Note to Marm Lv 3VIII (Hálf 8)
[6] dóttir Svarðar ‘Svǫrðr’s daughter’: The pers. n. Svǫrðr is otherwise unknown, but is likely to be the determinant of a kenning for a valkyrie or other female figure of war. Skj B substitutes Hǫgna ‘of Hǫgni’, thus producing a kenning for the valkyrie Hildr, whose name as a common noun also means ‘battle’. This emendation, though unjustified by the ms. and non-alliterating, fits with the merman’s apparent personification of Danish aggression moving from the south in the form of a warlike valkyrie or shield-maiden in Hálf 9/1-4 and again in Hálf 10/1-4. Andrews (Hálf 1909, 15-6, 84) attempts to show that an otherwise unknown pers. n. Svǫrðr might be a shortened, syncopated form of Sigvarðr/Sigurðr.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
- Internal references
- Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 9 (Marmennill, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 312.
- Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 10 (Marmennill, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 313.