[3] skildir ‘the shield-provider’: (a) Skildir is an agent noun from skilda ‘furnish with shields’, which is attested in ÞjóðA Sex, 14/3, 4 skilda ... hǫmlur ‘set shields at the rowing-positions’ and in Arnórr’s á skildan við ‘onto a shield-hung bark’ (Magndr 19/2). The skildir brands skeiðar ‘shield-provider of the warship’s prow’ is the usurper Sveinn Álfífuson, illegitimate son of Knútr inn ríki (Cnut the Great). (b) The variant reading skjǫldungr is unacceptable since it leaves skeiðar brands without function in the syntax.
References
- Internal references
- Diana Whaley 2009, ‘ Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja’ 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. 108-47. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1444> (accessed 6 May 2024)
- Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 19’ 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. 229.