Note to Þjóð Yt 14^I

[5] flæmingr ‘the roamer’: (a) ON flæmingr is known from prose in the meaning ‘flight, fleeing’ arising from the verb flæma ‘drive away’ (Fritzner: flæmingr); cf. also ModIcel. flæmingur ‘vagabond’, OE flȳming ‘refugee, fugitive’. The nom. flæmingr is taken here as ‘vagabond, fugitive, roamer’ in apposition to eykr jǫtuns ‘draft animal of the giant [BULL]’, referring to an escaped bull roaming at large, as understood by Snorri (see Context; so also Noreen, Yt 1925). Although a preceding appositive is arguably unusual (Konráð Gíslason 1869, 52; Åkerlund 1939, 95) this interpretation is preferable to others, firstly because flæmingr appears in Kˣ and J2ˣ and must, as a nom., belong with nom. eykr, and secondly in light of the interpretation of trjónu farra, cf. Note to l. 6. (b) Many commentators understand flæmingr as ‘sword’ (originally of Flemish manufacture, Storm 1899, 121). It only occurs here and in the þulur (Þul Sverða 7/2^III), for which, however, this part of Yt may have been the source (Yt 1925). Further, connecting flæmingr ‘sword’ to the following trjónu farra poses difficulties, cf. Note to l. 6.

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Konráð Gíslason. 1869. ‘De ældste runeindskrifters sproglige stilling’. ÅNOH, 35-148.
4. Yt 1925 = Noreen, Adolf, ed. 1925. Ynglingatal: Text, översättning och kommentar. Stockholm: Lagerström.
5. Storm, Gustav. 1899. ‘Ynglingatal, dets forfatter og forfattelsestid’. ANF 15, 107-41.
6. Åkerlund, Walter. 1939. Studier över Ynglingatal. Skrifta utgivna av Vetenskaps-Societeten i Lund 23. Lund: Gleerup.
7. Internal references
8. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 802.
9. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2012, ‘ Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 3. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1440> (accessed 2 May 2024)