Note to Hfr ErfÓl 26aI
[7-8] margaukanda móts mækis ‘much-increaser of the meeting of the sword [BATTLE > WARRIOR]’: The ms. reading mót (nom./acc. sg. of mót n. ‘meeting’, or adv. ‘in return for, against, towards’) is difficult, as ‘meeting’ must be gen. if the whole is to form a single kenning. (a) The emendation above, which follows Skj B, may find slight ms. support from Bb’s ‘mott’ (though Bb is generally unreliable) and gives straightforward sense and conventional kennings. (b) Mót margaukanda mækis ‘against/in return for the much-increaser of the sword [WARRIOR]’ seems the only possible interpretation of the ms. readings, but the placing of mót would be problematic, and firm early parallels are lacking for the use of a base-word like aukandi with a weapon-heiti, rather than battle-heiti (see comments on sverða herðendr at Meissner 338).
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- 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.