[2] alinleygjar ‘of the forearm-flame [GOLD]’: The choice of the reading alin- (so Tˣ, W, C) as opposed to alm- (R, A) is based in part on the metre (alm- renders the line hypometrical), and, further, alm- ‘bow’ does not yield a comprehensible kenning. The suggestion that almleygr ‘bow-fire’ could be an arrow-kenning (LP (1860): álmleygr) is unwarranted (there are no other kennings of this type; see Nj 1875-89, II, 225-7; cf. Meissner 144-5).
References
- Bibliography
- Nj 1875-89 = Konráð Gíslason and Eiríkur Jónsson. 1875-89. Njála: Udgivet efter gamle håndskrifter. Íslendingasögur udgivne efter gamle haandskrifter af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-selskab 4. Copenhagen: Thiele.
- 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 (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
- Internal references
- R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 18 (Skarpheðinn Njálsson, Lausavísur 3)’ 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. 1243.