[5] fyr Njǫrðum víga ‘for the Nirðir <gods> of battles [WARRIORS]’: The prep. fyr could mean either ‘before’, hence ‘(burned) by’, with the kenning referring to the attacking Scandinavian warriors (so Kock, NN §2470; Fell 1981b), or ‘for, to the disadvantage of’ (cf. Note to Hfr ErfÓl 24/8), referring to the inhabitants of the town (so ÍF 27). The translation here assumes the latter, since otherwise this would be the only full stanza without any mention of Óláfr’s opponents.
References
- Bibliography
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Fell, Christine E. 1981b. ‘Víkingarvísur’. In Dronke et al. 1981, 106-22.
- ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
- Internal references
- Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 24’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 434.