Note to ǪrvOdd Lv 11VIII (Ǫrv 44)
[3] hábrynjuð skip ‘armoured ships’: The adj. hábrynjuðr ‘armoured’ occurs several times in poems describing warships and sea battles in late Viking-Age poetry; cf. Þfagr Sveinn 4/4II, Steinn Óldr 13/4II and ÞjóðA Har 5/7II. Jesch (2001a, 157-9) argues that this cpd adj. does not imply the use of armour-plating on Viking-Age ships, for which there is no known evidence, but rather refers to the protection given to the ships by the rows of shields arranged along the shield-rail. She also suggests that the element há- does not mean ‘high’, but derives from the noun hár ‘oarport, rowlock’. Both Skj B and Skald prefer 343a’s reading hábyrðuð ‘with a high side or gunwale’, a cpd not otherwise attested.
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.
- Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
- Internal references
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 13’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 378-9.
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 316.
- Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Haraldr Sigurðarson’s leiðangr 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 155-6.