Note to ÞjóðA Sex 2II
[5] herskorðuðr ‘the troop-supporter’: I.e. ‘supporter of (his own) troops’, from skorða ‘to prop’. This is the majority reading; cf. the synonymous herskorðandi Ótt Hfl 17/6I. The 39 reading, and possibly some of the <o> spellings in other mss, could point to an alternative herskǫrðuðr ‘troop-depleter’, the one who cuts a skarð or cleft in (enemy) troops (cf. herskerðir Hfr ErfÓl 6/1I), and this reading is favoured in Hkr 1893-1901 and ÍF 28, 75, but not Hkr 1991. Kennings referring to rulers as leaders of their own troops or destroyers of enemy troops are both common (Meissner 358-9 and 359-60 respectively).
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.
- ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
- Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
- Internal references
- Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 6’ 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. 409.
- Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn 17’ 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. 762.