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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Marm Lv 4VIII (Hálf 9)

[3-4] harðligt herkuml Heðins ‘the hard war token of Heðinn <legendary hero> [HELMET]’: The meaning of herkum(b)l is ‘war token’ (Fritzner: herkuml), ‘helmet’ (LP: herkum(b)l). Herkuml Heðins ‘the war token of Heðinn’ has the character of a kenning, although not listed by Meissner as such. Meissner does, however, mention herkumbl as a heiti for ‘helmet’, and lists kennings in which a famous hero’s headgear means ‘helmet’. In Ásm 10/7, where the same expression is used in the pl., herkumbl harðlig ‘hard war tokens’, its meaning is clearly ‘wounds’, but even in this instance it is closely associated with a helmet.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. 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.
  3. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
  4. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
  5. Internal references
  6. Peter Jorgensen (ed.) 2017, ‘Ásmundar saga kappabana 10 (Ásmundr kappabana, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 23.

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