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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Eyv Hál 7^I

Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Háleygjatal 7’ 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. 205.

Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson Háleygjatal

Varð ‘became’

(not checked:)
1. verða (verb): become, be

Hô ‘Há’

(not checked:)
3. hár (adj.; °-van; compar. hǽrri, superl. hǽstr): high < Hákon (noun m.): Hákon

kun ‘kon’

(not checked:)
1. kyn (noun n.; °-s; -): kin < Hákon (noun m.): Hákon

Hǫgna ‘of Hǫgni’

(not checked:)
Hǫgni (noun m.): [Hǫgni, Högni]

kennings

viðr meyjar Hǫgna,
‘tree of the maiden of Hǫgni, ’
= WARRIOR
the maiden of Hǫgni, → Hildr
tree of HILDR → WARRIOR

Hǫgna ‘of Hǫgni’

(not checked:)
Hǫgni (noun m.): [Hǫgni, Högni]

kennings

viðr meyjar Hǫgna,
‘tree of the maiden of Hǫgni, ’
= WARRIOR
the maiden of Hǫgni, → Hildr
tree of HILDR → WARRIOR

við ‘’

(not checked:)
2. við (prep.): with, against

meyjar ‘of the maiden’

(not checked:)
mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden

kennings

viðr meyjar Hǫgna,
‘tree of the maiden of Hǫgni, ’
= WARRIOR
the maiden of Hǫgni, → Hildr
tree of HILDR → WARRIOR

meyjar ‘of the maiden’

(not checked:)
mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden

kennings

viðr meyjar Hǫgna,
‘tree of the maiden of Hǫgni, ’
= WARRIOR
the maiden of Hǫgni, → Hildr
tree of HILDR → WARRIOR

viðr ‘tree’

(not checked:)
1. viðr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -i/-; -ir, acc. -u/-i): wood, tree

kennings

viðr meyjar Hǫgna,
‘tree of the maiden of Hǫgni, ’
= WARRIOR
the maiden of Hǫgni, → Hildr
tree of HILDR → WARRIOR

bær ‘’

(not checked:)
bær (adj.; adj): bare, naked < vápn (noun n.): weapon

vápn ‘weapon’

(not checked:)
vápn (noun n.; °-s; -): weapon < vápnberr (adj.)vápn (noun n.; °-s; -): weapon < vápn (noun n.): weapon

notes

[3] vápnberr ‘weapon-bare’: Presumably this means ‘bare of, i.e. lacking, a weapon’, though an alternative might be ‘bare/exposed before the weapons [of his enemies]’ (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; LP: vápnberr; ÍF 26; ÍF 29; Hkr 1991). Finnur Jónsson interprets this as våbnbidt ‘weapon-bitten’ in Skj B, but without justification. The cpd is a hap. leg., which together with the reference to Freyr in l. 7 makes it conceivable that there is an allusion to Freyr’s lacking his sword in the fight against Beli (cf. Note to st. 3/3) and at Ragnarǫk, caused by his lending it to Skírnir to assist in the wooing of Gerðr (SnE 2005, 31-2; Simek 1993, 91). Hákon’s lack of a weapon is not explained in the stanza or the prose.

berr ‘bare’

(not checked:)
2. berr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): bare < vápnberr (adj.)

[3] ‑berr: ‘bær’ FskBˣ

notes

[3] vápnberr ‘weapon-bare’: Presumably this means ‘bare of, i.e. lacking, a weapon’, though an alternative might be ‘bare/exposed before the weapons [of his enemies]’ (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; LP: vápnberr; ÍF 26; ÍF 29; Hkr 1991). Finnur Jónsson interprets this as våbnbidt ‘weapon-bitten’ in Skj B, but without justification. The cpd is a hap. leg., which together with the reference to Freyr in l. 7 makes it conceivable that there is an allusion to Freyr’s lacking his sword in the fight against Beli (cf. Note to st. 3/3) and at Ragnarǫk, caused by his lending it to Skírnir to assist in the wooing of Gerðr (SnE 2005, 31-2; Simek 1993, 91). Hákon’s lack of a weapon is not explained in the stanza or the prose.

es ‘when’

(not checked:)
2. er (conj.): who, which, when

vega ‘fight’

(not checked:)
1. vega (verb): strike, slay

skyldi ‘he had to’

(not checked:)
skulu (verb): shall, should, must

síðan ‘’

(not checked:)
síðan (adv.): later, then

ok ‘and’

(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also

aldri ‘’

(not checked:)
aldri (adv.): never

sinn ‘his’

(not checked:)
3. sinn (pron.; °f. sín, n. sitt): (refl. poss. pron.)

[5] sinn: síðan FskBˣ

aldr ‘life’

(not checked:)
aldr (noun m.; °aldrs, dat. aldri; aldrar): life, age

[5] aldr: aldri FskBˣ

í ‘in’

(not checked:)
í (prep.): in, into

[6] í: om. FskBˣ

odda ‘of points’

(not checked:)
oddr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): point of weapon

kennings

gný odda
‘the din of points ’
= BATTLE
the din of points → BATTLE

gný ‘the din’

(not checked:)
gnýr (noun m.): din, tumult

kennings

gný odda
‘the din of points ’
= BATTLE
the din of points → BATTLE

áttugr ‘’

Freys ‘of Freyr’

(not checked:)
Freyr (noun m.): (a god)

kennings

ôttungr Freys
‘the kinsman of Freyr ’
= Hákon
the kinsman of Freyr → Hákon

at ‘’

(not checked:)
3. at (prep.): at, to

ôttungr ‘the kinsman’

(not checked:)
1. áttungr (noun m.; °; -ar): kinsman

[7] ôttungr: ‘attughr’ FskAˣ

kennings

ôttungr Freys
‘the kinsman of Freyr ’
= Hákon
the kinsman of Freyr → Hákon

notes

[7] ôttungr Freys ‘the kinsman of Freyr <god> [= Hákon]’: Hákon jarl Grjótgarðsson (see Context above). The identical phrase appears in Þjóð Yt 16/7. A close analogue is ôttung(r) Týs ‘kinsman of Týr’ in st. 10/7, with its counterpart in Þjóð Yt 14/3. Such kennings occur only in these two poems and in Eskál Vell. Similarly restricted in distribution is the theme of the divine ancestry of kings and jarls (Marold 1992, 699; cf. Bagge 2000, 33-6 on Rþ). Presumably the kennings do not imply direct descent from Freyr or Týr (since Óðinn appears as progenitor in st. 1), but they do form part of a programme of implicit comparison with the Yngling kings (see Introduction). It is conceivable that the specific reference to Freyr hints at movement towards the Yngling territory of south-eastern Norway, where toponymic evidence suggests that the cult of Freyr was particularly strong (Brink 2007a, 109).

á ‘at’

(not checked:)
3. á (prep.): on, at

[8] á: at F

notes

[8] á Fjǫlum ‘at Fjaler’: Fjalir (Fjaler) is a fjord and the surrounding district, just north of Sognefjorden on the west coast of Norway.

Fjǫlum ‘Fjaler’

(not checked:)
Fjalir (noun f.): [Fjaler]

notes

[8] á Fjǫlum ‘at Fjaler’: Fjalir (Fjaler) is a fjord and the surrounding district, just north of Sognefjorden on the west coast of Norway.

lagði ‘laid down’

(not checked:)
leggja (verb): put, lay

Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses

Stanzas 7 and 8 are cited in uninterrupted succession. Haraldr hárfagri ‘Fair-hair’ places the district of Firðir (Fjordane) under the control of Hákon jarl Grjótgarðsson but when Hákon orders Atli jarl to release his control of Sogn Atli disputes this. He and Hákon join battle at Fjalir in Stafanessvágr (Fjaler, Stongfjorden), where Hákon is defeated and killed and Atli subsequently dies of his wounds.

[1-4]: Normally the warrior-kenning in ll. 2-3 is construed as in apposition to Hôkun, as in this edn. Apposition occurs sporadically elsewhere in Hál (see st. 13/1, 3). An alternative, with Hkr 1893-1901, IV, would be to take the kenning as subject of the rel. clause: Hôkon varð vápnberr, es viðr meyjar Hǫgna skyldi vega ‘Hákon became weapon-bare when the tree of Hǫgni’s maiden [Hákon, he] had to fight’. — [2] meyjar Hǫgna ‘of the maiden of Hǫgni <legendary hero> [= Hildr (hildr “battle”)]’: An allusion to Hildr, who instigates the Hjaðningavíg ‘fight of the people of Heðinn’, conventionally referred to in scholarship as the ‘Everlasting Fight’; for the Hildr story see especially Bragi Rdr 8-12^III. Hildr also occurs as a generalised name for valkyrie and, as here by ofljóst, a heiti for ‘battle’.

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