Note to Anon Krm 18^VIII

[5] á Víkarskeiði ‘on Víkarskeið’: With the exception of Rafn (1826), who evidently follows ms. 6ˣ, all eds assume a compound p. n. here: (á) Víkaskerði (Pfeiffer 1860; Krm 1891; Wisén 1886-9; Finnur Jónsson 1893b) or Víkaskeiði (CPB; Finnur Jónsson 1905; Skj B; Skald). No previous ed. adopts the spelling Víkarskeiði (which seems to have the support of R702^x, LR and R693ˣ), though Víkarskeið is the spelling used for the entry in LP, where the Krm instance, labelled sagnlokalitet ‘place of legend’, is the sole instance given. However, it is possible that this p. n. could be identified with Wicklow on the east coast of Ireland south of Dublin, for which attested medieval forms are Wickelow, Wykynlo and Wikingelo (see Sommerfelt 1958, 224; cf. Oftedal 1976, 130-1). Oftedal has argued that the p. n. was originally *Víkarló f. ‘the meadow of the bay’, citing the form Wicke-. The majority spelling Wykyn-, Wikinge- would suggest an original *Víkingaló f. ‘the meadow of the Vikings/of the people from Vík’ (so Sommerfelt, ibid.; Flanagan and Flanagan 1994, 125) but this, Oftedal argues, would be inconsistent with Old Norwegian naming practice, in which ló f. ‘meadow’ as a final element normally collocates with a first element referring not to a person or persons, but rather to a feature of the meadow itself or of its location. He therefore explains the forms Wykynlo, Wikingelo as a remodelling resulting from learned speculation. His further claim (Oftedal 1976, 129) that the noun víkingr ‘viking’ ‘can nowhere else be proved to have been used as a Scandinavian place name element’ entails discounting five potential examples from Norway, for which he postulates a pers. n. *Víkingi (alongside attested Víkingr). If Oftedal’s argument may nevertheless be accepted, it may be tentatively suggested that the bay area was known as Vík, while Víkarskeið referred to what is now known as the Murrough, the spit of land separating Broad Lough from the sea just north of Wicklow town. ON skeið n. has a wide range of meanings in place names, usually involving a linear stretch or expanse of land; it can also mean specifically ‘a race course’ (Fritzner: skeið n. 3, cf. SnE 2005, 139; Hovda et al. 1970, 459-62; Whaley 2017). The Murrough, whose name, from Irish muirbheach m., means ‘a level stretch of sandy land along sea-shore, links’ (Ó Dónaill 1977: muirbheach), has been used in modern times, at least, as a recreational area suitable for horse and dog racing (Friends of the Murrough 2011, 7, accessed 14 April 2017). That the Murrough was a scene of Viking activity is shown by a Viking sword-hilt of C9th type found there in the late C19th (Ó Floinn 1998, 29-31). An Irish location for Víkarskeið would be fully compatible with the focus on Britain and Ireland in this part of Krm, though it must be emphasised that the foregoing suggestion is tentative.

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. 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.
5. 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.
6. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
7. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
8. 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.
9. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
11. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
12. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
13. 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.
14. Flanagan, Deirdre and Laurence [Flanagan], eds. 1994. Irish Place-Names. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.
15. Ó Dónaill, Niall. 1977. Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla. Dublin: Oifig an tSoláthair.
16. Ó Floinn, Raghnall. 1998. ‘Two Viking Burials from Co. Wicklow’. Wicklow Archaeology and History 1, 29-35.
17. Oftedal, Magne. 1976. ‘Scandinavian Place-names in Ireland’. In Almqvist et al. 1976, 125-34.
18. Sommerfelt, Alf. 1958. ‘The English Forms of the Names of the Main Provinces of Ireland’. Lochlann 1, 223-7.
19. Whaley, Diana. 2017. ‘A Far-travelled Word: Old Norse skeið ‘Racecourse, Running Track’ in Early Literature and Place-names’. In Krüger et al. 2017, 379-409.
20. Friends of the Murrough. 2011. ‘Friends of the Murrough to Wicklow County Council’. August 2011.. <http://friendsofthemurrough.com/docs/FoM%20pre%20draft%20submission%20Wicklow%20town%20plan%20Aug%2011.pdf>
21. LR = Worm 1636.
22. Internal references
23. Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 25 April 2024)