[4] fimm tigu ok eina ‘fifty-one’: Lit. ‘five tens and one’. In none of the surviving accounts of Ragnarr loðbrók can as many battles as this (in which he takes part) be counted. It is noteworthy that in folk narrative, as Olrik (1921, 75; 1992, 52) has indicated, the number five tends to signify ‘many’. It seems likely that the number fifty, as it occurs here and in Krm, was originally chosen to suggest a large number, and that ok eina ‘and one’ has been added in each case to fill out the line with a rhyming cadence. See further the second Note to Krm 28/2-4.
References
- Bibliography
- Olrik, Axel. 1921. Nogle grundsætninger for sagnforskning. Danmarks folkeminder 23, ed. Hans Ellekilde. Copenhagen: Det Schønbergske Forlag.
- Internal references
- Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 28’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 774.
- Not published: do not cite (RloðVIII)
- Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 23 April 2024)