Note to Arn Frag 8III
[All]: The hand in the addition to 743ˣ is that of Árni Magnússon, as observed by Jón Helgason (1966a, 179), who also noted the preservation of this isolated phrase and its attribution to Arnórr in further mss of LaufE. The kenning is rare, and not cited in Meissner 89, but it is paralleled there by kennings referring to grass as the hair, mane or seaweed of the land (see, e.g. Snjólfr V 1/2IV föx jarðar ‘the mane of the earth’; see also Anon Bjark 3/1 and Note). With its compressed comparison of grass growing on the ground like plumage on a bird, it encapsulates a microcosm/macrocosm parallel of the sort which forms part of an ‘argument from design’ for the existence of a single Creator God as presented, for instance, in the Prologue to SnE.
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- Jón Helgason. 1966a. ‘Verse aus der Laufás-Edda’. In Rudolph et al. 1966, 175-80.
- Internal references
- Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Bjarkamál in fornu 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 499.
- Not published: do not cite (Snjólfr V 1IV)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 26 April 2024)