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Phillpotta: Sart.
29
what we must call a colonial parvenu — a want of
attention which would be inexplicable were Surt to be considered
an old-established member of the Northern Pantheon.
But there is one more indication of Surt’s Icelandic
origin which must be touched upon. We have already seen that
Surt came /rom the south to destroy the land. Is it to be
considered only a curions coincidence that not only the great
volcano Hekla, but also Kptlugjá, should be situated in the
south of the island? I must draw special attention to the
geographica! position of the latter volcano, as we know that
it was very active in the early periods of Icelandic history,
and that it had one great eruption in 894.
But the words Surtr fert sunnan do more than offer
an indication of the volcanic nature of Surt and consequently
of the Icelandic origin of the giant himself. They also afford
evidence of the Icelandic origin of the Ypluspf»’. But for
these words, it might have been urged that though Surt was
an Icelandic figure, the myth relating to him might have
been borrowed by the Norwegians, and that therefore the
Yq1usp9/ might yet have been composed by a Norwegian.
But this position becomes untenable when considered by the
light of the Statement in Yøluspp’ itself. If that poem had
been written in Norway, or in Scotland, or in Ireland, the
poet must have said: Surt ferr norfran ’from the north\ ie.
from Iceland. Of all the countries peopled by Scandinavians,
it is only in Iceland that the statement could be made that
Surt would come from the south. And this geographical
indication cannot be put aside as a scribal error, for on it
the alliteration depends.
In a case where certainty is impossible, that hypothesis
is accepted as the true one which most nearly fits all the
known facts. We have seen that everything about Surt, his
name, the significance of Surtarhellir and Surtarbrandr, the
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