[10] kleifar hjarna ‘the cliffs of the brain [SHOULDERS]’: This kenning, which Meissner 127 classifies as a head-kenning, is paralleled in RvHbreiðm Hl 40/3III háturnar hjarna ‘high towers of the brain [HEADS]’; cf. de Vries (1938, 722 n. 78). In the present context, the meaning ‘shoulders’ is more likely than ‘heads’, as blood is said to be flowing over the objects.
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- Vries, Jan de. 1938. Een skald onder de troubadours. Ledeburg, Gent: N. V. Drukkerij Erasmus.
- Internal references
- Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1347> (accessed 5 June 2024)