Note to Eyv Hák 2^I

[5] dolgráar drúpðu ‘enmity-yard-arms [SPEARS] drooped’: The verb usually refers to drooping of the head. The idea here may be that the spears are tilted, either in their flight over the host (so Hkr 1991) or in a position ready to be cast (so LP: drúpa 2; Olsen 1962a, 4; Hkr 1991 again), or that they droop to drink blood (so CVC: drúpa; cf. lutu ‘bent’ in st. 7/3). Olsen (1916a, 3) sees in this line reference to a spear set to be cast over the enemy host to consecrate them as a sacrifice to Óðinn (cf. Þhorn Harkv 12/2). Sahlgren (1927-8, I, 60-1) believes that Snorri is interpreting ll. 5-6 when he relates (ÍF 26, 188) that after men had cast spears, they drew their swords. As an alternative he proposes to read dolgarar (the reading of J1ˣ, J2ˣ) ‘eagles of hostility’, i.e. of battle (cf. Grí 10). A further suggestion is dolgárar ‘battle-oars’ as a kenning for ‘swords’ (Nygaard 1875, 320; Wimmer 1877, 129; cf. Krause 1990, 44: dolgôr). Still others have assumed words meaning ‘enemies’, presumably feeling an animate subject to be more suitable for drúpðu ‘drooped’: either dolgar (Munch and Unger 1847, 115; Ettmüller 1858, 26; Ettmüller 1861, 26; Möbius 1860, 232; Cederström 1860, 7), or dolgárar (lit. ‘strife-envoys’, Tvedt 1921, 55); cf. also Du Méril (1839, 158), and Uppström (1919, 46).

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
4. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
5. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
6. Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1847. Oldnorsk læsebog med tilhörende glossarium. Christiania (Oslo): Dahl.
7. Ettmüller, Ludwig. 1858. Versuch einer strengeren kritischen Behandlung altnordischer Gedichte. Programm der Kantonschule in Zürich auf das Schuljahr 1858-1859. Zürich: Zürcher & Furrer.
8. Möbius, Theodor. 1860. Edda Sæmundar hins fróða. Mit einem Anhang bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
9. Ettmüller, Ludwig. 1861. Altnordisches Lesebuch nebst kurzgefasster Formenlehre und Wörterbuch. Zürich: Meyer & Zeller.
10. Olsen, Magnus. 1962a. Edda- og Skaldekvad. Forarbeider til kommentar. VI. Eyvindr Skáldaspillir, Glúmr Geirason, Einarr Skálaglamm. Avhandlingar utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo II. Hist.-filos. kl. new ser. 4. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
11. Uppström, Anders, trans. 1919. ‘Visor ur Snorre Sturlesons Konunga Sǫgur’. In Uppström 1914-19, III, 39-49.
12. Du Méril, Edélestand. 1839. Histoire de la poésie Scandinave: Prolégomènes. Paris: Brockhaus & Avenarius.
13. Krause, Arnulf, ed. 1990. Die Dichtung des Eyvindr skáldaspillir: Edition-Kommentar-Untersuchungen. Altnordische Bibliothek 10. Leverkusen: Literaturverlag Norden Mark Reinhardt.
14. Nygaard, Marius. 1875. Udvalg af den norröne literatur for latin- og realgymnasier. Bergen: Giertsen.
15. Olsen, Magnus. 1916a. ‘Fortjener Hákonarmáls digter tilnavnet “skáldaspillir”?’. In Til Gerhard Gran, 9. December 1916, fra venner og elever. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug (Nygaard), 1-9. Rpt. in Olsen 1938a, 204-12.
16. Sahlgren, Jöran. 1927-8. Eddica et Scaldica. Fornvästnordiska studier I-II. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
17. Cederström, Rudolf. 1860. Forsök til tolkning och förklaring af Hákonar-mál. Stockholm: [n. p.].
18. Tvedt, Jens. 1921. ‘Hakonarmal av Øivind Skaldaspillar’. In Hákonarvarde: Minningar um Hákon Adelsteinfostre. Risør: Erik Gunleikson, 55-8.
19. Wimmer, Ludvig F. A. 1877. Oldnordisk læsebog med anmærkninger og ordsamling. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Chr. Steen.
20. Internal references
21. Not published: do not cite ()
22. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 12’ 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. 107.