Note to Anon Krm 9VIII
[5] hreggský hringa ‘storm-clouds of swords [SHIELDS]’: Hringa is here taken as gen. pl. of hringr ‘ring’ as pars pro toto for ‘sword’ (LP: hringr 2) and as the determinant in a kenning for ‘shields’, with hreggský ‘storm-clouds’ as its base-word (cf. Meissner 168-9). The emendation of slitu, 3rd pers. pl. pret. of slíta ‘rend, tear’, to slituz, imparting passive function to the verb, gives the sense ‘shields were destroyed’. The present ed. is here following Finnur Jónsson (1893b), Skj B and Skald. By contrast, Rafn (1826), Pfeiffer (1860), Wisén (1886-9) and Valdimar Ásmundarson (Krm 1891) read hreggský (nom. pl.) slitu (h)ringa, acc. pl. ‘storm-clouds tore rings’, with ‘storm-clouds’ thought of as referring to showers of arrows, and ‘rings’ as referring to the rings or links forming a coat of mail. This reading is unsatisfactory in relying too heavily on a metaphorical understanding of hreggský ‘storm-clouds’ without the support of a specifying determinant that might justify it.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- 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.
- Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
- Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
- Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
- Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
- Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1826. Krakas Maal eller Kvad om Kong Ragnar Lodbroks Krigsbedrifter og Heltedød efter en gammel Skindbog og flere hidtil ubenyttede Haandskrifter med dansk, latinsk og fransk oversættelse, forskjellige Læsemaader, samt kritiske og philologiske Anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Jens Hostrup Schultz; London: John and Arthur Arch.