[5] Eyvind ‘Eyvind’: On this nom. form, see NN §§2680B and 2892. Skj B emends to Eyvindr. Eyvindr bifra is mentioned a number of times in Knýtlinga saga and is there represented, as here, as Knútr’s killer. According to that saga he greeted the king and then drew a sword from under his cloak, running it through his body (ÍF 35, 195). The meaning of the nickname bifra is not certain; it is a f. noun, yet applied only to men, therefore likely to be insulting; it is most likely cognate with the verb bifa(sk), ‘to shake, tremble’, so ‘the shaker, trembler’; see ÍF 35, 140 n. 4; Lind 1920-1: bifra; AEW: bifra; ONP: bifra.
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.
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
- Lind, Eric Henrik. 1920-1. Norsk-isländska personbinamn från medeltiden: samlade ock utgivna med forkläringar. Uppsala: Lundequist.
- ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Knýtlinga saga’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=19> (accessed 19 April 2024)