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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Þul Hesta 2III

[2] Fjǫrsvartnir: Lit. ‘life-darkener’ (m.). One of the mythical horses that pull the Night. According to Skm (SnE 1998, I, 90), Hrímfaxi eða Fjǫrsva<r>tnir draga nóttina ‘Hrímfaxi or Fjǫrsvartnir pull the night’. See also sts 1/1, 3/3, 4 and 4/8 and Notes there.  The second element of the cpd is an agent noun from the weak verb sortna ‘darken’ (cf. ModNorw. svartne, ModSwed. svartna ‘darken’). Kock (NN §2157D) suggests that the first element in this cpd (fjǫr-) means ‘breast’ rather than ‘life’, and that the name ought to be interpreted as ‘dark-breast’ (or ‘breast-darkener’). That interpretation, which is based on Ghv 17/8, is tenuous. The heiti does not otherwise occur in skaldic verse.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  4. Internal references
  5. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 26 April 2024)
  6. Not published: do not cite ()

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