Note to Hjálm Lv 4VIII (Ǫrv 14)
[7] blóðrefill ‘sword tip’: The lit. meaning of this cpd has been much debated, although there is no doubt that the cpd itself refers to the tip or blade of a sword (cf. Egill Hfl 8/4V (Eg 41), Þul Sverða 10/3III). At issue is the meaning of the noun refill, which most commonly refers to a tapestry or wall-hanging, but in some compounds, as here and in tannrefill ‘tusk-chisel’, clearly refers to a long sharp instrument. ONP: blóð-refill follows a suggestion of Liestøl that the allusion may be to the pattern-welded decoration of a sword blade that is likened to the effect of a woven tapestry.
References
- Bibliography
- ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
- Internal references
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 10’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 808.
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 41 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Hǫfuðlausn 8)’ 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. 249.