Note to Þul Sverða 9III
[6] nár (m.) ‘corpse’: So C, A and B (and adopted in Skj B, Skald and SnE 1998). Mss R and Tˣ have ‘narr’ (‘skarr ok narr’), which cannot be construed as an Old Norse word. It is not clear how ‘corpse’ can be a term for ‘sword’, however, and neither nár or narr occurs as sword-heiti in other sources. Falk (1914b, 56) argues that the correct form is naðr m. ‘adder, snake’. He finds support for that emendation in the sword-name Naðr in Egils saga (Eg, ÍF 2, 136, 141, 204) and in HólmgB Lv 8/1, 4V (Korm 43) eggjar naðrs ‘edges of the sword’, as well as in the other names of serpents listed in this stanza (see ll. 2, 7-8).
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
- 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.
- Internal references
- 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar’ 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. 162-389. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=14> (accessed 25 April 2024)
- Edith Marold (ed.) 2022, ‘Kormáks saga 43 (Hólmgǫngu-Bersi Véleifsson, Lausavísur 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. 1101.