Note to GunnLeif Merl I 60^VIII

[2] hǫtuðr sverðéls ‘the hater of the sword-storm [BATTLE > HOLY MAN]’: This phrase, as it stands in the ms., is most straightforwardly explained as a kenning meaning literally somebody who hates warfare, and this might seem appropriate for an evidently saintly king (LP: hǫtuðr, cf. Merl 2012). In l. 6, however, the same person is described as þingdjarfr ‘bold in encounters’, which would normally mean bellicose encounters, and that might be regarded as indicating an interpretation of the kenning in l. 2 as ‘warrior’ (so Bret 1848-9 and Skj B). Saintly kings such as Oswald, referred to earlier in the poem (I 33/5-6), are not necessarily averse to battle – indeed Oswald is described as a leader in warfare. It is true that the adj. þingdjarfr appears in a somewhat similar context in I 37/3 (see Note there) and can be explained in both instances as an ornamental epithet without close reference to the immediate situation. But another possibility, broached in LP: hǫtuðr, is that the reading hǫtuðr is a simple error for hvǫtuðr ‘whetter’, a heiti that occurs once elsewhere in Merl (I 94/11); Meissner 321 appears to incline to this solution and it is adopted in Skald. A similar difficulty arises in Anon Pl 29/3^VII.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
7. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
8. Internal references
9. Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 29’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 199-200.