[11] hǫrg brúna ‘the cairn of the brows [HEAD]’: Hǫrgr can mean ‘temple’, ‘altar’ or ‘stone mound’ (Fritzner: hǫrgr, though LP: hǫrgr gives only ‘temple’), and it is difficult to decide among these, since the base-word of a head-kenning may denote a building as well as rocks, cliffs or hills (Meissner 127). That the majority is of the latter type favours ‘cairn’ (cf. Hellquist 1903-6, 226).
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.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- 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.
- Hellquist, Elof. 1903-6. Studier öfver de svenska sjönamnen, deras härledning ock historia. Bidrag till kännedom om de svenska landsmålen ock svenskt folkliv 20.1. Stockholm: Norstedt.