[4] ræfri Hildar ‘the roof of Hildr <valkyrie> [SHIELD]’: The reading ræfri, dat. sg. of ræfr n. ‘roof’, adopted here from 1824b and used elsewhere as a base-word in shield-kennings (see ESk Øxfl 2/2-3III and Hást Lv 4/7IV), seems on the whole preferable to næfri, dat. sg. of næfri n. or næfr f. ‘birch-bark, roof-shingle’ (cf. LP: 3. næfr; næfri n.), which would presumably have much the same meaning here as ‘roof’, thus also forming with Hildar a shield-kenning. The reading næfri is adopted by all previous eds, Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) translating it as brynjen ‘the mail-coat’. On the connotations of the name Hildr in Krm in particular, see further first Note to st. 4/2.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- 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.
- Internal references
- 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 24 April 2024)
- Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Øxarflokkr’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 140. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1149> (accessed 24 April 2024)