[4] Byrvill: The name is attested twice in Saxo, once as the sea-king Biruillus and once as Birwil Pallidus ‘the Pale’ (Saxo 2005, I, 7, 11, 12, pp. 506-7, I, 8, 3, 6, pp. 514-15), a champion who fought at the epic battle of Brávellir. Byrvill may mean ‘coarse, rude one’; cf. New Norw. burul, burvul, byrvel ‘an impudent, rough fellow’ (Björn Sigfússon 1934, 128). In the skaldic corpus, Byrvill occurs once as a determinant in a kenning for ‘ship’ (Anon Pl 35/1VII).
References
- Bibliography
- Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
- Björn Sigfússon. 1934. ‘Names of Sea-Kings (heiti sækonunga)’. MP 32, 125-42.
- Internal references
- Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 35’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 203.