Note to ǪrvOdd Lv 13VIII (Ǫrv 46)
[10] hernumin skauð ‘you forcibly taken cunt’: A very strong insult. Skauð is often translated ‘wretch, coward, good-for-nothing’ (cf. Skj B’s translation and LP: skauð), and undoubtedly the general implication of the term is that a man referred to in such language is unmanly. However, skauð, a f. noun, has the specific sense of the internal female genitalia (cf. OE sceað, ModEngl. sheath, Lat. vagina) and Fritzner: skauð 1 gives citations of the term’s pejorative use when applied to a man. In combination with the adjectival p. p. hernumin ‘captured, taken by force’ there is no doubt of the pejorative implication of skauð, as the verb hernema is frequently used of women captured in raids or fighting and forced to become men’s concubines; see Fritzner: hernema 2 and the use of the same p. p. in Ǫrv 50/7.
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.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
- Internal references
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 50 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 17)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 864.