Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 32’ 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. 934.
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1. hringr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ar): ring; sword < hringskóð (noun n.)
[1] Hring‑: þing‑ Bb
[1] hringskóðs ‘mail-shirt-harmer [SWORD]’: The alliteration in l. 1 is flawed and, as in previous eds, ms. þing is here emended to hring- since a word with the stave h is needed. Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) and LP: hringskóð explain that hringr must refer by metonymy to a mail-shirt of metal rings, as it does in SnH Lv 1/3II and SnSt Ht 2/3III (and see Notes ad loc.), although in these contexts hring- is in the pl. Sword-kennings with skóð ‘harm, harmer’ and similar as base-word are standard (see Meissner 156).
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1. hringr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ar): ring; sword < hringskóð (noun n.)
[1] Hring‑: þing‑ Bb
[1] hringskóðs ‘mail-shirt-harmer [SWORD]’: The alliteration in l. 1 is flawed and, as in previous eds, ms. þing is here emended to hring- since a word with the stave h is needed. Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) and LP: hringskóð explain that hringr must refer by metonymy to a mail-shirt of metal rings, as it does in SnH Lv 1/3II and SnSt Ht 2/3III (and see Notes ad loc.), although in these contexts hring- is in the pl. Sword-kennings with skóð ‘harm, harmer’ and similar as base-word are standard (see Meissner 156).
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2. skóð (noun n.): harmer, scathe < hringskóð (noun n.)
[1] hringskóðs ‘mail-shirt-harmer [SWORD]’: The alliteration in l. 1 is flawed and, as in previous eds, ms. þing is here emended to hring- since a word with the stave h is needed. Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) and LP: hringskóð explain that hringr must refer by metonymy to a mail-shirt of metal rings, as it does in SnH Lv 1/3II and SnSt Ht 2/3III (and see Notes ad loc.), although in these contexts hring- is in the pl. Sword-kennings with skóð ‘harm, harmer’ and similar as base-word are standard (see Meissner 156).
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2. skóð (noun n.): harmer, scathe < hringskóð (noun n.)
[1] hringskóðs ‘mail-shirt-harmer [SWORD]’: The alliteration in l. 1 is flawed and, as in previous eds, ms. þing is here emended to hring- since a word with the stave h is needed. Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) and LP: hringskóð explain that hringr must refer by metonymy to a mail-shirt of metal rings, as it does in SnH Lv 1/3II and SnSt Ht 2/3III (and see Notes ad loc.), although in these contexts hring- is in the pl. Sword-kennings with skóð ‘harm, harmer’ and similar as base-word are standard (see Meissner 156).
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2. herða (verb): strengthen < 1. herðimeiðr (noun m.)
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meiðr (noun m.): beam, tree < 1. herðimeiðr (noun m.)
[1] ‑meiðar: ‑meiða Bb
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hvar (adv.): where
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
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eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire < eldveldr (adj.)
[3] eld‑: ‘ell’ Bb
[3] eldvellds ‘fire-forged’: A unique adj. containing the p. p. from vella ‘boil, cook’. The reading eld- may be deemed a normalisation rather than an emendation since <ll> in the ms. can be an assimilated form of <ld>; cf. ms. ‘siall’ for sjald- in st. 35/6.
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eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire < eldveldr (adj.)
[3] eld‑: ‘ell’ Bb
[3] eldvellds ‘fire-forged’: A unique adj. containing the p. p. from vella ‘boil, cook’. The reading eld- may be deemed a normalisation rather than an emendation since <ll> in the ms. can be an assimilated form of <ld>; cf. ms. ‘siall’ for sjald- in st. 35/6.
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-veldr (adj.): [forged] < eldveldr (adj.)
[3] eldvellds ‘fire-forged’: A unique adj. containing the p. p. from vella ‘boil, cook’. The reading eld- may be deemed a normalisation rather than an emendation since <ll> in the ms. can be an assimilated form of <ld>; cf. ms. ‘siall’ for sjald- in st. 35/6.
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-veldr (adj.): [forged] < eldveldr (adj.)
[3] eldvellds ‘fire-forged’: A unique adj. containing the p. p. from vella ‘boil, cook’. The reading eld- may be deemed a normalisation rather than an emendation since <ll> in the ms. can be an assimilated form of <ld>; cf. ms. ‘siall’ for sjald- in st. 35/6.
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1. annarr (pron.; °f. ǫnnur, n. annat; pl. aðrir): (an)other, second
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stillir (noun m.): ruler
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frami (noun m.): success
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2. slíkr (adj.): such
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gunnr (noun f.): battle < gunneldr (noun m.): battle-fire, war-flame
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gunnr (noun f.): battle < gunneldr (noun m.): battle-fire, war-flame
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eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire < gunneldr (noun m.): battle-fire, war-flame
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eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire < gunneldr (noun m.): battle-fire, war-flame
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geyma (verb): heed, guard < geymirunnr (noun m.): keeping trees
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runnr (noun m.; °dat. -i/-; -ar): bush, tree < geymirunnr (noun m.): keeping trees
[6] gǫndlar ‘for battle’: The word is also a valkyrie-name, as in st. 18/5.
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sem (conj.): as, which
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2. lýsa (verb): illuminate, show
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hirð (noun f.; °-ar; -ir/-ar(FskB 53)): retinue
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
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3. at (prep.): at, to
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1. morð (noun n.; °-s; -): killing, battle
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2. hryggr (adj.; °-van/-jan; compar. -vari/-ari/-ri; superl. -astr): sorrowful, sad
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arfr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(Frost 215¹²); -ar): inheritance < arfþegi (noun m.): heir
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-þegi (noun m.): [heir, tainers] < arfþegi (noun m.): heir
[8] ‑þega: ‘degi’ Bb
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Tryggvi (noun m.): Tryggvi
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Hringskóðs herðimeiðar |
Where would hardening trees of the fire-forged mail-shirt-harmer [SWORD > WARRIORS] know of any other ruler, who, very mighty, is able to perform such splendid deeds as I have described to the keeping trees of the battle-fire [SWORD > WARRIORS] concerning the heir of Tryggvi [= Óláfr]; the retinue eager for battle was desolate at his killing.
There may be influence from Steinn ÓldrII here; see Note to st. 12 [All]. It is also noticeable that, as in Hfr ErfÓl 27 (see Note to st. 27 [All]), the two helmingar are syntactically linked in order to convey the idea that Óláfr’s greatness is unmatched. — [3] eldvellds : stilli: The rhyme could be formed by eld- or -vellds with stilli, and cf. st. 33/3 tjalds : stilli. These could be rhymes involving first consonant only, i.e. of l and not ld (cf. Kuhn 1983, 77), or it could be that d has been assimilated in consonant clusters such as lds: see following Note. — [5-8]: The helmingr is apparently corrupt and emendations unavoidable. (a) The text and translation above adopt the minor emendations of ms. fýstr (m. nom. sg.) to fýst (f. nom. sg.) ‘eager’ and of arfþegi (m. nom. sg.) to arfþega (m. gen./dat. sg.) ‘heir’ as in Skj B. (b) A solution retaining the grammatical concord of fýstr arfþegi ‘eager heir’ and avoiding emendations to those two words is possible if it is assumed that vas ‘was’ (emended from ms. ‘va’ by all eds) in l. 7 functions in two clauses, hirð vas hrygg at morði hans ‘the retinue was desolate at his killing’ and arfþegi Tryggva vas fýstr gǫndlar ‘the heir of Tryggvi was eager for battle’. An understood vas ‘was’ would be paralleled in st. 17/7. (c) Kock (NN §1186) also retains fýstr, assuming that it qualifies the ek ‘I’ of lýstak ‘I described’, referring to the skald, but it would be exceptional for Hallar-Steinn to refer to his own valour in this way.
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