Refr Þorst 3^III

En hoddvǫnuðr hlýddi
— hlunnvitnis emk runni
hollr — til hermðarspjalla
heinvandils Þórsteini.

En {hoddvǫnuðr} hlýddi Þórsteini til {hermðarspjalla {heinvandils}}; emk hollr {runni {hlunnvitnis}}.

And {the gold-diminisher} [GENEROUS MAN] [I] heeded Þorsteinn on {the anger-words {of the whetstone-Vandill}} [SWORD > BATTLE]; I am faithful {to the bush {of the roller-wolf}} [SHIP > SEAFARER].

Mss: R(35r), Tˣ(36v), W(80), U(34r), A(12r) (SnE); 2368ˣ(130), 743ˣ(97v) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] ‑vǫnuðr: ‑vargr U    [2] emk (‘em ec’): skal ek U;    runni: ‘r(vnn)i’(?) U    [3] hermðar‑: ‘herinðar’ 743ˣ    [4] hein‑: heim‑ U;    ‑vandils: ‑vandil R, Tˣ, W, U, A, 743ˣ, ‑vandill 2368ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 320, Skj BI, 296, Skald I, 150; SnE 1848-87, I, 444-5, II, 332, 444, III, 88, SnE 1931, 157, SnE 1998, I, 76; LaufE 1979, 394.

Context: The stanza is cited in SnE and LaufE to show that vargr ‘wolf’ can function as a base-word of ship-kennings. Intended here must be the base-word vitnir in the ship-kenning hlunnvitnir ‘roller-wolf [SHIP]’.

Notes: [3-4] til hermðarspjalla heinvandils ‘on the anger-words of the whetstone-Vandill [SWORD > BATTLE]’: The helmingr consists of two independent clauses, ‘the gold-diminisher [GENEROUS MAN] [I] heeded Þorsteinn’ and the intercalary ‘I am faithful to the bush of the roller-wolf [SHIP > SEAFARER]’, but it is difficult to decide where the prepositional phrase til hermðarspjalla heinvandils belongs. All previous eds (Skj; Skald; SnE 1998) place it in the intercalary clause, although their interpretations have differed. Skj B translates the prepositional phrase as med hensyn til at fortælle om den forbitrede kamp ‘with regard to telling about the bitter fight’. Finnur Jónsson seems to have connected heinvandils and hermðar to form a battle-kenning and translated spjalla (gen. pl. of spjǫll) as at fortælle ‘to telling …’ (lit. ‘to tell’). In LP: hermðarspjǫll, however, he takes hermðarspjǫll heinvandils as a battle-kenning: sværdets vrede ord, kamp ‘the furious words of the sword, battle’ (so also Faulkes in SnE 1998, II, 308). Placing the prepositional phrase til hermðarspjalla heinvandils in the clause beginning with emk hollr … is less attractive from the perspective of content, however, because hollr ‘faithful’ expresses more of a sense of general well-wishing and friendly inclination than being faithful (in battle). Therefore a connection with hlýddi Þórsteini ‘heeded Þorsteinn’ seems preferable. Here til can mean something like LP: til 3 om hensigt, formål, mål ‘concerning intention, aim, purpose’, and would convey that Þorsteinn advocated fighting or gave good advice for the fight. — [4] heinvandils ‘of the whetstone-Vandill [SWORD]’: All previous eds add the gen. ‑s to the second element of this cpd, which is necessary in order to supply a determinant for hermðarspjalla ‘anger-words’ (l. 3) to form a kenning for ‘battle’ in the sense ‘speech of weapons’ (Jón Þorkelsson 1890, 10), and heinvandill most likely denotes a sword or a weapon. Nobody has so far been able to find an entirely convincing explanation for this kenning. The following interpretations have been suggested, the first of which has been adopted in the present edn. (a) The first element of the cpd means ‘whetstone’ and therefore the kenning can be compared to other sword-kennings such as heinflet ‘whetstone-platform’ (Sigv Austv 6/2^I), heinland ‘whetstone-land’ (Hallv Knútdr 5/3), heinsǫðull ‘whetstone-saddle’ (Egill Hfl 8/1^V (Eg 41)) and einstígi heinar ‘narrow path of the hone’ (Anon (TGT) 29/1). They all belong to the kenning pattern ‘land (or path) of the whetstone [SWORD]’. It is difficult, however, to establish the meaning of the base-word ‘-vandil(l)’ (so all mss). Finnur Jónsson (LP: heinvandill) connects the word with the p. n. Vandill/Vendill that could be interpreted as a variation of ‘land’. This p. n. is always recorded as Vendill, but this vowel variation might have been caused by the variation of -vandill and -vendill in sword-names (see below). For this p. n., which can be Swedish or Danish, see Þjóð Yt 15/8^I and Note there. Jón Þorkelsson (1890, 10) emends ‘vandil(l)’ to vaðils ‘ford’, taken as a variation of ‘path’ and Finnur Jónsson (LP: heinvandill) also considers this option. However, that emendation goes against all mss, and it is also doubtful whether ‘ford’ could be a variation of ‘path’. (b) The second element of the cpd ‑vandill can be compared with the sword-name Dragvendill (-vandill) known from Egils saga and Ketils saga hængs; see Egill Lv 35/2^V (Eg 64) and Note there. It is also found in Þul Sverða 1/4 (see Note there). There is also another sword called Sigrvandill (-vendill) (ONP: Sigrvandill); see also the kenning rjóðvendill randa ‘the shields’ reddening rod’ (SnSt Ht 13/5). Vandill or vendill could be a diminutive of vǫndr ‘wand, stave’ (see Note to Þul Sverða 1/4) and heinvandill could be a kenning (‘whetstone-stave’). All other hein-kennings have a base-word meaning ‘land’ or ‘place’, however, and the diminutive vandill ‘stave’ is not attested. (c) Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 305) therefore also considers the possibility that ‑vandill could be the name of a giant (cf. Vandill, Þul Jǫtna II 1/6) and denote the sword as ‘destroyer’. This could be an explanation for the sword-name Dragvandill, but not for heinvandill in the sense ‘whetstone-giant’, because that would mean that the sword destroys the whetstone.

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. 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.
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. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
8. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1890. ‘Bemærkninger til enkelte vers i Snorra Edda’. ANF 6, 1-13.
11. Internal references
12. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
13. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða 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. 790.
14. Tarrin Wills (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Third Grammatical Treatise 29’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 557.
15. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 41 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Hǫfuðlausn 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 249.
16. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 64 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 35)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 279.
17. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 236.
18. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur 6’ 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. 592.
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 13’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1117.
20. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 15’ 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. 34.
21. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10928> (accessed 2 May 2024)