Skúli Svǫlðr 5III
Kate Heslop (ed.) 2017, ‘Skúli Þorsteinsson, Poem about Svǫlðr 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 366.
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
hlaut ‘got’
(not checked:)
hljóta (verb): alot, gain
of ‘in’
(not checked:)
3. of (prep.): around, from; too
morgin ‘the morning’
(not checked:)
morginn (noun m.; °morgins, dat. morgni; morgnar): morning
morð ‘of murder’
(not checked:)
1. morð (noun n.; °-s; -): killing, battle < morðeldr (noun m.)
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
morð ‘of murder’
(not checked:)
1. morð (noun n.; °-s; -): killing, battle < morðeldr (noun m.)
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
morð ‘of murder’
(not checked:)
1. morð (noun n.; °-s; -): killing, battle < morðeldr (noun m.)
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
elds ‘-fire’
(not checked:)
eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire < morðeldr (noun m.)
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
elds ‘-fire’
(not checked:)
eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire < morðeldr (noun m.)
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
elds ‘-fire’
(not checked:)
eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire < morðeldr (noun m.)
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
þars ‘where’
(not checked:)
þars (conj.): where
notes
[2] þars vér felldumsk ‘where we felled one another’: Skj B (followed by Skald) instead adopts the U variant felldum ‘[we] felled’ and emends vér ‘we’ to val, acc. of valr m. ‘the slain’: þars feldum val ‘there where [we] felled the slain’, but pressing reasons to do so are lacking. Ms. U’s text could be construed as þars felldum hlyn morðelds ‘where [we] felled the maple of murder-fire [SWORD > WARRIOR]’, but the other ms. witnesses show that these grammatically straightforward readings are secondary.
notes
[2] þars vér felldumsk ‘where we felled one another’: Skj B (followed by Skald) instead adopts the U variant felldum ‘[we] felled’ and emends vér ‘we’ to val, acc. of valr m. ‘the slain’: þars feldum val ‘there where [we] felled the slain’, but pressing reasons to do so are lacking. Ms. U’s text could be construed as þars felldum hlyn morðelds ‘where [we] felled the maple of murder-fire [SWORD > WARRIOR]’, but the other ms. witnesses show that these grammatically straightforward readings are secondary.
notes
[2] þars vér felldumsk ‘where we felled one another’: Skj B (followed by Skald) instead adopts the U variant felldum ‘[we] felled’ and emends vér ‘we’ to val, acc. of valr m. ‘the slain’: þars feldum val ‘there where [we] felled the slain’, but pressing reasons to do so are lacking. Ms. U’s text could be construed as þars felldum hlyn morðelds ‘where [we] felled the maple of murder-fire [SWORD > WARRIOR]’, but the other ms. witnesses show that these grammatically straightforward readings are secondary.
Freyju ‘of Freyja’
(not checked:)
Freyja (noun f.): Freyja
kennings
at fleiri tôr Freyju‘all the more tears of Freyja ’
= GOLD
all the more tears of Freyja → GOLD
notes
[3] tôr Freyju ‘tears of Freyja <goddess> [GOLD]’: A common kenning-type (Meissner 227), based on the myth that the goddess Freyja wept tears of gull rautt ‘red gold’ for her husband Óðr while he was absent on a journey (see Note to Anon Bjark 5/6).
tôr ‘tears’
(not checked:)
tár (noun n.; °; -): tear
kennings
at fleiri tôr Freyju‘all the more tears of Freyja ’
= GOLD
all the more tears of Freyja → GOLD
notes
[3] tôr Freyju ‘tears of Freyja <goddess> [GOLD]’: A common kenning-type (Meissner 227), based on the myth that the goddess Freyja wept tears of gull rautt ‘red gold’ for her husband Óðr while he was absent on a journey (see Note to Anon Bjark 5/6).
at ‘all’
(not checked:)
(unknown)
kennings
at fleiri tôr Freyju‘all the more tears of Freyja ’
= GOLD
all the more tears of Freyja → GOLD
fleiri ‘the more’
(not checked:)
fleiri (adj. comp.; °superl. flestr): more, most
kennings
at fleiri tôr Freyju‘all the more tears of Freyja ’
= GOLD
all the more tears of Freyja → GOLD
fár ‘of the harm’
(not checked:)
2. fár (noun n.; °-s): harm, danger < fárbjóðr (noun m.)
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
fár ‘of the harm’
(not checked:)
2. fár (noun n.; °-s): harm, danger < fárbjóðr (noun m.)
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
bjóðr ‘an offerer’
(not checked:)
2. bjóðr (noun m.): inviter < fárbjóðr (noun m.)
kennings
Margr morðelds fárbjóðr‘harm-offerer of murder-fire’
= WARRIOR
murder-fire → SWORD
the harm of the SWORD → BATTLE
Many an offerer of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
at ‘because’
(not checked:)
4. at (conj.): that
notes
[4] at vôrum þar ‘because we were there’: At is taken here, following Kock (NN §770), as a correlative motivated by the comp. at fleiri in l. 3. As Kock observes, at cannot be the adv. ‘present, there’, as suggested by other eds (Skj B; SnE 1998), because it cannot carry stress in this position in the line. For the conjunction at in the sense ‘because’, see NS §265 Anm. 1a.
notes
[4] at vôrum þar ‘because we were there’: At is taken here, following Kock (NN §770), as a correlative motivated by the comp. at fleiri in l. 3. As Kock observes, at cannot be the adv. ‘present, there’, as suggested by other eds (Skj B; SnE 1998), because it cannot carry stress in this position in the line. For the conjunction at in the sense ‘because’, see NS §265 Anm. 1a.
vôrum ‘we were’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
notes
[4] at vôrum þar ‘because we were there’: At is taken here, following Kock (NN §770), as a correlative motivated by the comp. at fleiri in l. 3. As Kock observes, at cannot be the adv. ‘present, there’, as suggested by other eds (Skj B; SnE 1998), because it cannot carry stress in this position in the line. For the conjunction at in the sense ‘because’, see NS §265 Anm. 1a.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
This helmingr is the first in a series of three verse quotations in Skm (SnE) exemplifying gold-kennings of the type tôr Freyju ‘tears of Freyja’.
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.