Note to Snæbj Lv 2^III

[2, 3] hlemmisverð stáls ‘the powerful sword of the stern [RUDDER]’: This unique, ad hoc metaphorical kenning is based on an analogy between steering a ship with a rudder and drawing a sword through the waves. There could also be an analogy of the form of a sword and a rudder. Stál can mean both ‘(steel) weapon’ and ‘stem’ and also ‘stern’ (see Jesch 2001a, 150 and cf. Bǫlv Hardr 5/4^II), and here it must mean ‘stern’, because it is used in a kenning for ‘rudder’. The cpd hlemmisverð is difficult to translate. There is only one record of the verb hlemma and according to Fritzner: hlemma it is not clear what it means. But there are numerous compounds with hlemmi- as the first element: hlemmidrifa ‘booming or huge wave’ (LP), and in later Icelandic hlemmibraut ‘paved way’, hlemmigata or hlemmivegur ‘flat and broad way’ (all in Sigfús Blöndal 1920-4; for further examples see there). It seems that the first element in these compounds had the meaning ‘something excellent, great’, etc. Another interpretation is given by Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 312). He regards -sverð as an ofljóst: brandr ‘sword’ = brandr ‘ornamental strips of wood along the sides of a ship’s prow’. Hlemmisverð stáls would then be ‘the crashing ornaments of the prow’, and he takes that as the obj. of styðja ‘push’. The problem with this interpretation is that the kenning for ‘ship’ cannot be integrated in a sentence like ‘the ruler lets the prow push against the wave’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
4. Sigfús Blöndal. 1920-4. Islandsk-dansk ordbog / Íslensk-dönsk orðabók. Reykjavík, Copenhagen and Kristiania (Oslo): Verslun Þórarins B. Þorlákssonar / Aschehoug.
5. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Internal references
8. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bǫlverkr Arnórsson, Drápa about Haraldr harðráði 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 290-1.