Note to Anon (Ragn) 5^VIII (Ragn 35)

[3] Heilavá*g ‘Heilavágr’: An unlocated and possibly legendary p. n. (a) The ms. reading ‘vangh’ is retained by Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985) alone, without explanation. It is true that vangr m. ‘(green) field, stretch of grass’ occurs frequently as a final element in place names (CVC: vangr II; Rygh 1898, 84), but it is difficult to see how this fits with the first element, Heila-, which is almost certainly the gen. sg. of heili m. ‘brain’, unless ‘field of the brain’ referred, in the manner of a kenning, to the head as part of the body and hence conceivably to a head-shaped promontory. (b) The phrase upp lokinn ‘opened up’ in l. 2 seems more appropriate to a partly enclosed space, such as is formed by a bay or a fjord (see Fritzner: lúka upp 1). Emendation to Heilavág, acc. sg. of Heilavágr ‘Bay of the brain’ (?) is accordingly adopted here (as by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald)), even though this leaves the first element in the word unexplained. Heilivágr occurs in Sturl Hákkv 28/7^II heilivágr allra sorga ‘soothing balm (lit. bay) of all torments [WINE/ALE]’, but it is unclear whether it has any connection with the present p. n. (c) Bugge (1878, 53-4) and others emend to vang Heita ‘field of Heiti <sea-king> [SEA]’ (for Heiti, as a sea-king name, see Þul Sækonunga 3/4^III). (d) CPB and Rafn (FSN) emend to the meaningless varg heila ‘wolf of the brain’ (?).

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. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Bugge, Sophus. 1878. ‘Tolkning af runeindskriften på Rökstenen i Östergötland: et bidrag til kundskab om svensk sprog, skrift og skaldekunst i oldtiden’. Antikvarisk tidskrift för Sverige 5, 1-148, 211-15.
9. Ragn 1985 = Örnólfur Thorsson 1985, 101-53.
10. Rygh, Oluf. 1898. Norske gaardnavne: oplysninger samlede til brug ved matrikelens revision. Efter offentlig foranstaltning udgivne med tilføiede forklaringer. Forord og Indledning. Kristiania (Oslo): Fabritius.
11. Internal references
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 681.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 28’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 720.