ÚlfrU Húsdr 6III/4 — leggs ‘of the bone’
Fullǫflugr lét fellir
fjall-Gauts hnefa skjalla
— ramt mein vas þat — reyni
reyrar leggs við eyra.
Víðgymnir laust Vimrar
vaðs af frônum naðri
hlusta grunn við hrǫnnum.
Hlaut innan svá minnum.
Fullǫflugr fellir fjall-Gauts lét hnefa skjalla við eyra reyni leggs reyrar; þat vas ramt mein. Víðgymnir vaðs Vimrar laust grunn hlusta af frônum naðri við hrǫnnum. Hlaut svá innan minnum.
The most powerful killer of the mountain-Gautr <man of the Gautar> [GIANT > = Þórr] let his fist slam against the ear of the tester of the bone of the reed [STONE > GIANT]; that was a mighty injury. The Víðgymnir <giant> of the ford of Vimur <river> [= Þórr] struck the ground of the ears [HEAD] off the gleaming serpent near the waves. Thus [the hall] received [decoration] inside with memorable pictures.
readings
notes
[4] leggs reyrar ‘of the bone of the reed [STONE]’: This kenning is presumably constructed according to the pattern ‘bone of the water’ or ‘bone of the land’, but it cannot be established whether reyrar ‘of the reed’ represents ‘water’ or ‘land’ here (Meissner 89-90). That reyrr may be used in the sense ‘land’ is suggested by snake-kennings with base-word þvengr ‘strap’ where reyr- ‘reed’ and sef- ‘rush’ occur as determinants in variation with terms for ‘land’ (Mogk 1880, 326; Meissner 115). (b) Frank (1978, 111) gives a completely different explanation of leggs reyrar as ‘the shaft of the twisted cord’, deriving reyrr from the weak verb reyra ‘tie, fasten, wind around’. The entire giant-kenning would then mean ‘tester (or enemy) of the fishing-line’ and would be well suited to the context because it would relate to the giant’s severing the line from which Miðgarðsormr was hanging. However, neither leggr nor reyrr is attested in the meanings assumed by Frank.
kennings
- leggs reyrar; — of the bone of the reed; [STONE]
- reyni leggs reyrar; — of the tester of the bone of the reed; [GIANT]
grammar
case: gen.