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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Hfr Hákdr 6III

[1, 4] fleygjanda [auðs] ‘flinger [of riches] [GENEROUS MAN]’: Almost all previous eds reject this kenning for the reasons outlined in the Note to [All] above (Davidson 1983 is an exception, while SnE 1998 leaves the kenning incomplete). Most emend, either (Wisén 1886, 135; Skj B; Skald; Frank 1978, 63, 68) frægjan to frakkna ‘of spears’, which produces a correct kenning (fleygjanda frakkna ‘flinger of spears’) but lacks ms. support, or (Fidjestøl 1982, 104) fleygjanda to a seafarer-kenning such as fley-gand ‘ship-stave’ (unlikely due to the restricted sense of gandr, see LP: gandr) or fley-gæti ‘ship-guard’ (more plausible). Fidjestøl’s suggestions are attractive both because of the prominence of seafarer-kennings in the other ‘marriage’ stanzas of Hákdr (sts 5-8) and because the divergent ms. forms of fleygjanda imply scribal confusion. The solution proposed in the present edn follows Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III) in positing an apo koinou construction in which auðs participates in two different kennings and must be understood differently in each one (auðr ‘riches’ here, the name of the giant Auðr in the other kenning). Puns on common nouns and proper names (jǫrð/Jǫrð) are a guiding conceit in Hákdr, and the audience would have been alert for a new variation on this rhetorical strategy, particularly one which linked the themes of riches/fertility and the land. Hallfreðr’s ErfÓl 16/1, 2, 4I uses another homonym of the word here, auðr ‘empty’, in a zeugma (an eyewitness to the battle of Svolder sees Trana ok báða Naðra fljóta auða ‘“Crane” and both “Adders” [three of Óláfr Tryggvason’s warships] floating empty’).

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. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
  4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  5. 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.
  6. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
  7. Frank, Roberta. 1978. Old Norse Court Poetry: The Dróttkvætt Stanza. Islandica 42. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
  8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  9. Davidson, Daphne L. 1983. ‘Earl Hákon and his Poets’. D. Phil. thesis. Oxford.
  10. Internal references
  11. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘(Biography of) Óláfr Tryggvason’ 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. 383.

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