Note to Tindr Hákdr 7^I

[4] nafni byrgis ‘the namesake of the protector [= Hákon]’: Although the referent is unmistakable, the working of the allusion remains obscure. The noun nafni ‘namesake’ can be used to denote a person who shares a given name with another well-known figure, as with the two kings Óláfr (Sigv Berv 6/8^II). In one instance the clue is instead given by the gen. of a nickname accompanying nafni: Hildr Lv 1/1 nafni Nefju ‘[Hrólfr], namesake of [Hrólfr] Nefja’. A relevant Byrgi(r) (whether given name or nickname) has yet to be identified, but if byrgi(r) is a nickname or common noun it is likely to mean ‘protector, protection, defence’ (cf. borg f. and byrgi n., both ‘fortress, stronghold’, and byrgja ‘to enclose’). Meanwhile, the most likely namesake for Hákon jarl would be his C10th predecessor King Hákon góði, and since heiðinn dómr ‘heathendom’ is pointedly referred to in l. 7 (see Note below), it is possible that the allusion is to Hákon (indeed both Hákons) as a protector of the ancestral religion (cf. ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume). Finnur Jónsson (1886b, 342; Skj B) proposed emendation to fylkis ‘of the leader, ruler’; a nafni fylkis would in his analysis be a jarl, i.e. Hákon, but this diverges from the skaldic usage of nafni noted above.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Finnur Jónsson. 1886b. ‘Bidrag til en rigtigere forståelse af Tindr Hallkelssons vers’. ÅNOH, 309-68.
4. Internal references
5. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2012, ‘Hildr Hrólfsdóttir nefju, Lausavísa 1’ 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. 139.
6. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 17-18.