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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Oddi Lv 3II

[3] logs ‘of the fire’: Whereas in l. 1 the main ms. had a metrically superior (if semantically inferior) reading, here its reading (lauks ‘of the leek’) is both unmetrical and provides a kenning difficult, though not impossible, to construe. Sveigir lauks sunda ‘bender of the leek of the strait’ could conceivably be a kenning for a ‘seafarer’, as laukr can be used for masts (Jesch 2001a, 160), but a kenning meaning ‘generous man’ is more appropriate in this context in which the poet is expressing his loyalty to his lord despite the hardships. Skj B emends logs to leygs (with the same meaning), presumably to avoid a skothending between a short vowel and a diphthong.

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. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.

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