Note to Hfr Hákdr 3III
[1] gǫtvar geirrotu ‘garments of spear-downpour [BATTLE > MAIL-SHIRTS]’: The same kenning occurs in Egill Lv 17/5V (Eg 24). The second element of the cpd could alternatively be Róta (or Rota), a valkyrie-name, so ‘spear-Róta’ (cf. geir-Skǫgul; LP: geir-Róta); ‘garments of Róta’ is then an armour-kenning. The valkyrie-name is only attested once outside kennings, in a context where Rota/Róta is portrayed acting together with the valkyrie Guðr/Gunnr, whose name means ‘battle’, in Gylf (SnE 2005, 30), while rota f. ‘rainshower’ is better attested, appearing e.g. in a list of missile-heiti in Skm’s prose (SnE 1998, I, 67). The common noun -rotu ‘of downpour’ is more in keeping with the extended ‘weather’ metaphor; most previous eds, however, print -Rótu. The length of the root vowel, [o] or [o:], cannot be determined, and both forms are possible metrically.
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.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- (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 25 April 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 25 April 2024)
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 24 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 17)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 213.