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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Útsteinn Útkv 3VIII (Hálf 43)

[7] dritmenni þitt ‘a shit like you’: The invective dritmenni is a hap. leg., as is ragmenni ‘cowardly wretches’ in l. 4 of the following stanza (Hálf 44). However, drit ‘shit, excrement’ is attested as a simplex (ONP: drit) and the cpd dritskegg ‘muck-beard’ expresses a similarly pejorative sense. The use of poss. þitt instead of the pers. pron. after a noun of abuse in direct address is idiomatic in Old Norse (cf. Fritzner: þinn; CVC: þinn, sense B). Þitt is extrametrical here, and is probably a later addition to the line.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
  3. 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.
  4. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
  5. Internal references
  6. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 44 (Útsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Útsteinskviða 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 339.

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