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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6I

[8] rô holdbarkar ‘the yard-arm of flesh-bark [MAIL-SHIRT > SWORD]’: The whole of l. 8 presents considerable difficulties, not least the word sarkat (variant sarka), which the helmingr is ostensibly introduced into SnE to explain (see Note below). (a) The ms. readings (‘barkaðra’ 54, Bb, ‘barkat’ A) suggest the word beginning barka- is a p. p. It is interpreted as such by Sveinbjörn Egilsson: [h]rá-sarka barkat hold, and explained by him as ‘to give a raw wound to barked (mail-clad) flesh’ (SHI 2) or as ‘to denude barked flesh, to strip the armour from a mailed body’ (LP (1860): barkaðr, rásárka). But barka means not ‘to cover with bark’ but ‘to strip the bark from’ (cf. Engl. ‘gut’) or ‘to tan with bark’ (Fritzner IV: barka). Even if we instead postulate barkat hold ‘tanned, i.e. toughened flesh’ (Finnur Jónsson 1907, 316: barkaðr), hrár ‘raw, sappy’ usually applies to meat or vegetation, rather than wounds. The lack of initial <h> is also problematic, as the only other instance of this spelling, in Hávm 151/6 (NK 42), is doubtful (Evans 1986, 138-9). (b) Harðbarkliga ‘very boastfully’, suggested by Krijn (1931, 54), is a radical emendation, and involves an emended version of the ÓT mss’ hjǫr þunnum in l. 6 in place of jarnmunnum (see Note above). (c) The best solution seems to be to interpret the words preceding sarkat/sarka as a series of nouns comprising a kenning, of which the base-word is ‘yard-arm’, and the determinant is either holdbarkar ‘of flesh-bark’ (Gísli Brynjúlfsson 1857, 189-90; SnE 1848-87, III; Skald; NN §2450) or holbarkar ‘of hollow-bark’ (Skj B; LP: holbǫrkr). Holdbǫrkr ‘flesh-bark’ has at least one parallel (bark nǫkkva bœnar ‘bark of the ship of prayer [BREAST > MAIL-SHIRT]’ Hallv Knútdr 6/3, 4III; cf. also barklaust birki bǫðserkjar ‘barkless birches of the battle-shirt [MAIL-SHIRT > WARRIORS]’ Hfr Óldr 2/5, 6), whereas Finnur Jónsson’s idea of the mail-shirt as bark encircling the empty interior of the body (LP: holbǫrkr) has none.

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. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
  4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  6. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
  7. LP (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
  8. Evans, David A. H., ed. 1986. Hávamál. Viking Society Text Series 7. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  9. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
  10. Finnur Jónsson. 1907. ‘Tilnavne i den islandske oldlitteratur’. ÅNOH, 161-381.
  11. Fritzner IV = Hødnebø, Finn. 1972. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog af Dr. Johan Fritzner: Rettelser og tillegg. Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget.
  12. 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.
  13. Gísli Brynjúlfsson. 1857. ‘Nogle exempler paa mythologiske Antydninger hos Oldtidens Skjalde’. Antiquarisk tidsskrift (1855-7), 147-9.
  14. Krijn, S. A. 1931. ‘Halfred Vandraedaskald’. Neophilologus 16, 46-55, 121-31.
  15. Internal references
  16. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
  17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=60> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  18. Not published: do not cite ()
  19. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 237.
  20. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Óláfsdrápa 2’ 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. 393.

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