Eyv Hál 7I/7 — ôttungr ‘the kinsman’
Varð Hôkun
Hǫgna meyjar
viðr vápnberr,
es vega skyldi,
ok sinn aldr
í odda gný
Freys ôttungr
á Fjǫlum lagði.
Hôkun, viðr meyjar Hǫgna, varð vápnberr, es skyldi vega, ok ôttungr Freys lagði aldr sinn í gný odda á Fjǫlum.
Hákon, tree of the maiden of Hǫgni <legendary hero> [= Hildr (hildr ‘battle’) > WARRIOR], became weapon-bare when he had to fight, and the kinsman of Freyr <god> [= Hákon] laid down his life in the din of points [BATTLE] at Fjaler.
readings
[7] ôttungr: ‘attughr’ FskAˣ
notes
[7] ôttungr Freys ‘the kinsman of Freyr <god> [= Hákon]’: Hákon jarl Grjótgarðsson (see Context above). The identical phrase appears in Þjóð Yt 16/7. A close analogue is ôttung(r) Týs ‘kinsman of Týr’ in st. 10/7, with its counterpart in Þjóð Yt 14/3. Such kennings occur only in these two poems and in Eskál Vell. Similarly restricted in distribution is the theme of the divine ancestry of kings and jarls (Marold 1992, 699; cf. Bagge 2000, 33-6 on Rþ). Presumably the kennings do not imply direct descent from Freyr or Týr (since Óðinn appears as progenitor in st. 1), but they do form part of a programme of implicit comparison with the Yngling kings (see Introduction). It is conceivable that the specific reference to Freyr hints at movement towards the Yngling territory of south-eastern Norway, where toponymic evidence suggests that the cult of Freyr was particularly strong (Brink 2007a, 109).
kennings
- ôttungr Freys — the kinsman of Freyr <god> [= Hákon]
grammar
case: nom.