[All]: The extended metaphors are contained in the snake-imagery here, by which a sword is likened to a serpent sliding out of the scabbard seeking water (blood). In Skm, the term nýgjǫrvingar ‘new creations’ is used in a slightly different sense (see SnE 2007, 49 and Marold 1993b). All of the terms for ‘reptile’ that are used as base-words in the sword-kennings in this stanza also occur as base-words of sword-kennings in RvHbreiðm Hl 32.
References
- Bibliography
- Marold, Edith. 1993b. ‘Nýgerving und Nykrat’. In Nielsen et al. 1993, 283-302.
- SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 23 April 2024)
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 32’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1041.