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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Ník Jóndr 3VII

[6] vagnbryggju ‘of the wagon-bridge’: That is, bridge of the Great Bear. The constellation Ursa Major ‘Great Bear’ or ‘Big Dipper’ is called vagn ‘Wagon’ in ON ( II, cxlv, 250), cf. the OE name for this constellation, carles wæn ‘wagon of the churl’, later ‘Charles’s Wain’. The word ‘wagon’ is appropriate to the metaphor ‘bridge of the Wagon’ as a kenning for sky or heaven.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. = Kålund, Kristian and Natanael Beckman. 1908-18. Alfræði íslenzk: Islandsk encyklopædisk litteratur. 3 vols. SUGNL 37, 41 and 45. Copenhagen: Møller.

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