Note to ÞjóðA Har 5II
[7] hábrynjaðar ‘armoured around the oarports’: The adj. also occurs in Steinn Óldr 13/4 and Þfagr Sveinn 4/4. This translation assumes that the first element is from hár m. ‘oarport’ (see Note to st. 4/3, 4), but h(r) ‘high’ is also possible, as assumed in Skj B. The ‘armour’ is normally assumed to be the row of shields which could be set up when the ship was at anchor or under sail, though not when it was being rowed, and this seems correct in the absence of any archaeological evidence for defensive plating on Viking Age warships (see Jesch 2001a, 157-9).
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.
- Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
- Internal references
- Not published: do not cite (RunVI)
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 13’ 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, pp. 378-9.
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 4’ 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. 316.