[4] at skǫpum ‘to the liking’: Following Kock (NN §1012), this is taken here as equivalent to e-m at skapi ‘to one’s mind, liking’. Since skǫp in the pl. normally means ‘fate’, several scholars take at skǫpum rather to mean ‘as determined by fate’ or ‘natural’ (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B; Strömbäck 1959, 388-9), giving the sense that dying at the hands of his wife went against the king’s original fate. But a manipulation of preordained fate is a contradiction in terms, so this interpretation is unlikely.
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.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Strömbäck, Dag. 1959. ‘Till Ynglingatal 10 och nordisk ödestro’. In Septentrionalia et Orientalia: Studia Bernhardo Karlgren a. d. III non oct anno MCMLIX dedicate. Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademiens Handlingar 91. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 386-92.