Eyv Hák 7^I

Brunnu benjeldar         í blóðgum undum;
lutu langbarðar         at lýða fjǫrvi.
Svarraði sárgymir         á sverða nesi;
fell flóð fleina         í fjǫru Storðar.

{Benjeldar} brunnu í blóðgum undum; langbarðar lutu at fjǫrvi lýða. {Sárgymir} svarraði á {nesi sverða}; {flóð fleina} fell í fjǫru Storðar.

{Wound-fires} [SWORDS] burned in bloody wounds; swords swung down on men’s lives. {The wound-sea} [BLOOD] roared on {the headland of swords} [SHIELD]; {the flood of barbs} [BLOOD] fell on the shore of Stord.

Mss: Kˣ(105v), F(18va) (l. 1), J1ˣ(63v) (l. 1), J2ˣ(60r) (l. 1) (Hkr); FskBˣ(10v), FskAˣ(52) (Fsk); 761bˣ(97v)

Readings: [1] benjeldar: beneldar Kˣ, F, J2ˣ, FskBˣ, FskAˣ, 761bˣ, beneld J1ˣ    [2] blóðgum: blóðum FskBˣ    [3] lutu: bitu FskAˣ    [5] Svarr‑: svar FskBˣ;    sár‑: sjór FskBˣ, FskAˣ;    ‑gymir: ‘gymner’ FskBˣ, gymis FskAˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 65, Skj BI, 58, Skald I, 36, NN §2424; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 219, IV, 59, ÍF 26, 194, Hkr 1991, I, 126 (HákGóð ch. 31/32), F 1871, 84; Fsk 1902-3, 42 (ch. 12), ÍF 29, 89 (ch. 13); Möbius 1860, 233, Jón Helgason 1968, 26, Krause 1990, 76-9.

Context: In Hkr, as for st. 1. In Fsk, as for st. 5.

Notes: [All]: F, J1ˣ and J2ˣ cite only l. 1.  — [1] benjeldar ‘wound-fires [SWORDS]’: Though it is missing in the mss, the glide [j] had not yet been lost at the time of composition, as shown by the metre (Kuhn 1983, 48). On the kenning in its poetic context, see Note to l. 6 below. — [3] langbarðar ‘swords’: A sword-heiti (cf. Þul Sverða 2/3^III), lit. ‘long-beards’ or conceivably ‘long-prows’. Since Langbarðar can refer to the Lombards or Langobards (LP: langbarðr 5), the word is interpreted by some (e.g. ÍF 29; Hkr 1991) to have referred to weapons of Lombardic origin. Others (e.g. Herbert 1804, 110; Munch and Unger 1847, 185; Hallberg 1975, 119) have taken it to refer to axes (cf. barða ‘axe’ in Þul Øxar 1/8^III), and Geijer (1816, 54) to shields. — [6] nesi sverða ‘the headland of swords [SHIELD]’: This is taken here as belonging to the shield-kennings with a type of land as base-word (Meissner 169, though this example is not listed). Holm-Olsen (1953, 155) suggests that the reference may be to swords’ points rather than to shields. Whatever the referent of this kenning, the base-words of the kennings in ll. 5-6, together with the verb svarraði ‘roared’, form an image of waves breaking against a headland, just as the verb brunnu in l. 1 exploits the literal sense of eldar ‘fires’, base-word of the sword-kenning. — [7] flóð fleina ‘the flood of barbs [BLOOD]’: (a) Reichardt (1930, 51-2) cites convincing parallels to the meaning ‘blood’ (and so, e.g., Geijer 1816, 54, Skj B, Paasche 1916, 13, and Meissner 204). (b) The phrase could be regarded not as a kenning but as a description of a more literal ‘shower of arrows/spears’ (so, e.g., Olsen 1916a, 3-4, Sahlgren 1927-8, I, 75-7, 116, Ulset 1975, 49 and Hkr 1991). Lie (1957, 85) argues that although flóð fleina is a genuine blood-kenning, it is a ‘combined metaphor’ (kombinert metafor) which also refers to the missiles themselves. — [8] Storðar ‘of Stord’: An island in Sunnhordland, south of Bergen, at the mouth of Hardangerfjorden. The battle took place at Fitjar on the island c. 961.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. 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.
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. Hallberg, Peter. 1975. Old Icelandic Poetry: Eddic Lay and Skaldic Verse. Trans. Paul Schach and Sonja Lindgrenson. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
8. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
11. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
12. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
13. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
15. Ulset, Tor. 1975. Merknader til en del skaldedikt. Oslo: Novus.
16. Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1847. Oldnorsk læsebog med tilhörende glossarium. Christiania (Oslo): Dahl.
17. Möbius, Theodor. 1860. Edda Sæmundar hins fróða. Mit einem Anhang bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
18. Herbert, William. 1804. Miscellaneous Poetry. 2 vols. I: Select Icelandic Poetry. London: T. Reynolds.
19. Holm-Olsen, Ludvig. 1953. ‘Øyvind Skaldaspiller’. Edda 53, 145-65.
20. Jón Helgason, ed. 1968. Skjaldevers. 3rd edn. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
21. Krause, Arnulf, ed. 1990. Die Dichtung des Eyvindr skáldaspillir: Edition-Kommentar-Untersuchungen. Altnordische Bibliothek 10. Leverkusen: Literaturverlag Norden Mark Reinhardt.
22. Lie, Hallvard. 1957. ‘Natur’ og ‘unatur’ i skaldekunsten. Avhandlinger utgitt av Det norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, II. Hist.-filos. kl., no. 1. Oslo: Aschehoug. Rpt. in Lie 1982, 201-315.
23. 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.
24. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1930. ‘Beiträge zur Skaldenforschung’. ANF 46, 32-62, 199-258.
25. Sahlgren, Jöran. 1927-8. Eddica et Scaldica. Fornvästnordiska studier I-II. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
26. Geijer, E. G. 1816. ‘Hakonar-Mal. Konung Hakons dödssång. Ofwersättning ur Hakon Adalstens fostres Saga’. Iduna 1, 52-8.
27. Paasche, Fredrik. 1916. ‘Hákonarmál’. In Til Gerhard Gran, 9 december 1916, fra venner og elever. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug (Nygaard), 10-16.
28. Internal references
29. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 25 April 2024)
30. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=56> (accessed 25 April 2024)
31. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Hákonar saga góða’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=130> (accessed 25 April 2024)
32. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 791.
33. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Øxar heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 813.