[4] fira* ‘of men’: (a) The simple emendation of firar (m. nom. pl.) ‘men’ to gen. pl. fira yields vísa fira ‘leader of men’, a phrase with abundant parallels, and this solution is preferred here. Alternatively, fira could be taken with siklingr in l. 1 (so Skj B) or with hrækǫst (Kock, NN §821), although the latter would yield the extremely tautologous hrækǫst fira af barri ulfa, lit. ‘corpse-heap of men of wolves’ barley [CORPSES]’. (b) Firar ‘men’ in the mss could be an apostrophe to the skald’s audience (so Sveinbjörn Egilsson in SHI 6, 63), but such a bare apostrophe would be unusual at best.
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.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.