Anon (LaufE) 4^III

Land verr lofðungr brǫndum
lauks máferils hauka;
hjálmklæðum gefr hilmir
hvítinga frið lítinn.

{Lofðungr lauks} verr {land hauka} {brǫndum {máferils}}; {hilmir hvítinga} gefr hjálmklæðum lítinn frið.

{The lord of the leek} [WOMAN] adorns {the land of hawks} [ARM] {with fires {of the seagull-track}} [SEA > GOLD]; {the ruler of drinking-horns} [WOMAN] gives little peace to helmet-clothes.

Mss: papp10ˣ(48v), 2368ˣ(117), 743ˣ(89r) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] Land: lǫnd 743ˣ;    brǫndum: rǫndum all    [4] hvítinga: ‘hnitinga’ 743ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 601, Skj BI, 601, Skald I, 293, NN §§2126, 2991B; SnE 1848-87, II, 632, III, 200-1, LaufE 1979, 293, 377.

Context: The helmingr illustrates kennings for ‘woman’ in which the base-word is a term for ‘king’ or ‘ruler’ (LaufE 1979, 293): Riett er ad kalla k(onu) könga h(eitum) gramur *hilmer og slykum nófnum Lofdungur sem hier er qvedid ‘It is correct to denote a woman by kings’ heiti, gramr, hilmir and such terms, lofðungr, as is said here’.

Notes: [All]: The helmingr is peculiar because it looks as though someone composed a conventional half-stanza that described the warlike activities of a male ruler and replaced certain words (and one line) with words that could be used to form kennings according to the pattern the stanza supposedly illustrates. The four kennings all participate in a double level of imagery, describing the activities of a woman when the kennings are complete, but describing the warlike activities of a male ruler when only the base-words of the kennings are included. Cf. lofðungr verr land rǫndum/brǫndum ‘the lord defends the land with shields/swords’ (l. 1) and hilmir gefr hjálmklæðum lítinn frið ‘the ruler gives little peace to helmet-clothes’ (ll. 3, 4) (for a discussion, see Meissner 84). Kennings for women in which the base-word is a m. term for ‘ruler’ are rare indeed, and the examples given by Meissner 412 are the two kennings from the present stanza, to which one may add konungr sprunda in Oddi Lv 2/4^II and konungr vífa in Anon Mdr 5/2^VII (both translate as ‘king among women’). See also Gamlkan Has 61/1-2^VII and Note to l. 1 there. Hence it could well be that this half-stanza was created to illustrate a type of kenning discussed in the prose (see the previous stanza, Note to [All]). — [1-4]: The present interpretation follows that of Skj B. Kock (Skald; NN §2126) interprets the stanza in the warlike context discussed in the previous Note: Lofðungr lauks verr land hauka máferils rǫndum; hilmir hvítinga gefr hjálmklæðum lítinn frið ‘The lord of the leek [WOMAN] defends the land of the hawks of the seagull-track [SEA > SEAGULLS > SEA] with shields; the ruler of drinking-horns [WOMAN] gives little peace to helmets’. Aside from the awkward and unparalleled kenning for ‘sea’ (land hauka máferils ‘the land of the hawks of the seagull-track [SEA > SEAGULLS > SEA]’; so also SnE 1848-87, III), it is difficult to give credence to the imagery of pugnacious women conjured up by this interpretation. Kock (NN §2991B) points out that Mberf Lv 3^II contains similar imagery, but that stanza is also highly unusual. — [1] brǫndum ‘with fires’: The emendation follows Skj B. — [3] hjálmklæðum ‘to helmet-clothes’: It is unclear what is meant here. Finnur Jónsson (LP: hjalmklæði) tentatively suggests that it may refer to a woman’s headdresses, in the sense that she uses them frequently (so also Skj B) or, alternatively, that hjálm could be related to Norw.(?) hjelm ‘appearance’. The word is otherwise attested once in the corpus of Old Norse prose, but the meaning is uncertain. Fritzner: hjalmklæði suggests noget til en Kirkes Inventarium henhørende, uvist hvilket ‘something that belongs to the inventory of a church, exactly what is unknown’, and Heggstad et al. 2008: hjalmklæði speculate that it could have been a protective cloth that was used to cover a chandelier (kertihjálmr). If that is correct, the word could have been chosen here because of its ambiguity.

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. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
7. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
8. 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.
9. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
10. Internal references
11. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Máríudrápa 5’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 482-3.
12. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 61’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 127-8.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Magnús berfœttr Óláfsson, Lausavísur 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 387.
14. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Oddi inn litli Glúmsson, Lausavísur 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616.