Bragi Rdr 11^III

Ok ‘And’

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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also

fyr ‘on’

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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.

notes

[1] fyr hǫnd ‘on behalf of’: Understood here to take the gen. case of the person on whose behalf something is done (so SnE 1998, II, 327-8), represented by the kenning Viðris Hveðru brynju ‘the Viðrir <= Óðinn> of the Hveðra <troll-woman> of the mail-coat [BATTLE-AXE > WARRIOR]’.

hǫnd ‘behalf of’

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hǫnd (noun f.; °handar, dat. hendi; hendr (hendir StatPáll³ 752¹²)): hand

notes

[1] fyr hǫnd ‘on behalf of’: Understood here to take the gen. case of the person on whose behalf something is done (so SnE 1998, II, 327-8), represented by the kenning Viðris Hveðru brynju ‘the Viðrir <= Óðinn> of the Hveðra <troll-woman> of the mail-coat [BATTLE-AXE > WARRIOR]’.

í ‘on’

(not checked:)
í (prep.): in, into

notes

[1] í holmi ‘on the island’: If Bragi knew the same version of the legend as Snorri, this must be the Orkney island of Hoy (ON Háey). Other versions of the legend also involve fighting on an island; cf. Saxo’s Hithinsø (Saxo 2005, I, 5. 9, 1, p. 342), probably Hiddensee off Rügen in the Baltic Sea.

holmi ‘the island’

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holmr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-; -ar): island, islet

notes

[1] í holmi ‘on the island’: If Bragi knew the same version of the legend as Snorri, this must be the Orkney island of Hoy (ON Háey). Other versions of the legend also involve fighting on an island; cf. Saxo’s Hithinsø (Saxo 2005, I, 5. 9, 1, p. 342), probably Hiddensee off Rügen in the Baltic Sea.

Hveðru ‘of the Hveðra’

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Hveðra (noun f.): Hveðra

kennings

notes

[2] Hveðru brynju ‘of the Hveðra <troll-woman> of the mail-coat [AXE]’: The pers. n. Hveðra appears in Þul Trollkvenna 2/7. Kennings for ‘axe’ frequently use base-words for giantesses or troll-women (cf. Meissner 147-8).

Hveðru ‘of the Hveðra’

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Hveðra (noun f.): Hveðra

kennings

notes

[2] Hveðru brynju ‘of the Hveðra <troll-woman> of the mail-coat [AXE]’: The pers. n. Hveðra appears in Þul Trollkvenna 2/7. Kennings for ‘axe’ frequently use base-words for giantesses or troll-women (cf. Meissner 147-8).

brynju ‘of the mail-coat’

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1. brynja (noun f.; °-u (dat. brynnoni Gibb 38⁹); -ur): mailcoat

kennings

notes

[2] Hveðru brynju ‘of the Hveðra <troll-woman> of the mail-coat [AXE]’: The pers. n. Hveðra appears in Þul Trollkvenna 2/7. Kennings for ‘axe’ frequently use base-words for giantesses or troll-women (cf. Meissner 147-8).

brynju ‘of the mail-coat’

(not checked:)
1. brynja (noun f.; °-u (dat. brynnoni Gibb 38⁹); -ur): mailcoat

kennings

notes

[2] Hveðru brynju ‘of the Hveðra <troll-woman> of the mail-coat [AXE]’: The pers. n. Hveðra appears in Þul Trollkvenna 2/7. Kennings for ‘axe’ frequently use base-words for giantesses or troll-women (cf. Meissner 147-8).

Viðris ‘the Viðrir’

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Viðrir (noun m.): Viðrir

kennings

feng ‘the booty’

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fengr (noun m.; °-jar/-s, dat. -/-i): loot < fengeyðandi (noun m.)

kennings

notes

[3-4] fengeyðandi fordæða fljóða ‘the booty-destroying evil-doer among women [= Hildr]’: Considered here to be a direct reference, via the hap. leg. adj. fengeyðandi ‘booty-destroying’, to Hildr’s practice of destroying the usual fengr ‘booty’ to be found on the field of battle, that is, dead men and their possessions, by reviving the fighters every evening. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B; LP: fengeyðandi) understands feng to be synonymous with gagn ‘victory (in battle)’, meaning that Hildr prevents both sides from winning the fight by reviving the dead. The noun fordæða has strong connotations of the kinds of sorcery thought to have been practised by women in early Scandinavia (cf. LP, Fritzner: fordæða).

eyðandi ‘destroying’

(not checked:)
2. eyða (verb; °-dd-): destroy < fengeyðandi (noun m.)

kennings

notes

[3-4] fengeyðandi fordæða fljóða ‘the booty-destroying evil-doer among women [= Hildr]’: Considered here to be a direct reference, via the hap. leg. adj. fengeyðandi ‘booty-destroying’, to Hildr’s practice of destroying the usual fengr ‘booty’ to be found on the field of battle, that is, dead men and their possessions, by reviving the fighters every evening. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B; LP: fengeyðandi) understands feng to be synonymous with gagn ‘victory (in battle)’, meaning that Hildr prevents both sides from winning the fight by reviving the dead. The noun fordæða has strong connotations of the kinds of sorcery thought to have been practised by women in early Scandinavia (cf. LP, Fritzner: fordæða).

fljóða ‘among women’

(not checked:)
fljóð (noun n.): woman

kennings

notes

[3-4] fengeyðandi fordæða fljóða ‘the booty-destroying evil-doer among women [= Hildr]’: Considered here to be a direct reference, via the hap. leg. adj. fengeyðandi ‘booty-destroying’, to Hildr’s practice of destroying the usual fengr ‘booty’ to be found on the field of battle, that is, dead men and their possessions, by reviving the fighters every evening. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B; LP: fengeyðandi) understands feng to be synonymous with gagn ‘victory (in battle)’, meaning that Hildr prevents both sides from winning the fight by reviving the dead. The noun fordæða has strong connotations of the kinds of sorcery thought to have been practised by women in early Scandinavia (cf. LP, Fritzner: fordæða).

fordæða ‘evil-doer’

(not checked:)
fordæða (noun f.): [evil-doer]

kennings

notes

[3-4] fengeyðandi fordæða fljóða ‘the booty-destroying evil-doer among women [= Hildr]’: Considered here to be a direct reference, via the hap. leg. adj. fengeyðandi ‘booty-destroying’, to Hildr’s practice of destroying the usual fengr ‘booty’ to be found on the field of battle, that is, dead men and their possessions, by reviving the fighters every evening. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B; LP: fengeyðandi) understands feng to be synonymous with gagn ‘victory (in battle)’, meaning that Hildr prevents both sides from winning the fight by reviving the dead. The noun fordæða has strong connotations of the kinds of sorcery thought to have been practised by women in early Scandinavia (cf. LP, Fritzner: fordæða).

nam ‘took’

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1. nema (verb): to take

ráða ‘control’

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ráða (verb): advise, rule, interpret, decide

Allr ‘All’

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allr (adj.): all

notes

[5, 8] allr herr ráðalfs ‘all the army of the control-elf [RULER = Hǫgni (?)]’: All mss’ ráðalfr (nom.) (l. 8)  has been emended to ráðalfs (gen.) and construed with ‘all the army’ (l. 5) to give a ruler-kenning whose referent is probably Hǫgni, the likely referent of the warrior-kenning in the first helmingr. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends to raðaralfs, deriving the first element of the cpd from rǫð ‘ship’, a noun only attested in Þul Skipa 2/7. Kock (cf. NN §217) also emends <r> to <s>, but understands the cpd noun as raðalfr ‘ship-elf’, ‘seafarer’, also deriving the first element from rǫð ‘ship’, but this is not possible because such a cpd would resolve in initial position and create a hypometrical line.

gekk ‘went’

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2. ganga (verb; geng, gekk, gengu, genginn): walk, go

herr ‘the army’

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herr (noun m.; °-s/-jar, dat. -; -jar, gen. -ja/herra): army, host

notes

[5, 8] allr herr ráðalfs ‘all the army of the control-elf [RULER = Hǫgni (?)]’: All mss’ ráðalfr (nom.) (l. 8)  has been emended to ráðalfs (gen.) and construed with ‘all the army’ (l. 5) to give a ruler-kenning whose referent is probably Hǫgni, the likely referent of the warrior-kenning in the first helmingr. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends to raðaralfs, deriving the first element of the cpd from rǫð ‘ship’, a noun only attested in Þul Skipa 2/7. Kock (cf. NN §217) also emends <r> to <s>, but understands the cpd noun as raðalfr ‘ship-elf’, ‘seafarer’, also deriving the first element from rǫð ‘ship’, but this is not possible because such a cpd would resolve in initial position and create a hypometrical line.

und ‘beneath’

(not checked:)
3. und (prep.): under, underneath

notes

[5-6] und kyrrar hurðir Hjarranda ‘beneath unwavering hurdles of Hjarrandi <= Óðinn> [SHIELDS]’: Lit. ‘beneath quiet hurdles of Hjarrandi’. In itself this kenning is unexceptional, and there are several others of this type in the corpus, where a shield is referred to as a ‘door’ (or similar) of Óðinn (cf. Meissner 167). There is also no doubt that the name Hjarrandi occurs as an Óðinn-heiti (Þul Óðins 4/5). The difficulty is that in several versions of the Hildr legend a figure named Hjarrandi (or the cognate form in other languages, such as OE Heorrenda, MHG Hôrant) plays a role in the narrative. In Snorri’s prose, too, Heðinn is named Hjarrandason, but this may be a rationalisation of something he did not understand in Bragi’s poem. The most important Old Norse witness here is RvHbreiðm Hl 45-6 which uses the question-and-answer form greppaminni ‘poets’ reminder’ to refer to the Hildr legend. There (st. 46/4, 8) we find the question hverr eggjaði styrjar? ‘who instigated the strife?’ and the answer Hjarrandi réð gunni ‘Hjarrandi caused the battle’. It is uncertain whether this text supports the idea of a separate male figure who took a major role in stirring up the fighting or whether these statements allude to Óðinn’s (rather than Hildr’s) role in it. The fact that the pers. n. Hjarrandi must form part of a shield-kenning here and cannot therefore refer to another human participant in the fight strongly suggests that the idea of a separate figure named Hjarrandi, whether father to Heðinn or in some other role, is probably secondary to the legend, at least in its Scandinavian versions, and may have developed out of an original role for Óðinn alongside Hildr as inciter of hostility. While it would be possible grammatically for Hjarranda (l. 6) to be construed with allr herr ‘all the army’ (l. 5), that would leave the kenning base-words kyrrar hurðir ‘unwavering hurdles’ (ll. 5, 6) without a determinant.

hurðir ‘hurdles’

(not checked:)
hurð (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir): door

[5] hurðir: so all others, ‘hvr[…]’ R

kennings

notes

[5-6] und kyrrar hurðir Hjarranda ‘beneath unwavering hurdles of Hjarrandi <= Óðinn> [SHIELDS]’: Lit. ‘beneath quiet hurdles of Hjarrandi’. In itself this kenning is unexceptional, and there are several others of this type in the corpus, where a shield is referred to as a ‘door’ (or similar) of Óðinn (cf. Meissner 167). There is also no doubt that the name Hjarrandi occurs as an Óðinn-heiti (Þul Óðins 4/5). The difficulty is that in several versions of the Hildr legend a figure named Hjarrandi (or the cognate form in other languages, such as OE Heorrenda, MHG Hôrant) plays a role in the narrative. In Snorri’s prose, too, Heðinn is named Hjarrandason, but this may be a rationalisation of something he did not understand in Bragi’s poem. The most important Old Norse witness here is RvHbreiðm Hl 45-6 which uses the question-and-answer form greppaminni ‘poets’ reminder’ to refer to the Hildr legend. There (st. 46/4, 8) we find the question hverr eggjaði styrjar? ‘who instigated the strife?’ and the answer Hjarrandi réð gunni ‘Hjarrandi caused the battle’. It is uncertain whether this text supports the idea of a separate male figure who took a major role in stirring up the fighting or whether these statements allude to Óðinn’s (rather than Hildr’s) role in it. The fact that the pers. n. Hjarrandi must form part of a shield-kenning here and cannot therefore refer to another human participant in the fight strongly suggests that the idea of a separate figure named Hjarrandi, whether father to Heðinn or in some other role, is probably secondary to the legend, at least in its Scandinavian versions, and may have developed out of an original role for Óðinn alongside Hildr as inciter of hostility. While it would be possible grammatically for Hjarranda (l. 6) to be construed with allr herr ‘all the army’ (l. 5), that would leave the kenning base-words kyrrar hurðir ‘unwavering hurdles’ (ll. 5, 6) without a determinant.

Hjarranda ‘of Hjarrandi’

(not checked:)
Hjarrandi (noun m.): Hjarrandi

kennings

notes

[5-6] und kyrrar hurðir Hjarranda ‘beneath unwavering hurdles of Hjarrandi <= Óðinn> [SHIELDS]’: Lit. ‘beneath quiet hurdles of Hjarrandi’. In itself this kenning is unexceptional, and there are several others of this type in the corpus, where a shield is referred to as a ‘door’ (or similar) of Óðinn (cf. Meissner 167). There is also no doubt that the name Hjarrandi occurs as an Óðinn-heiti (Þul Óðins 4/5). The difficulty is that in several versions of the Hildr legend a figure named Hjarrandi (or the cognate form in other languages, such as OE Heorrenda, MHG Hôrant) plays a role in the narrative. In Snorri’s prose, too, Heðinn is named Hjarrandason, but this may be a rationalisation of something he did not understand in Bragi’s poem. The most important Old Norse witness here is RvHbreiðm Hl 45-6 which uses the question-and-answer form greppaminni ‘poets’ reminder’ to refer to the Hildr legend. There (st. 46/4, 8) we find the question hverr eggjaði styrjar? ‘who instigated the strife?’ and the answer Hjarrandi réð gunni ‘Hjarrandi caused the battle’. It is uncertain whether this text supports the idea of a separate male figure who took a major role in stirring up the fighting or whether these statements allude to Óðinn’s (rather than Hildr’s) role in it. The fact that the pers. n. Hjarrandi must form part of a shield-kenning here and cannot therefore refer to another human participant in the fight strongly suggests that the idea of a separate figure named Hjarrandi, whether father to Heðinn or in some other role, is probably secondary to the legend, at least in its Scandinavian versions, and may have developed out of an original role for Óðinn alongside Hildr as inciter of hostility. While it would be possible grammatically for Hjarranda (l. 6) to be construed with allr herr ‘all the army’ (l. 5), that would leave the kenning base-words kyrrar hurðir ‘unwavering hurdles’ (ll. 5, 6) without a determinant.

framm ‘forward’

(not checked:)
fram (adv.): out, forth, forwards, away

kyrrar ‘unwavering’

(not checked:)
kyrr (adj.): calm, quiet

kennings

notes

[5-6] und kyrrar hurðir Hjarranda ‘beneath unwavering hurdles of Hjarrandi <= Óðinn> [SHIELDS]’: Lit. ‘beneath quiet hurdles of Hjarrandi’. In itself this kenning is unexceptional, and there are several others of this type in the corpus, where a shield is referred to as a ‘door’ (or similar) of Óðinn (cf. Meissner 167). There is also no doubt that the name Hjarrandi occurs as an Óðinn-heiti (Þul Óðins 4/5). The difficulty is that in several versions of the Hildr legend a figure named Hjarrandi (or the cognate form in other languages, such as OE Heorrenda, MHG Hôrant) plays a role in the narrative. In Snorri’s prose, too, Heðinn is named Hjarrandason, but this may be a rationalisation of something he did not understand in Bragi’s poem. The most important Old Norse witness here is RvHbreiðm Hl 45-6 which uses the question-and-answer form greppaminni ‘poets’ reminder’ to refer to the Hildr legend. There (st. 46/4, 8) we find the question hverr eggjaði styrjar? ‘who instigated the strife?’ and the answer Hjarrandi réð gunni ‘Hjarrandi caused the battle’. It is uncertain whether this text supports the idea of a separate male figure who took a major role in stirring up the fighting or whether these statements allude to Óðinn’s (rather than Hildr’s) role in it. The fact that the pers. n. Hjarrandi must form part of a shield-kenning here and cannot therefore refer to another human participant in the fight strongly suggests that the idea of a separate figure named Hjarrandi, whether father to Heðinn or in some other role, is probably secondary to the legend, at least in its Scandinavian versions, and may have developed out of an original role for Óðinn alongside Hildr as inciter of hostility. While it would be possible grammatically for Hjarranda (l. 6) to be construed with allr herr ‘all the army’ (l. 5), that would leave the kenning base-words kyrrar hurðir ‘unwavering hurdles’ (ll. 5, 6) without a determinant.

reiðr ‘enraged’

(not checked:)
4. reiðr (adj.; °superl. -astr): angry

af ‘from’

(not checked:)
af (prep.): from

[7] af: at all

notes

[7] af skeiði Reifnis ‘from the ground of Reifnir <sea-king> [SEA]’: All mss read at (emended here, as in Skj and SnE 1998, to af). Kock (NN §217) tried to make sense of at Reifnis skeiði in the sense ‘close by the sea’, i.e. ‘along the shore’, but most eds have emended to af Reifnis skeiði ‘from the ground of Reifnir <sea-king> [SEA]’, which makes better sense with the idea of one army advancing from its ships towards the other.

Reifnis ‘of Reifnir’

(not checked:)
Reifnir (noun m.): Reifnir

kennings

notes

[7] af skeiði Reifnis ‘from the ground of Reifnir <sea-king> [SEA]’: All mss read at (emended here, as in Skj and SnE 1998, to af). Kock (NN §217) tried to make sense of at Reifnis skeiði in the sense ‘close by the sea’, i.e. ‘along the shore’, but most eds have emended to af Reifnis skeiði ‘from the ground of Reifnir <sea-king> [SEA]’, which makes better sense with the idea of one army advancing from its ships towards the other.

skeiði ‘the ground’

(not checked:)
2. skeið (noun n.; °; -): race, course

kennings

notes

[7] af skeiði Reifnis ‘from the ground of Reifnir <sea-king> [SEA]’: All mss read at (emended here, as in Skj and SnE 1998, to af). Kock (NN §217) tried to make sense of at Reifnis skeiði in the sense ‘close by the sea’, i.e. ‘along the shore’, but most eds have emended to af Reifnis skeiði ‘from the ground of Reifnir <sea-king> [SEA]’, which makes better sense with the idea of one army advancing from its ships towards the other.

ráð ‘of the control’

(not checked:)
ráð (noun n.; °-s; -): advice, plan, control, power < raðalfr (noun m.)

kennings

notes

[5, 8] allr herr ráðalfs ‘all the army of the control-elf [RULER = Hǫgni (?)]’: All mss’ ráðalfr (nom.) (l. 8)  has been emended to ráðalfs (gen.) and construed with ‘all the army’ (l. 5) to give a ruler-kenning whose referent is probably Hǫgni, the likely referent of the warrior-kenning in the first helmingr. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends to raðaralfs, deriving the first element of the cpd from rǫð ‘ship’, a noun only attested in Þul Skipa 2/7. Kock (cf. NN §217) also emends <r> to <s>, but understands the cpd noun as raðalfr ‘ship-elf’, ‘seafarer’, also deriving the first element from rǫð ‘ship’, but this is not possible because such a cpd would resolve in initial position and create a hypometrical line.

alfs ‘elf’

(not checked:)
alfr (noun m.; °; -ar): elf < raðalfr (noun m.)

[8] ‑alfs: ‑alfr all

kennings

notes

[5, 8] allr herr ráðalfs ‘all the army of the control-elf [RULER = Hǫgni (?)]’: All mss’ ráðalfr (nom.) (l. 8)  has been emended to ráðalfs (gen.) and construed with ‘all the army’ (l. 5) to give a ruler-kenning whose referent is probably Hǫgni, the likely referent of the warrior-kenning in the first helmingr. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends to raðaralfs, deriving the first element of the cpd from rǫð ‘ship’, a noun only attested in Þul Skipa 2/7. Kock (cf. NN §217) also emends <r> to <s>, but understands the cpd noun as raðalfr ‘ship-elf’, ‘seafarer’, also deriving the first element from rǫð ‘ship’, but this is not possible because such a cpd would resolve in initial position and create a hypometrical line.

af ‘from’

(not checked:)
af (prep.): from

[8] af: so all others, of R

mar ‘the sea’

(not checked:)
2. marr (noun m.): horse

brôðum ‘quickly’

(not checked:)
bráðr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): quick(ly)