Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Kolbeinn Tumason, Lausavísa 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 270.
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
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stund (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir): time, hour
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mikill (adj.; °mikinn): great, large
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orðalag (noun n.): [expression]
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2. þykkja (verb): seem, think
[2] þikkja ‘have seemed’: Lit. ‘seem’ (inf.). This form, rather than the earlier þykkja (see ANG §147; Björn K. Þórólfsson 1925, xvi-xvii) is required by internal rhyme (-ik- : -ikk-).
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elgr (noun m.; °-s; -ir/-ar): elk < elgrennir (noun m.)
[3] elgrenni: eldgrenni W
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
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elgr (noun m.; °-s; -ir/-ar): elk < elgrennir (noun m.)
[3] elgrenni: eldgrenni W
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
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rennir (noun m.): impeller < elgrennir (noun m.)
[3] elgrenni: eldgrenni W
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
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2. unnr (noun f.): wave
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
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2. unnr (noun f.): wave
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
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eyra (noun n.; °eyra; eyru/eyrun, gen. eyrna): ear
[4] heyra eyrum ‘if I had heard with my own ears’: Lit. ‘to hear with ears’. For a similar play on eyru ‘ears’ and heyra ‘hear’, see Sigv Berv 8/3II and SnSt Lv 6/4.
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2. slíkr (adj.): such
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5. at (nota): to (with infinitive)
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2. heyra (verb): hear
[4] heyra eyrum ‘if I had heard with my own ears’: Lit. ‘to hear with ears’. For a similar play on eyru ‘ears’ and heyra ‘hear’, see Sigv Berv 8/3II and SnSt Lv 6/4.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
In TGT the helmingr is cited to illustrate the rhetorical figure pleonasmos, which is defined as follows (TGT 1927, 56): hégómlig viðrlagning einnar sagnar yfir þat fram, sem fullu máli heyrir ‘a useless addition of a word beyond that which is suitable for the complete clause’. According to Óláfr Þórðarson (loc. cit.), in this particular case eyrum (lit. ‘with ears’, l. 4) is superfluous, because hearing is the only sense a person uses for listening to something, and one hears with the ears.
Nothing is known about the circumstances that prompted the composition of this half-stanza, and the identity of the ‘seafarer’ is also unknown. Finnur Jónsson (TGT 1927, 98) speculates that this may have been Kolbeinn’s brother-in-law, Bishop Guðmundr Arason of Hólar, but that cannot be ascertained.
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