Note to Gsind Hákdr 1^I

[1-2]: Interpretations have varied. (a) In this edn, following NN §1928 (cf. ÍF 26; Hkr 1991), bekkjar ‘of the rowing-bench’ is taken with -rauknum ‘draught animals’ to form a ship-kenning; cf. the similar use of þopta ‘rowing-bench’ in HólmgB Lv 9/6^V (Korm 44); also Meissner 216. Bekkjar meaning ‘of the stream’ might also yield a ship-kenning, but the parallels involve named rivers (Meissner 214, 217). The element bif- in bifrauknum probably represents bifa ‘quake, tremble’, referring to the shuddering or trembling of a ship at sea. The verb trað ‘trod’ maintains consistency of image with rauknum ‘draught animals’. The cpd blárǫst ‘blue trail’ is treated as a heiti for ‘sea’, similar to a kenning but with an adj. rather than a noun as the first element (cf. CPB II, 30; Meissner 3; ÍF 26; Hkr 1991; cf. also Notes to Eyv Lv 2/4 and Þloft Tøgdr 5/6). (b) Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B) takes bekkjar as a determinant for blárǫst, thus ‘blue trail of the sea’ or similar, and emends ôrum to ára (gen. pl.) ‘of oars’ to supply a determinant for bifrauknum, but this is unnecessary. (c) Reichardt (1928, 31) and Kock (NN §1928) accept the emendation but assume the opposite pairing of determinants and base-words.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
7. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
9. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1928. Studien zu den Skalden des 9. und 10. Jahrhunderts. Palaestra 159. Leipzig: Mayer & Müller.
10. Internal references
11. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Lausavísur 2’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 216.
12. Edith Marold (ed.) 2022, ‘Kormáks saga 44 (Hólmgǫngu-Bersi Véleifsson, Lausavísur 9)’ 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. 1103.
13. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórarinn loftunga, Tøgdrápa 5’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 858.