[5] mána fjǫrnis ‘of the moon of the helmet [SWORD]’: This is best taken as a sword-kenning (so Meissner 151; LP: máni), though fleygjendr ‘throwers’, the base-word of the warrior-kenning, might otherwise have indicated a spear-kenning, and máni ‘moon’ is also frequent in shield-kennings due to the analogy of shape. The kenning complements the sword-kenning with sól ‘sun’ as base-word in l. 3. ‘Sun’ and ‘moon’ make suitable base-words of sword-kennings on account of their brightness though not of their shape (for another example, see Anon Geisl 43/8VII).
References
- Bibliography
- Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
- 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.
- Internal references
- Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 43’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 42-3.