Note to Þul Manna 1III
[5] rekkar ‘upright men’: Pl. of rekkr m. ‘straight, upright man’ (cf. the adj. rakkr ‘straight’), cognate with OE rinc, OS rink, OHG rinch ‘man, warrior’ (AEW: rekkr). The word is mostly used in poetry in the sense ‘hero’, ‘a king’s warrior’ or ‘man’ in general. Skm (SnE 1998, I, 105) provides the following definition of the word: Rekkar váru kallaðir þeir menn er fylgðu Hálfi konungi ok af þeirra nafni eru rekkar kallaðir hermenn ok er rétt at kenna svá alla menn ‘Those men who accompanied King Hálfr were called rekkar, and from their name warriors are called rekkar, and it is correct to refer to all men in this way’. For King Hálfr and his men, the Hálfsrekkar, see Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka (Hálf).
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 303. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=75> (accessed 25 April 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 25 April 2024)