Note to Arn Hryn 10II
[7-8] typpi élmars glóðu uppi glík eldi ‘the mast-heads of the storm-steed [SHIP] glowed aloft like fire’: Like its cognate toppr, typpi probably means both ‘mast-heads’ and ‘forelocks’ and therefore resonates with both levels of imagery: the actual ship and the metaphorical ship-as-steed. The simile of mast-heads glowing like fire may be inspired by the similar image in Sigv ErfÓl 16I. Reinskou (1922, 34-5) pointed out that both skalds are referring to the ship Visundr, and suggested that gilding on the mast-head, since not mentioned in earlier poetry, may have been an innovation in Óláfr helgi’s time. Hougen (1974, 18-19) doubted whether the skalds’ references to gold and gilded prows on ships out at sea are more than a poetic hyperbole, but cf. Encomium Emmae Reginae (ed. Campbell 1998, 12-13) for another C11th example.
References
- Bibliography
- Campbell, Alistair, ed. 1998. Encomium Emmae Reginae. Edition of 1949 with a supplementary introduction by Simon Keynes. Camden Classic Reprints 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Hougen, Bjørn. 1974. ‘Den havdjerve’. Viking: Tidsskrift for norrøn arkeologi 38, 10-29.
- Reinskou, Finn. 1922. ‘Olav den helliges vimpel?’. MM, 32-6.
- Internal references
- Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 16’ 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. 683.