Note to SnSt Ht 61^III

[1] hrími hræljóma ‘the hostility of the corpse-gleam [SWORD > BATTLE]’: Fritzner: hrími, glosses this word as Fiendskab, Skade ‘hostility, damage’ (most likely derived from hrím ‘rime, hoarfrost’), and it has been taken in that meaning in the present edn. For similar kennings for ‘battle’ (Zorn, Erbitterung der Waffen ‘anger, fury of weapons’), see Meissner 201. Earlier eds treat hrími (m.) as synonymous with hrím ‘rime’ (n.; see above). Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) suggests Sværdene falde (lyne) så tæt omkring krigeren som dråberne i en regnbyge ‘The swords fall (flash) as densely around the warrior as the drops in a rainshower’, LP: hrími has ligstrålens rimdug falder, sværdbygen(s dråber) falder, kampen raser ‘the rime-dew of the corpse-gleam falls, (the drops of) the sword-shower fall, the battle rages’ and Skj B gives the translation Sværdbygen falder ‘The sword-shower falls’. Faulkes (SnE 2007, 124) glosses hrími as ‘rime, frost, dew’ and suggests that it refers to missiles falling like dew. Whereas there can be no doubt that Snorri intended the word hrími to be associated with something cold (cf. frost ‘frost’ l. 3, herkaldan ‘mightily cold’ l. 4, svelli ‘ice-sheet’ l. 7), hrími (and hrím) cannot mean ‘dew’, ‘drops’, ‘rainshower’; rather, hrím means ‘rime, hoarfrost’. It is difficult to see what type of kenning ‘the rime of the sword’ could be. It cannot be construed as a kenning for ‘battle’, and, unlike in st. 60/7 above where frør ‘frost’ was taken as the base-word in a kenning for ‘sword’ (and cf. frost Mistar ‘the frost of Mist <valkyrie> [SWORD]’ l. 3), here hrími ‘hostility’ (or ‘sth. cold’) is qualified by the determinant hræljóma ‘of the corpse-gleam’ which is in itself a kenning for ‘sword’.

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. 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.
4. 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.
5. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
6. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.