Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Note to SnSt Ht 52III

[2] darraðar ‘of the standard’: Dǫrruðr can mean either ‘spear’ or ‘standard’ (see Holtsmark 1939, Poole 1991, 125-31 and the literature cited there). In the present context the meaning ‘standard’ is preferable because the imagery of standards, banners and pennants occurs in both helmingar. Skj B takes darraðar with skúrum ‘showers’ (l. 1): Darraðar skúrum skjǫldungs sær niðr translated as Fyrstens spydbyger falder ned ‘The lord’s spear-showers fall down’. Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) also connects skúrum with darraðar, but he takes niðr as a noun rather than as an adv.: skjǫldungs niðr sær darraðar skúrum ‘the lord’s relative sows showers of spears’. Both of these interpretations are less preferable from the point of view of word order because they result in an awkward tripartite line (l. 2).

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
  3. Holtsmark, Anne. 1939. ‘Vefr Darraðar’. MM, 74-96.
  4. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
  5. Poole, Russell. 1991. Viking Poems on War and Peace: A Study in Skaldic Narrative. Toronto Medieval Texts and Translations 8. Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press.

Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close