[8] nær dýrum ‘in the proximity of beasts’: Various previous translations of this phrase have betrayed eds’ reluctance to accept that dýr n. ‘animal’ can refer to a snake (cf. the ormar ‘snakes’ of l. 6). It is true that in LP, Fritzner, CVC and ONP it is hard to find clear cases of dýr in the meaning ‘snake’, but Fritzner: skriðdýr, assigns skriðdýr the same meaning as skriðkvikendi ‘creeping animals’, which clearly covers reptiles, and it is surely not impossible that poetic licence would allow dýr to do so as well.
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
- 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.
- ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.