Kolb Lv 7III
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Kolbeinn Tumason, Lausavísa 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 270.
mér ‘to me’
(not checked:)
ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
fyr ‘ago’
(not checked:)
fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
stundu ‘a while’
(not checked:)
stund (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir): time, hour
mikit ‘a significant’
(not checked:)
mikill (adj.; °mikinn): great, large
orðalag ‘expression’
(not checked:)
orðalag (noun n.): [expression]
þikkja ‘have seemed’
(not checked:)
2. þykkja (verb): seem, think
notes
[2] þikkja ‘have seemed’: Lit. ‘seem’ (inf.). This form, rather than the earlier þykkja (see ANG §147; Björn K. Þórólfsson 1925, xvi-xvii) is required by internal rhyme (-ik- : -ikk-).
elg ‘of the elk’
(not checked:)
elgr (noun m.; °-s; -ir/-ar): elk < elgrennir (noun m.)
[3] elgrenni: eldgrenni W
kennings
unnar elgrenni.‘wave’s elk-impeller’
= SEAFARER
the elk of the wave. → SHIP
the impeller of the SHIP → SEAFARER
notes
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
elg ‘of the elk’
(not checked:)
elgr (noun m.; °-s; -ir/-ar): elk < elgrennir (noun m.)
[3] elgrenni: eldgrenni W
kennings
unnar elgrenni.‘wave’s elk-impeller’
= SEAFARER
the elk of the wave. → SHIP
the impeller of the SHIP → SEAFARER
notes
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
renni ‘the impeller’
(not checked:)
rennir (noun m.): impeller < elgrennir (noun m.)
[3] elgrenni: eldgrenni W
kennings
unnar elgrenni.‘wave’s elk-impeller’
= SEAFARER
the elk of the wave. → SHIP
the impeller of the SHIP → SEAFARER
notes
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
unnar ‘of the wave’
(not checked:)
2. unnr (noun f.): wave
kennings
unnar elgrenni.‘wave’s elk-impeller’
= SEAFARER
the elk of the wave. → SHIP
the impeller of the SHIP → SEAFARER
notes
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
unnar ‘of the wave’
(not checked:)
2. unnr (noun f.): wave
kennings
unnar elgrenni.‘wave’s elk-impeller’
= SEAFARER
the elk of the wave. → SHIP
the impeller of the SHIP → SEAFARER
notes
[3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2).
eyrum ‘with my own ears’
(not checked:)
eyra (noun n.; °eyra; eyru/eyrun, gen. eyrna): ear
notes
[4] heyra eyrum ‘if I had heard with my own ears’: Lit. ‘to hear with ears’. For a similar play on eyru ‘ears’ and heyra ‘hear’, see Sigv Berv 8/3II and SnSt Lv 6/4.
slíkt ‘such a thing’
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2. slíkr (adj.): such
at ‘’
(not checked:)
5. at (nota): to (with infinitive)
heyra ‘if I had heard’
(not checked:)
2. heyra (verb): hear
notes
[4] heyra eyrum ‘if I had heard with my own ears’: Lit. ‘to hear with ears’. For a similar play on eyru ‘ears’ and heyra ‘hear’, see Sigv Berv 8/3II and SnSt Lv 6/4.
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In TGT the helmingr is cited to illustrate the rhetorical figure pleonasmos, which is defined as follows (TGT 1927, 56): hégómlig viðrlagning einnar sagnar yfir þat fram, sem fullu máli heyrir ‘a useless addition of a word beyond that which is suitable for the complete clause’. According to Óláfr Þórðarson (loc. cit.), in this particular case eyrum (lit. ‘with ears’, l. 4) is superfluous, because hearing is the only sense a person uses for listening to something, and one hears with the ears.
Nothing is known about the circumstances that prompted the composition of this half-stanza, and the identity of the ‘seafarer’ is also unknown. Finnur Jónsson (TGT 1927, 98) speculates that this may have been Kolbeinn’s brother-in-law, Bishop Guðmundr Arason of Hólar, but that cannot be ascertained.
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