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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Bragi Frag 5III/2 — bekks ‘of the bench’

Eld of þák af jǫfri
ǫlna bekks við drykkju
(þat gaf) Fjǫlnis fjalla
(með fulli mér stillir).

Of þák eld bekks ǫlna af jǫfri við drykkju Fjǫlnis fjalla; stillir gaf mér þat með fulli.

I received from the prince fire of the bench of mackerels [SEA > GOLD] for the drink of the Fjǫlnir <= Óðinn> of the mountains [GIANT = Suttungr > POETRY]; the ruler gave me that with a toast.

notes

[2] bekks ǫlna ‘of the bench of mackerels [SEA]’: In view of the prose context provided in Skm, Snorri seems to have understood bekkr to mean ‘brook’ (Northern Engl. beck, OED: beck, n.1, 1) here (LP: 1. bekkr) rather than ‘bench’ (LP: 2. bekkr), another possible lexical meaning with semantic extension to ‘home’ (cf. SnE 1998, II, 241-2); however, the skaldic corpus and modern scholarly opinion favour ‘bench’ (cf. LP: 2. bekkr; Meissner 96, Sigv Austv 14/8I bekkr hlunns ‘bench of the launcher [SEA]’).

kennings

grammar

case: gen.

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