[3] skjáfa (f.): The heiti is a hap. leg. This is an obscure word, and the reading skjáfa found in most of the mss, including the LaufE mss, may be corrupt. According to Falk (1914b, 115), the correct form of this heiti is stjarna f. ‘star’, because an axe of this name is mentioned in Sturlunga saga (Stu 1946, I, 433, 438). Falk’s view finds no support among other scholars. AEW: skjáfa suggests an emended form skafa (from the strong verb skafa ‘scrape’; if so, lit. ‘scraper’), whereas ÍO: skjáfa adopts the C variant skjarva (cf. OE sceorfan ‘bite’ and OHG scarbōn ‘cut’); hence ‘one that bites or gnaws, cutter’ (SnE 1998, II, 392).
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Stu 1946 = Jón Jóhannesson, Magnús Finnbogason and Kristján Eldjárn, eds. 1946. Sturlunga saga. 2 vols. Reykjavík: Sturlungaútgáfan.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Sturlunga saga’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=88> (accessed 23 April 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 23 April 2024)