Note to Þul Sverða 2III
[2] Laufi: The sword owned by the legendary hero Bǫðvarr bjarki (see Note to st. 1/7 above). Laufi may refer to a birch-sheath decorated with golden staples shaped as leaves (cf. lauf n. ‘leaf, foliage’; Falk 1914b, 54). Alternatively, the term might allude to a pattern-welded blade with markings resembling the veins in a leaf (see Fisher and Davidson 1979-80, II, 45 n. 50). The name does not appear in Hrólfs saga kraka, but it is found in Bjarkarímur (Hrólf 1904, 125, 130, 134, 143, 160-1) and is mentioned in Ldn (ÍF 1, 212-13), Þórðar saga hreðu (ch. 2, ÍS III, 2011) and in Saxo (Løui; Saxo 2005, I, 2, 6, 11, pp. 168-9). In skaldic poetry laufi m. is used as a heiti for ‘sword’ in general.
References
- Bibliography
- ÍF 1 (parts 1 and 2) = Íslendingabók; Landnámabók. Ed. Jakob Benediktsson. 1968. Rpt. as one volume 1986.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
- Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
- Fisher, Peter, and H. R. Ellis Davidson. 1979-80. Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes, Books I-IX. 2 vols. I: Text. II: Commentary. Cambridge and Totowa, N.J.: D. S. Brewer and Rowman and Littlefield.
- ÍS = Bragi Halldórsson et al., eds. 1987. Íslendinga sögur og þættir. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Svart á hvítu.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Landnámabók’ 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=25> (accessed 16 April 2024)
- 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Þórðar saga hreðu’ 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, pp. 1454-1476. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=52> (accessed 16 April 2024)
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hrólfs saga kraka’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 539. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=73> (accessed 16 April 2024)
- †Desmond Slay and Margaret Clunies Ross (eds) 2017, ‘Hrólfs saga kraka 10 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísa from Hrólfs saga kraka 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 547.