[3] ara ‘with an eagle’: So also Skj B, taking ara to be dat. sg. here, and bak acc. sg., hence ‘had Ælla’s back cut with an eagle’. Frank (1984a) also assumes ara to be dat., though with instr. meaning, ‘by an eagle’. Kock (NN §3224) on the other hand argues that ara is acc., that bak is an endingless dat. form (cf. ANG §358.3), hence ‘had an eagle cut on Ælla’s back’, and that the prep. at qualifies bak rather than Jórvík, thus producing less disjointed syntax.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
- Frank, Roberta. 1984a. ‘Viking Atrocity and Skaldic Verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle’. English Historical Review 99, 332-43.