Note to Ásb Ævkv 8VIII (OStór 11)
[5] brynpálmar ‘the mailcoat-palms [SWORDS]’: The cpd is a hap. leg. The kenning belongs to a common type in which swords are referred to by a base-word denoting a long, sharp object (e.g. icicle, stick) and a determinant denoting a piece of armour or a defensive weapon, such as a mailcoat or shield (cf. Meissner 152-3). In skaldic poetry the noun palmr, later pálmr, is used as a simplex and in the literal sense of a palm tree or palm branch, the first recorded examples being in the C12th poems Leið 30/8VII and Rv Lv 29/4II, both in Christian contexts. Here, however, and in Anon Krm 15/10 pálmr strenglágar ‘the palm of the bowstring-groove’, an arrow-kenning, pálmr is used in a metaphorical not a literal sense.
References
- Bibliography
- Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
- Internal references
- Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 15’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 747.
- Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 30’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 167-8.
- Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 29’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 605-6.