Note to Anon Krm 1^VIII

[8] Loðbrók ‘Loðbrók (“Hairy-breeches”)’: For a survey of theories of the origin of this appellation, see McTurk (1991a, 6-39). There it is suggested that it was originally a woman’s (or goddess’s) name, Loðbróka, which came to be regarded, in the form Loðbrók, as a man’s name or nickname; see further Note to Ragn 39/4. More recently Rowe (2012, 155-7, 164-6) suggested that it was originally a nickname deriving from a memory of the state of the nether garments of the viking Reginheri, a likely historical prototype for Ragnarr loðbrók, as a result of his suffering from dysentery when attacking Paris in 845 (as recorded in a near-contemporary source, the anonymous Miracula Sancti Germani c. 849-58, see Waitz 1887, 16; cf. Skyum-Nielsen 1967, 23, 38). The 1824b spelling lodbork is of interest in resembling that of Lodparchi in the reference by Adam of Bremen (c. 1076) to ‘Inguar, son of Lodparch(us)’ (Inguar filius Lodparchi) (Trillmich 1961, 208), for whom the viking leader Inwære, mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s. a. 878 (ASC I, 74, 75), is almost certainly a historical prototype. The forms of the (nick)name loðbrókar/Loðbróku/loðbork as it appears in 1824b (cf. Ragn 37, Note to [All] and Ragn 39, Note to l. 4) seem to reflect doubt on the part of the 1824b scribe as to how it should be spelt.

References

1. Bibliography
2. ASC [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle] = Plummer, Charles and John Earle, eds. 1892-9. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1952.
3. McTurk, Rory. 1991a. Studies in Ragnars saga loðbrókar and Its Major Scandinavian Analogues. Medium Ævum Monographs new ser. 15. Oxford: Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature.
4. Rowe, Elizabeth Ashman. 2012. Vikings in the West: The Legend of Ragnarr Loðbrók and his Sons. Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia 18. Vienna: Fassbaender.
5. Trillmich, Werner, ed. and trans. 1961. Quellen des 9. und 11. Jahrhunderts zur Geschichte der hamburgischen Kirche und des Reiches. Rimbert: Leben Anskars; Adam von Bremen: Bischofsgeschichte der Hamburger Kirche; Wipo: Taten Kaiser Konrads II. Ausgewählte Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters: Freiherr vom Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe 11. Berlin: Rütten & Loening.
6. Skyum-Nielsen, Niels, trans. 1967. Vikingerne i Paris. Beretninger fra 9. århundrede oversat og forklaret. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
7. Waitz, G., ed. 1887. Ex Miraculis S. Germani in Normannorum adventu factis.
8. Internal references
9. Not published: do not cite (Rloð^VIII)
10. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 37 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Ragnars saga loðbrókar 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 697.
11. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 39 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Ragnars saga loðbrókar 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 701.