kveða hræra Grótta

hergrimmastan skerja

út fyrir jarðar skauti

eylúðrs níu brúðir,

þær er, lungs, fyrir löngu,

líðmeldr, skipa hlíðar

baugskerðir rístr barði

ból, Amlóða mólu.

Hér er kallat hafit Amlóða kvern.

(Guðni Jónsson's edition)

As Snæbjorn sang:

...

They say nine brides of skerries

Swiftly move the Sea-Churn

Of Grótti's Island-Flour-Bin

Beyond the Earth's last outskirt –

They who long the corny ale ground

Of Amlódí; the Giver

Of Rings now cuts with ship's beak

The Abiding-Place of boat-sides.

Here the sea is called Amlódi's Churn.

(Brodeur's translation, 1916)

Prose translation:

It is said, sang Snæbjörn, that far out, off yonder headland, the Nine Maids of the Island Mill violently stir the host-cruel skerry-quern — they who in ages past ground Amlóði's meal. The good chieftain furrows the hull's lair with his ship's beaked prow. Here the sea is called Amloði's Mill.

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