Note to ÞjóðA Magnfl 14^II

[1-2] viðir harðéls Hramma ‘trees of the harsh storm of Hrammi <= Óðinn> [BATTLE > WARRIORS]’: (a) Éls ‘(of) the storm’, as the reading of all mss except Kˣ (and papp18ˣ), and as the lectio difficilior, may well be the more authentic reading. The interpretation above follows ÍF 28 (and Hkr 1991) in taking éls Hramma together as ‘Óðinn’s storm [BATTLE]’, and indeed such an Óðinn-heiti appears in Þul Óðins 4/5^III, where ms. A reads ‘hrami’ and B ‘hramme’, though Finnur Jónsson in LP maintains that the metre favours hrami (the l. reads Hram(m)i, Hjarrandi). The cpd harðél occurs in a similar battle-kenning in Hskv Hardr 2/1, 2: harðél Haddings ‘strong storms of Haddingr <legendary hero>’. (b) Alternatively, éls could conceivably form a kenning with hramma in the sense ‘of hands’: ‘blizzard of the hands [ARROWS]’, though parallels are hard to find other than the partial one of hlaupsildr gaupna Egils ‘leaping herrings of Egill’s <legendary bowman’s> palms’ (Eyv Lv 14/8^I; cf. Meissner 146-7 on arrow-kennings). The viðir of arrows would then be warriors, cf., e.g., viðir nadda ‘trees of points/shafts’, HaukrV Ísldr 23/8^IV, viðr fleina ‘tree of spears’ Útsteinn Útkv 7/8^VIII. (c) The K reading -elds preserved in Kˣ and papp18ˣ gives viðir harðelds hramma ‘trees of the hard fire of hands [GOLD > MEN]’. This reading is adopted in Skj B and Skald, but it is a minority reading, and may be an early emendation.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. 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.
6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
7. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
8. Internal references
9. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 741.
10. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Lausavísur 14’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 234.
11. Not published: do not cite (HaukrV Ísldr 23^IV)
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Halldórr skvaldri, Haraldsdrápa 2’ 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. 494.
13. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 47 (Útsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Útsteinskviða 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 341.