[4] méilregni ‘the arrow-rain [BATTLE]’: Méil occurs only here and in Hfr Hákdr 9/4III méilskúr ‘arrow-shower’. It is presumably of the same origin as mél ‘bit, mouth-piece of a bridle’. Exactly what the word means is not known; in combination with ‘rain/shower’ it is likely to mean a projectile weapon: arrow or spear (LP: méilregn; ÍF 26; on méil- cf. also Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 110; Kristensen 1907, 235-6, 240). Because the verb rignði ‘it rained’ is impersonal, regni ‘rain’ appears as a dat. object.
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
- Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
- Kristensen, Marius. 1907. ‘Skjaldenes sprog. Nogle småbemærkninger’. ANF 23, 235-45.
- Internal references
- Kate Heslop 2017, ‘(Introduction to) Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Hákonardrápa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 212.