HSt Frag 5^III

Ek ‘I’

(not checked:)
ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me

notes

[1] ek hef ‘I have’: The older form ek hef has been adopted here in place of the later ek hefi used in the mss (cf. ANG §532.6).

hef ‘have’

(not checked:)
hafa (verb): have

[1] hef: ‘[…]’ U

notes

[1] ek hef ‘I have’: The older form ek hef has been adopted here in place of the later ek hefi used in the mss (cf. ANG §532.6).

óðar ‘of poetry’

(not checked:)
1. óðr (noun m.): poem

[1] óðar lokri: ‘o[…]’ U

kennings

notes

[1] lokri óðar ‘with the plane of poetry [TONGUE]’: In accordance with the comparison of composing poetry with building a ship, the tongue as the tool of poetry is paraphrased by the nýgerving ‘plane of poetry’. A similar kenning, ómunlokri ‘with the voice-plane’, is found in Egill Arkv 15/2^V (Eg 111); see Note to l. 2 there.

lokri ‘with the plane’

(not checked:)
lokarr (noun m.; °; lokarar/lokrar): °høvl

[1] óðar lokri: ‘o[…]’ U

kennings

notes

[1] lokri óðar ‘with the plane of poetry [TONGUE]’: In accordance with the comparison of composing poetry with building a ship, the tongue as the tool of poetry is paraphrased by the nýgerving ‘plane of poetry’. A similar kenning, ómunlokri ‘with the voice-plane’, is found in Egill Arkv 15/2^V (Eg 111); see Note to l. 2 there.

ǫl ‘of ale’

(not checked:)
ǫl (noun n.; °-s; -): ale < ǫlstafn (noun m.)

[2] ǫl‑: ‘au‑’ Tˣ, auð‑ W

kennings

notes

[2, 3] mǫrk ǫlstafna ‘forest of ale-prows [DRINKING HORNS > WOMAN]’: Meissner (Meissner 410) holds that a collective noun meaning ‘forest’, in place of a tree-name, could be used as the base-word in a woman-kenning. However, mǫrk ‘forest’ could also be interpreted as a variation of the base-word ‘land’, which is also frequently found in woman-kennings (NN §447A). ‘Prows’ here is to be understood as pars pro toto for ‘ship’ (Meissner 434), and ‘ale-ships’ is a kenning for ‘drinking horns’ (cf. ǫlstafns ‘of the ale-prow’ in KormǪ Lv 18/6^V (Korm 19)).

ǫl ‘of ale’

(not checked:)
ǫl (noun n.; °-s; -): ale < ǫlstafn (noun m.)

[2] ǫl‑: ‘au‑’ Tˣ, auð‑ W

kennings

notes

[2, 3] mǫrk ǫlstafna ‘forest of ale-prows [DRINKING HORNS > WOMAN]’: Meissner (Meissner 410) holds that a collective noun meaning ‘forest’, in place of a tree-name, could be used as the base-word in a woman-kenning. However, mǫrk ‘forest’ could also be interpreted as a variation of the base-word ‘land’, which is also frequently found in woman-kennings (NN §447A). ‘Prows’ here is to be understood as pars pro toto for ‘ship’ (Meissner 434), and ‘ale-ships’ is a kenning for ‘drinking horns’ (cf. ǫlstafns ‘of the ale-prow’ in KormǪ Lv 18/6^V (Korm 19)).

stafna ‘prows’

(not checked:)
stafn (noun m.; °dat. -i/-; -ar): prow < ǫlstafn (noun m.)

[2] ‑stafna: ‘sta(f)na’(?) U

kennings

notes

[2, 3] mǫrk ǫlstafna ‘forest of ale-prows [DRINKING HORNS > WOMAN]’: Meissner (Meissner 410) holds that a collective noun meaning ‘forest’, in place of a tree-name, could be used as the base-word in a woman-kenning. However, mǫrk ‘forest’ could also be interpreted as a variation of the base-word ‘land’, which is also frequently found in woman-kennings (NN §447A). ‘Prows’ here is to be understood as pars pro toto for ‘ship’ (Meissner 434), and ‘ale-ships’ is a kenning for ‘drinking horns’ (cf. ǫlstafns ‘of the ale-prow’ in KormǪ Lv 18/6^V (Korm 19)).

stafna ‘prows’

(not checked:)
stafn (noun m.; °dat. -i/-; -ar): prow < ǫlstafn (noun m.)

[2] ‑stafna: ‘sta(f)na’(?) U

kennings

notes

[2, 3] mǫrk ǫlstafna ‘forest of ale-prows [DRINKING HORNS > WOMAN]’: Meissner (Meissner 410) holds that a collective noun meaning ‘forest’, in place of a tree-name, could be used as the base-word in a woman-kenning. However, mǫrk ‘forest’ could also be interpreted as a variation of the base-word ‘land’, which is also frequently found in woman-kennings (NN §447A). ‘Prows’ here is to be understood as pars pro toto for ‘ship’ (Meissner 434), and ‘ale-ships’ is a kenning for ‘drinking horns’ (cf. ǫlstafns ‘of the ale-prow’ in KormǪ Lv 18/6^V (Korm 19)).

þér ‘for you’

(not checked:)
þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you

[2] þér: bil A

notes

[2] þér ‘for you’: This edn adopts þér (so mss R, Tˣ, U, W, C) following the interpretation of Jón Þorkelsson (1890, 5-6). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), followed by all subsequent eds, opted for the A variant Bil (the name of a goddess). Hence his interpretation contains two woman-kennings, Bil ǫlstafna ‘Bil <goddess> of ale-prows’ and væn mǫrk skála ‘beautiful forest of bowls’ (for skála, see Note to ll. 3-4 below). Finnur Jónsson takes Bil ǫlstafna as dat. (‘for the woman’) and væn mǫrk skála as a form of address. That interpretation is highly unlikely, because the woman is then addressed directly while at the same time being referred to in the third person in the same helmingr. Kock (NN §§1188, 1853) also reads Bil but regards both woman-kennings as nom. and as parallel. The examples given in NN §1853, however, actually show that two kennings seldom form such parallelisms – instead, one of the two constituents of a parallelism is a personal name.

skafna ‘smoothed’

(not checked:)
skafa (verb): plane, smoothe

[2] skafna: ‘skafn(a)’(?) U

væn ‘beautiful’

(not checked:)
vænn (adj.): beautiful, expected

[3] væn: so all others, ‘vetz’ R

kennings

mǫrk ‘forest’

(not checked:)
2. mǫrk (noun f.; °merkr; merkr): forest

kennings

notes

[2, 3] mǫrk ǫlstafna ‘forest of ale-prows [DRINKING HORNS > WOMAN]’: Meissner (Meissner 410) holds that a collective noun meaning ‘forest’, in place of a tree-name, could be used as the base-word in a woman-kenning. However, mǫrk ‘forest’ could also be interpreted as a variation of the base-word ‘land’, which is also frequently found in woman-kennings (NN §447A). ‘Prows’ here is to be understood as pars pro toto for ‘ship’ (Meissner 434), and ‘ale-ships’ is a kenning for ‘drinking horns’ (cf. ǫlstafns ‘of the ale-prow’ in KormǪ Lv 18/6^V (Korm 19)).

skala ‘should not be’

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

notes

[3-4] verki skala vandr ‘the poem should not be difficult’: This edn takes the mss’ ‘skala’ as skala, the finite verb skal ‘shall, will, must’ plus the negative suffix ‑a in an intercalated clause (verki skala vandr ‘the poem should not be difficult’; cf. Jón Þorkelsson 1890, 5-6). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), followed by all other eds, interpreted ‘skala’ as the noun skála f. gen. pl. ‘of bowls’ and joined it with mǫrk ‘forest’ to form the woman-kenning mǫrk skála ‘forest of bowls [WOMAN]’. In eds which regard skála as the determinant in a woman-kenning, verki (verka ms. C) is interpreted differently in syntactical terms. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald) choose the C variant verka and regard it as gen. governed by vandr ‘careful’ (l. 4), hence vandr verka is translated as ‘careful with the poem’ and regarded as an attribute to the subject ek ‘I’ (l. 1). Faulkes’s edn (SnE 1998, I, 63) has vandr verki ‘careful with the work’ (verki regarded as dat. of verk n.) in the same syntactical function (SnE 1998, II, 420). However, vandr is normally construed with prepositions like at, um or við ‘with, concerning sth.’ (Fritzner: vandr 1) and not with the gen. or dat. Furthermore, skála is unmetrical, because the disyllabic word in metrical positions 3-4 must have a short stem vowel in this type of odd line (A2k; cf. Gade 1995a, 117-18).

verki ‘the poem’

(not checked:)
verki (noun m.; °-a): deed, work

[3] verki: verki corrected from merki Tˣ, verka C

notes

[3-4] verki skala vandr ‘the poem should not be difficult’: This edn takes the mss’ ‘skala’ as skala, the finite verb skal ‘shall, will, must’ plus the negative suffix ‑a in an intercalated clause (verki skala vandr ‘the poem should not be difficult’; cf. Jón Þorkelsson 1890, 5-6). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), followed by all other eds, interpreted ‘skala’ as the noun skála f. gen. pl. ‘of bowls’ and joined it with mǫrk ‘forest’ to form the woman-kenning mǫrk skála ‘forest of bowls [WOMAN]’. In eds which regard skála as the determinant in a woman-kenning, verki (verka ms. C) is interpreted differently in syntactical terms. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald) choose the C variant verka and regard it as gen. governed by vandr ‘careful’ (l. 4), hence vandr verka is translated as ‘careful with the poem’ and regarded as an attribute to the subject ek ‘I’ (l. 1). Faulkes’s edn (SnE 1998, I, 63) has vandr verki ‘careful with the work’ (verki regarded as dat. of verk n.) in the same syntactical function (SnE 1998, II, 420). However, vandr is normally construed with prepositions like at, um or við ‘with, concerning sth.’ (Fritzner: vandr 1) and not with the gen. or dat. Furthermore, skála is unmetrical, because the disyllabic word in metrical positions 3-4 must have a short stem vowel in this type of odd line (A2k; cf. Gade 1995a, 117-18).

vandr ‘difficult’

(not checked:)
vandr (adj.): difficult

[4] vandr: ‘[…]ndir’ U

notes

[3-4] verki skala vandr ‘the poem should not be difficult’: This edn takes the mss’ ‘skala’ as skala, the finite verb skal ‘shall, will, must’ plus the negative suffix ‑a in an intercalated clause (verki skala vandr ‘the poem should not be difficult’; cf. Jón Þorkelsson 1890, 5-6). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), followed by all other eds, interpreted ‘skala’ as the noun skála f. gen. pl. ‘of bowls’ and joined it with mǫrk ‘forest’ to form the woman-kenning mǫrk skála ‘forest of bowls [WOMAN]’. In eds which regard skála as the determinant in a woman-kenning, verki (verka ms. C) is interpreted differently in syntactical terms. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald) choose the C variant verka and regard it as gen. governed by vandr ‘careful’ (l. 4), hence vandr verka is translated as ‘careful with the poem’ and regarded as an attribute to the subject ek ‘I’ (l. 1). Faulkes’s edn (SnE 1998, I, 63) has vandr verki ‘careful with the work’ (verki regarded as dat. of verk n.) in the same syntactical function (SnE 1998, II, 420). However, vandr is normally construed with prepositions like at, um or við ‘with, concerning sth.’ (Fritzner: vandr 1) and not with the gen. or dat. Furthermore, skála is unmetrical, because the disyllabic word in metrical positions 3-4 must have a short stem vowel in this type of odd line (A2k; cf. Gade 1995a, 117-18).

stef ‘of the refrain’

(not checked:)
stef (noun n.; °; -): refrain < stefknǫrr (noun m.)

kennings

notes

[4] branda stefknarrar ‘the bows of the refrain-ship [DRÁPA > UPPHAF]’: A drápa is a longer poem with one or more refrains (stef). Upphaf ‘beginning’ is usually the technical term for the first part of a drápa, its introductory section before the first stef ‘refrain’ (see Section 4.5 in the General Introduction in SkP I).

stef ‘of the refrain’

(not checked:)
stef (noun n.; °; -): refrain < stefknǫrr (noun m.)

kennings

notes

[4] branda stefknarrar ‘the bows of the refrain-ship [DRÁPA > UPPHAF]’: A drápa is a longer poem with one or more refrains (stef). Upphaf ‘beginning’ is usually the technical term for the first part of a drápa, its introductory section before the first stef ‘refrain’ (see Section 4.5 in the General Introduction in SkP I).

knarrar ‘ship’

(not checked:)
knǫrr (noun m.; °knarrar, dat. knerri; knerrir, acc. knǫrru/knerri): (a kind of) ship < stefknǫrr (noun m.)

[4] ‑knarrar: so Tˣ, W, A, C, ‘‑knarrarar’ R, ‘[…]’ U

kennings

notes

[4] branda stefknarrar ‘the bows of the refrain-ship [DRÁPA > UPPHAF]’: A drápa is a longer poem with one or more refrains (stef). Upphaf ‘beginning’ is usually the technical term for the first part of a drápa, its introductory section before the first stef ‘refrain’ (see Section 4.5 in the General Introduction in SkP I).

knarrar ‘ship’

(not checked:)
knǫrr (noun m.; °knarrar, dat. knerri; knerrir, acc. knǫrru/knerri): (a kind of) ship < stefknǫrr (noun m.)

[4] ‑knarrar: so Tˣ, W, A, C, ‘‑knarrarar’ R, ‘[…]’ U

kennings

notes

[4] branda stefknarrar ‘the bows of the refrain-ship [DRÁPA > UPPHAF]’: A drápa is a longer poem with one or more refrains (stef). Upphaf ‘beginning’ is usually the technical term for the first part of a drápa, its introductory section before the first stef ‘refrain’ (see Section 4.5 in the General Introduction in SkP I).

branda ‘the bows’

(not checked:)
brandr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): sword, prow; fire

[4] branda: ‘[…]randa’ U

kennings

notes

[4] branda ‘the bows’: Taken here as acc. pl. of brandr m. In skaldic poetry brandr is often used in the pl. (LP: 3. brandr) and as pars pro toto for ‘ship’ (Jesch 2001a, 147-8). Accordingly, in such cases it must have referred to some part of a ship, but it is not clear exactly which part (ibid.). According to Falk (1912, 44-5) brandr was a strip of wood running along the side of a ship’s prow, and Clunies Ross (2005a, 38 n. 16) assumes that brandar refer to a pair of these wooden strips and hence to the prow as a whole in the present stanza. — [4] branda stefknarrar ‘the bows of the refrain-ship [DRÁPA > UPPHAF]’: A drápa is a longer poem with one or more refrains (stef). Upphaf ‘beginning’ is usually the technical term for the first part of a drápa, its introductory section before the first stef ‘refrain’ (see Section 4.5 in the General Introduction in SkP I).

branda ‘the bows’

(not checked:)
brandr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): sword, prow; fire

[4] branda: ‘[…]randa’ U

kennings

notes

[4] branda ‘the bows’: Taken here as acc. pl. of brandr m. In skaldic poetry brandr is often used in the pl. (LP: 3. brandr) and as pars pro toto for ‘ship’ (Jesch 2001a, 147-8). Accordingly, in such cases it must have referred to some part of a ship, but it is not clear exactly which part (ibid.). According to Falk (1912, 44-5) brandr was a strip of wood running along the side of a ship’s prow, and Clunies Ross (2005a, 38 n. 16) assumes that brandar refer to a pair of these wooden strips and hence to the prow as a whole in the present stanza. — [4] branda stefknarrar ‘the bows of the refrain-ship [DRÁPA > UPPHAF]’: A drápa is a longer poem with one or more refrains (stef). Upphaf ‘beginning’ is usually the technical term for the first part of a drápa, its introductory section before the first stef ‘refrain’ (see Section 4.5 in the General Introduction in SkP I).