Note to Eyv Lv 3I
[4] skreyju ‘skreyja (“Wretch”)’: The meaning of the nickname is not beyond doubt, but for the sense ‘wretch’ see Finnur Jónsson (1907, 349); Lind (1920-1, 333). In Lv 4 Eyvindr is seemingly the target of both a direct taunt and an indirect one alluding to a defeat attested in Egill Lv 10V (Eg 15; see Note to Lv 4/7-8 below). Both Eyvindr skreyja and his comrade Álfr askmaðr (see Note to Lv 5/2, 3) are somewhat obscure personages. They are said in Hkr to be maternal uncles of the Eiríkssynir (Gunnhildarsynir), hence brothers of Queen Gunnhildr, though this linkage is generally regarded as suspect (ÍF 26; Egils saga, ÍF 2, 123-4 and n.).
References
- Bibliography
- Lind, Eric Henrik. 1920-1. Norsk-isländska personbinamn från medeltiden: samlade ock utgivna med forkläringar. Uppsala: Lundequist.
- ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
- ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
- Finnur Jónsson. 1907. ‘Tilnavne i den islandske oldlitteratur’. ÅNOH, 161-381.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 26 April 2024)
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 15 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 190.