Note to Hfr Hákdr 2III
[8] méilskúrum ‘in missile-showers [BATTLE]’: Méil- is only otherwise attested in the cpd méilregni ‘with missile-rain’, Eskál Vell 10/4I, where it must be disyllabic. Reichardt (1928, 60; cf. ÍF 26, 211 n.) asserts that méil- is identical to monosyllabic mél ‘bit [of a bridle]’, and argues that méil- may be either disyllabic or, as here, monosyllabic (cf. C’s ‘mell’). This renders metrical C’s text of l. 8, benfúr fyr méilskúrum, which is the basis of Reichardt’s interpretation of the half-stanza (see Note to ll. 5-8 above). But the exact meaning and etymology of méil- are unclear (Kristensen 1907, 235-40; AEW: méilregn; ÍO: méil-), and Hallfreðr’s self-conscious imitation of Eskál Vell makes it improbable that méil- should be monosyllabic here when it is disyllabic in the same metrical position in Vell 10/4I.
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
- ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
- Reichardt, Konstantin. 1928. Studien zu den Skalden des 9. und 10. Jahrhunderts. Palaestra 159. Leipzig: Mayer & Müller.
- Kristensen, Marius. 1907. ‘Skjaldenes sprog. Nogle småbemærkninger’. ANF 23, 235-45.
- Internal references
- Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2012, ‘ Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla’ 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. 280. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1181> (accessed 7 May 2024)
- Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 10’ 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. 295.