Note to Arn Frag 2^III

[4] grandauknum ‘wound-swollen’: The cpd (nom. sg.) grandaukinn, which qualifies nár ‘corpse’, is unique, and its meaning uncertain. (a) Grand normally has the sense ‘harm, injury’ (emotional, spiritual or physical). Compounded with aukinn, it could mean ‘swollen with wounds’ (cf. Bjbp Jóms 31/2^I bólginn ná ‘swollen corpse’) or conceivably ‘increased (in number) by injury/disaster’. (b) Kock (NN §2522) suggested that grand could mean ‘sand’, cf. ON grand ‘grain’ as in ekki grand ‘not a grain, not a morsel’, grandi n. ‘strip of beach’ and New Norw. grande ‘sand-bank, sand-bar’. Grandaukinn ‘increased, swollen with grand’ could then imply that the dead men had taken in sand and become bloated by it. Bodies are described as lying on sand in ÞjóðA Magn 2/5-6, 8^II and Bǫlv Hardr 4/5-8^II; ÞSjár Þórdr 3/5-8^I says that slain warriors lying in the shallows had sand in their mouths, and Arnórr himself pictures ‘sandy corpses’ being driven ashore in Arn Magndr 15/1-2^II. However, in the absence of stronger evidence for grand in the sense ‘sand’, (a) seems the safer solution.

References

1. Bibliography
2. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Internal references
4. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 15’ 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, p. 225.
5. Emily Lethbridge (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa 31’ 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. 986.
6. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bǫlverkr Arnórsson, Drápa about Haraldr harðráði 4’ 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. 289-90.
7. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Þórálfs drápa Skólmssonar 3’ 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. 239.
8. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Magnús Óláfsson in Danaveldi 2’ 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, p. 89.