Note to Sturl Hákkv 28II
[4] unna greipum ‘caressed the hands’: Unna lit. ‘love’ (so F, 81a, 8, Flat) is taken here as an inf. to the auxiliary knáttu lit. ‘knew how to’ (l. 2), and as parallel to geiga (inf.) ‘swing’ (l. 2). The E variant (greipa knáttum ‘we knew how to span’ or knöttum greipa ‘with the knobs of the grips’ i.e. ‘with the fingers’) is unmetrical (greipa provides no alliteration with l. 3). Skj B emends to ýta greipum ‘with people’s hands’ taken as a dat. instr., and Kock (Skald; NN §2289) takes Unna as a f. gen. pl. of the f. pers. n. Unnr ‘Unnr’ (lit. ‘wave’), and as a half-kenning for ‘women’ (‘with the women’s hands’).
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.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.