Note to Hfr Hákdr 1III
[1] Ullar askþollum ‘of firs of Ullr’s <god’s> ship [(lit. ‘Ullr’s ship-firs’) SHIELD > WARRIORS]’: Askr ‘ash’ (tree of the genus Fraxinus) here refers to a ship made of ash-wood, a meaning occasionally attested in prose (ONP: askr 4), and found in verse in Eskál Vell 4/2I and ǪrvOdd Lv 2/4VIII (Ǫrv 8); cf. Jesch (2001a, 135-6), Note to Þul Skipa 1/4 and OE æsc ‘ash-ship, viking ship’. ‘Ullr’s ship’ is a reasonably common kenning for ‘shield’ (LP: Ullr; Meissner 166), as noted in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 67, 167-8, 194), although the reasons for this association (he is also called áss skjaldar ‘god of the shield’ in Skm, SnE 1998, I, 19) are obscure. See also Hallv Knútdr 3/5, 7, 8 and Note there.
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.
- Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 19 May 2024)
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skipa heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 861.
- Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 4’ 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. 287.
- Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 233.
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 8 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 819.