[6, 8] -váttandi; dóms ‘witness; of the verdict’: This is the only record of váttandi ‘witness’ in the skaldic corpus, and as the base-word of the warrior-kenning it extends the legal metaphor established by dóms ‘verdict’, base-word of the battle-kenning. Such legal vocabulary is relatively rare, though cf. Hókr Eirfl 6/8 vápneiðr ‘weapon-oath [BATTLE]’, and see Notes to Hfr ErfÓl 8/1, 8/4.
References
- Internal references
- Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 8’ 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. 413.
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2012, ‘Halldórr ókristni, Eiríksflokkr 6’ 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. 481.