Snæbjǫrn (Snæbj)

11th century; volume 3; ed. Edith Marold;

Lausavísur (Lv) - 2

The identity of the skald Snæbjǫrn (Snæbj), to whom SnE attributes one stanza and one helmingr, is uncertain. He is not mentioned in Skáldatal, nor can he be identified as one of the three Snæbjǫrns who appear in Ldn (Snæbjǫrn Eyvindarson, Snæbjǫrn galti ‘Boar’ from Vestfirðir and Snæbjǫrn Hafnar-Ormsson). SnE does not give his patronymic. He was first assumed to be Snæbjǫrn galti (Bugge 1886, 337; Gollancz 1898, xvii) who discovered Gunnbjarnarsker and was killed there (Ldn, ÍF 1, 190-5). Finnur Jónsson (1898, 133; LH I, 520) rightly opposed this view. Ohlmarks (1958, 167-71) identified him as Snæbjǫrn Hafnar-Ormsson (Ldn, ÍF 1, 61), whom he took to be the grandson of Snæbjǫrn galti. Ohlmark’s reason for doing so was that Snæbjǫrn Hafnar-Ormsson’s adulthood (c. 1000-30) coincided with the period to which Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) assigned the stanzas.