Note to Eil Þdr 17III
[3-4] kunnleggs kveldrunninna kvinna ‘of the family line of the evening-running women [TROLL-WOMEN > GIANTS]’: The cpd kunnleggs is not otherwise attested in Old Norse prose or poetry. It is formed from the elements kunn- (from kund-) ‘descendant’ and leggr ‘one of the extremities, hand or foot’. The meaning may be derived from a possible parallel, ættleggr (Fritzner: ættleggr) ‘genealogical lineage’. Finnur Jónsson (LP: kunnleggr) translates it as et enkelt slægtsmedlem ‘an individual member of a family’. However, ættleggr never refers to a single person (see Fritzner, ONP: ættleggr). It is therefore translated here as ‘family line’. For kveldrunninna kvinna ‘of the evening-running women [TROLL-WOMEN]’, cf. kveldriða ‘witch’ (LP, Fritzner: kveldriða). That giants are referred to as related to witches may be because both belong to groups of evil, demonic beings.
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- 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.
- ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.