Obviously, with such century-long and multifarious contacts on two sides, it would be strange if West Scandinavian lays that came into being during, say, the tenth, or even the ninth, centuries, showed no influence of the new religion. It is to be observed, nevertheless, that the number of indubitable references to Christianity in the Edda is exiguous. There certainly are none in the mythological lays, barring the Gróugaldr; and very few in tbe heroic lays. Is it safe, herefrom to infer, as has been done,[1] that the bulk of these lays originated in pre-Christian times?
Let us examine the cases of certain or possible references first.
The only direct occurrence of the word Christian in the entire Eddic corpus is to be found in Gróugaldr, stanza 13, in the eighth ‘galdr,’ or magic spell, communicated by the vǫlva to Svipdag:
The poem is found only in Paper MSS. But all agreeing, there is no call for violently emending the reading kristin dauþ kona to kynstr ('magic'; this is a word occurring only in prose) dauþrar konu, or kynstrdjǫrf ('strong in magic') kona, as Gering proposed; or, still worse, to kveldriþur koma, as did Vigfússon. Finnur Jónsson, while admitting that the lay is not particularly old, infers from this reference that the poem must date from the very last times of paganism, or else the very first times after the introduction of Christianity;[2] and similarly Mogk.[3] But already in 1893 Falk[4] convincingly argued that the reference appears, rather, the attempt of a much later age—the 13th century—to stamp Gróa a heathen witch; a view which is further supported
