[8] sem vendir skildi ‘like swords on a shield’: The phrase is somewhat obscure. Vendir seems to be a half-kenning for ‘sword’ or possibly ‘spear-shaft’ (Meissner 77), and skildi to be a dat. sg. with a rare adverbial sense, ‘on a shield’. Previous commentators attach sem vendir skildi to the clause in ll. 5-6, assuming an understood repetition of the verb skelf(i)r ‘tremble, make shudder’, hence the oar trembles against, or shakes, the ship like sticks (Skj B; Reichardt 1930, 250-1), spear-shafts (Meissner 77) or swords (NN §1082) against a shield. However, it seems more likely that jalmar ‘squeals’ is understood from l. 7, so that the comparison is between the noise of the oar and the noise of a sword on a shield. This is supported by the fact that the related noun jalmr m. frequently collocates with terms referring to weapons or battle (LP: jalmr).
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.
- 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.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Reichardt, Konstantin. 1930. ‘Beiträge zur Skaldenforschung’. ANF 46, 32-62, 199-258.