Note to Anon Krm 15^VIII

[10] pálmi strengflaugar ‘the palm-tree of the bowstring’s groove [ARROW]’: (a) The present ed. emends the mss’ ‘strenglaugar’ to strengflaugar, proposed by Falk (1923, 88), who was evidently following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (see Rafn 1826, 127; LP (1860): strenglög f.; cf. also Valdimar Ásmundarson (Krm 1891) and Kock (Skald)). The bowstring’s groove (strengflaug) is the notch in an arrow for the bow-string; this sense is attested in Eindr (Flat 1860-8, I, 463; ONP: strengflaug). (b) Earlier eds (Rafn 1826, Pfeiffer 1860 and those of CPB) read strenglögar, evidently taking this (see Pfeiffer 1860, 317) as gen. sg. of strenglög f. ‘groove (in a bow) for a bowstring’, examples of which, however, are hard to find, and which would in any case give less good sense than if the groove in the tail end of an arrow were what was meant. (c) The emendation to strenglágar, gen. sg. of strenglág f. ‘notch in arrow for bowstring’ adopted by Finnur Jónsson (1893b; 1905; Skj B; LP: strenglôg; cf. also Meissner 147), is hardly acceptable in that sense, since its second element, -lág f. is well attested in the sense ‘felled tree, log’; it is rejected by Falk (1923a, 88), and cf. Kock (NN §2155). On the possible Christian implications of the word pálmr ‘palm-tree’ here (when considered in relation to sts 11/5-7 and 18/7-8), see the discussion of Olsen (1933a) in the Introduction.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. LP (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
8. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
9. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
10. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
11. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
12. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
13. Olsen, Magnus. 1933a. ‘Fra Hávamál til Krákumál’. In Festskrift til Halvdan Koht på sekstiårs dagen 7de juli 1933. Oslo: Aschehoug, 93-102. Rpt. in Olsen 1938a, 234-44.
14. Falk, Hjalmar. 1923a. Review of Rudolf Meissner. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. ANF 41, 59-89.
15. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
16. Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1826. Krakas Maal eller Kvad om Kong Ragnar Lodbroks Krigsbedrifter og Heltedød efter en gammel Skindbog og flere hidtil ubenyttede Haandskrifter med dansk, latinsk og fransk oversættelse, forskjellige Læsemaader, samt kritiske og philologiske Anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Jens Hostrup Schultz; London: John and Arthur Arch.