Hallv Knútdr 4III
Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 235.
Rauð ‘red’
(not checked:)
rauðr (adj.; °compar. -ari): red < rauðljóss (adj.)
kennings
rauðljósa baugjǫrð‘the bright red ring-land ’
= SHIELD
the bright red ring-land → SHIELD
notes
[1] rauðljósa ‘bright red’: Lit. ‘red-bright’, seemingly alluding to red paint on the shield rather than to blood; this is complemented by hvíta ‘white’ in l. 2 (see Falk 1914b, 128-32, 143-4).
ljósa ‘the bright’
(not checked:)
ljóss (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): bright < rauðljóss (adj.)
[1] ‑ljósa: ljóma C
kennings
rauðljósa baugjǫrð‘the bright red ring-land ’
= SHIELD
the bright red ring-land → SHIELD
notes
[1] rauðljósa ‘bright red’: Lit. ‘red-bright’, seemingly alluding to red paint on the shield rather than to blood; this is complemented by hvíta ‘white’ in l. 2 (see Falk 1914b, 128-32, 143-4).
sér ‘sees’
(not checked:)
2. sjá (verb): see
kennings
Ræsir ferðar brodda‘The impeller of the journey of missiles ’
= WARRIOR
the journey of missiles → BATTLE
The impeller of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
notes
[2] rít ‘shield’: A heiti for ‘shield’, occurring in Þul Skjaldar 1/7 (see Note there) and elsewhere (LP: rít).
brestr ‘bursts’
(not checked:)
1. bresta (verb; °brestr; brast, brustu; brostinn): burst, split
sundr ‘apart’
(not checked:)
sundr (adv.): (a)sunder
in ‘the’
(not checked:)
2. inn (art.): the
hvíta ‘white’
(not checked:)
hvítr (adj.; °-an; -ari, -astr): white
baug ‘ring’
(not checked:)
baugr (noun m.; °dat. -i/-; -ar): ring < baugjǫrð (noun f.)
kennings
rauðljósa baugjǫrð‘the bright red ring-land ’
= SHIELD
the bright red ring-land → SHIELD
notes
[3] baugjǫrð ‘ring-land [SHIELD]’: Baugr as a heiti for shield is also recorded in Þul Skjaldar 3/3 (see Note there). Although baugr (lit. ‘circle, ring’) can function as a pars pro toto term for ‘shield’ (see SnE 1998, I, 67), it also forms the determinant in shield-kennings; hence ‘the land of the baugr’, as here, is a shield. However, the kenning was clearly not transparent: ms. A, which generally preserves an excellent text of Hallvarðr’s poem, has bauggjǫrð ‘ring-belt, shield-belt’ (cf. sikulgjǫrð ‘sword-belt’, st. 2/2).
jǫrð ‘land’
(not checked:)
jǫrð (noun f.; °jarðar, dat. -u; jarðir/jarðar(DN I (1367) 304)): ground, earth < baugjǫrð (noun f.)
[3] ‑jǫrð: ‑gjǫrð A
kennings
rauðljósa baugjǫrð‘the bright red ring-land ’
= SHIELD
the bright red ring-land → SHIELD
notes
[3] baugjǫrð ‘ring-land [SHIELD]’: Baugr as a heiti for shield is also recorded in Þul Skjaldar 3/3 (see Note there). Although baugr (lit. ‘circle, ring’) can function as a pars pro toto term for ‘shield’ (see SnE 1998, I, 67), it also forms the determinant in shield-kennings; hence ‘the land of the baugr’, as here, is a shield. However, the kenning was clearly not transparent: ms. A, which generally preserves an excellent text of Hallvarðr’s poem, has bauggjǫrð ‘ring-belt, shield-belt’ (cf. sikulgjǫrð ‘sword-belt’, st. 2/2).
brodda ‘of missiles’
(not checked:)
broddr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ar): point of spear or arrow
kennings
Ræsir ferðar brodda‘The impeller of the journey of missiles ’
= WARRIOR
the journey of missiles → BATTLE
The impeller of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
brodda ‘of missiles’
(not checked:)
broddr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ar): point of spear or arrow
kennings
Ræsir ferðar brodda‘The impeller of the journey of missiles ’
= WARRIOR
the journey of missiles → BATTLE
The impeller of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
ferðar ‘of the journey’
(not checked:)
ferð (noun f.; °-ar; -ir/-arMork 196¹²)): host, journey
kennings
Ræsir ferðar brodda‘The impeller of the journey of missiles ’
= WARRIOR
the journey of missiles → BATTLE
The impeller of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
ferðar ‘of the journey’
(not checked:)
ferð (noun f.; °-ar; -ir/-arMork 196¹²)): host, journey
kennings
Ræsir ferðar brodda‘The impeller of the journey of missiles ’
= WARRIOR
the journey of missiles → BATTLE
The impeller of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
bjúg ‘curve’
(not checked:)
bjúgr (adj.; °compar. -ari): bent < bjúgrendr (adj.)
notes
[4] bjúgrend ‘curve-edged’: A cpd adj. in which the second element is related to the more common noun rǫnd ‘rim, shield’, which the scribe of A has substituted as a lectio facilior. Bjúgrend presumably refers to the shape of the shield, though the adj. is not discussed in Falk (1914b). The strong form of the adj. bjúgrend is used here, even though one might have expected the weak form bjúgrenda since there is a def. art. (in hvíta, bjúgrenda rít). The strong form must have been chosen for metrical reasons (bjúgrenda makes the line hypermetrical), and was syntactically acceptable since it is separated from the rest of the noun phrase.
rend ‘edged’
(not checked:)
rendr (adj./verb p.p.): [edged] < bjúgrendr (adj.)
[4] ‑rend: ‘l[…]it’ U, rǫnd A, ‘[…]’ C
notes
[4] bjúgrend ‘curve-edged’: A cpd adj. in which the second element is related to the more common noun rǫnd ‘rim, shield’, which the scribe of A has substituted as a lectio facilior. Bjúgrend presumably refers to the shape of the shield, though the adj. is not discussed in Falk (1914b). The strong form of the adj. bjúgrend is used here, even though one might have expected the weak form bjúgrenda since there is a def. art. (in hvíta, bjúgrenda rít). The strong form must have been chosen for metrical reasons (bjúgrenda makes the line hypermetrical), and was syntactically acceptable since it is separated from the rest of the noun phrase.
notes
[4] fljúga í tvau ‘split in two’: Lit. ‘fly into two’.
notes
[4] fljúga í tvau ‘split in two’: Lit. ‘fly into two’.
fljúga ‘split’
(not checked:)
fljúga (verb): fly
notes
[4] fljúga í tvau ‘split in two’: Lit. ‘fly into two’.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
This stanza is quoted in Skm to illustrate the shield-kenning baugjǫrð ‘ring-land’.
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