GunnLeif Merl I 60VIII/2 — hǫtuðr ‘The hater’
‘Verðr af slíku sverðéls hǫtuðr
himna ferðar hugþekkr grami.
Ok at þetta líf þingdjarfr konungr
taliðr es tyggja tungls með englum.
‘Hǫtuðr sverðéls verðr hugþekkr grami ferðar himna af slíku. Ok þingdjarfr konungr es taliðr at líf þetta með englum tyggja tungls.
‘The hater of the sword-storm [BATTLE > HOLY MAN] will be dear to the lord of the host of the heavens [ANGELS > = God] because of such [deeds]. And the king bold in encounters will be counted after this life with the angels of the lord of the moon [= God].
notes
[2] hǫtuðr sverðéls ‘the hater of the sword-storm [BATTLE > HOLY MAN]’: This phrase, as it stands in the ms., is most straightforwardly explained as a kenning meaning literally somebody who hates warfare, and this might seem appropriate for an evidently saintly king (LP: hǫtuðr, cf. Merl 2012). In l. 6, however, the same person is described as þingdjarfr ‘bold in encounters’, which would normally mean bellicose encounters, and that might be regarded as indicating an interpretation of the kenning in l. 2 as ‘warrior’ (so Bret 1848-9 and Skj B). Saintly kings such as Oswald, referred to earlier in the poem (I 33/5-6), are not necessarily averse to battle – indeed Oswald is described as a leader in warfare. It is true that the adj. þingdjarfr appears in a somewhat similar context in I 37/3 (see Note there) and can be explained in both instances as an ornamental epithet without close reference to the immediate situation. But another possibility, broached in LP: hǫtuðr, is that the reading hǫtuðr is a simple error for hvǫtuðr ‘whetter’, a heiti that occurs once elsewhere in Merl (I 94/11); Meissner 321 appears to incline to this solution and it is adopted in Skald. A similar difficulty arises in Anon Pl 29/3VII.
kennings
- ‘Hǫtuðr sverðéls — ‘The hater of the sword-storm [HOLY MAN]
grammar
case: nom.