Anon Liðs 3I
Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 3’ 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. 1019.
Þollr ‘pine-tree’
(not checked:)
þollr (noun m.): fir-tree
kennings
Rœðinn þollr glaums,‘The talkative pine-tree of revelry ’
= MAN
The talkative pine-tree of revelry → MAN
notes
[1] þollr glaums ‘the pine-tree of revelry [MAN]’: Several interpretations are possible, depending on how other nouns in the helmingr are construed. (a) This is tentatively taken as an irregular, derogatory kenning that evokes pleasures of the hall instead of military activities, characterising the stay-at-home who is the target of the stanza. The remaining analyses produce standard warrior-kennings. (b) Kock (Skald and NN §596) also construes these two words as a kenning, but takes glaumr ‘revelry’ to be a heiti for ‘battle’. (c) A more regular kenning is obtained if randar ‘of the shield’ (l. 3) is read as part of the determinant, hence þollr glaums randar ‘pine-tree of the revelry of the shield [BATTLE > WARRIOR]’ (so Skj B; ÓHLeg 1982). This leaves skóð ‘harm(s)’ (l. 3) as a heiti for a weapon, which is unproblematic in itself (LP: skóð) but entails a contorted word order (as pointed out in NN §596). (d) Another potential determinant is obtained if of grímu (l. 1) is read as the expletive particle of plus f. gen. sg. grímu in the sense ‘mask, helmet’; but in context a prepositional use of of seems more likely, hence of grímu ‘in darkness’. This is compatible with the surprise attack depicted in st. 1.
mun ‘will’
(not checked:)
munu (verb): will, must
glaums ‘of revelry’
(not checked:)
glaumr (noun m.): noise
kennings
Rœðinn þollr glaums,‘The talkative pine-tree of revelry ’
= MAN
The talkative pine-tree of revelry → MAN
notes
[1] þollr glaums ‘the pine-tree of revelry [MAN]’: Several interpretations are possible, depending on how other nouns in the helmingr are construed. (a) This is tentatively taken as an irregular, derogatory kenning that evokes pleasures of the hall instead of military activities, characterising the stay-at-home who is the target of the stanza. The remaining analyses produce standard warrior-kennings. (b) Kock (Skald and NN §596) also construes these two words as a kenning, but takes glaumr ‘revelry’ to be a heiti for ‘battle’. (c) A more regular kenning is obtained if randar ‘of the shield’ (l. 3) is read as part of the determinant, hence þollr glaums randar ‘pine-tree of the revelry of the shield [BATTLE > WARRIOR]’ (so Skj B; ÓHLeg 1982). This leaves skóð ‘harm(s)’ (l. 3) as a heiti for a weapon, which is unproblematic in itself (LP: skóð) but entails a contorted word order (as pointed out in NN §596). (d) Another potential determinant is obtained if of grímu (l. 1) is read as the expletive particle of plus f. gen. sg. grímu in the sense ‘mask, helmet’; but in context a prepositional use of of seems more likely, hence of grímu ‘in darkness’. This is compatible with the surprise attack depicted in st. 1.
of ‘in’
(not checked:)
3. of (prep.): around, from; too
grímu ‘darkness’
(not checked:)
gríma (noun f.; °-u): night, darkness; mask
gjarn ‘gladly [lit. glad]’
(not checked:)
gjarn (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): eager
síðarla ‘tardily’
(not checked:)
síðarla (adv.): [late, tardily]
randar ‘of the shield’
(not checked:)
rǫnd (noun f.; °dat. -/-u; rendr/randir): shield, shield-rim
kennings
skóð randar‘the harm of the shield ’
= SWORD
the harm of the shield → SWORD
skóð ‘the harm’
(not checked:)
2. skóð (noun n.): harmer, scathe
kennings
skóð randar‘the harm of the shield ’
= SWORD
the harm of the shield → SWORD
at ‘to’
(not checked:)
5. at (nota): to (with infinitive)
rjóða ‘redden’
(not checked:)
rjóða (verb): to redden
kennings
Rœðinn þollr glaums,‘The talkative pine-tree of revelry ’
= MAN
The talkative pine-tree of revelry → MAN
sás ‘who’
(not checked:)
sás (conj.): the one who
mey ‘the maiden’
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mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden
fœðir ‘brings up’
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2. fœða (verb): to feed, give food to, bring up, bear, give birth to
Berr ‘carry’
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3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry
eigi ‘does not’
(not checked:)
3. eigi (adv.): not
sá ‘That’
kennings
Sá sveigir lauks sára‘That brandisher of the leek of wounds ’
= WARRIOR
the leek of wounds → SWORD
That brandisher of the SWORD → WARRIOR
sveigir ‘brandisher’
(not checked:)
sveigir (noun m.): brandisher
kennings
Sá sveigir lauks sára‘That brandisher of the leek of wounds ’
= WARRIOR
the leek of wounds → SWORD
That brandisher of the SWORD → WARRIOR
sára ‘of wounds’
(not checked:)
2. sár (noun n.; °-s; -): wound
kennings
Sá sveigir lauks sára‘That brandisher of the leek of wounds ’
= WARRIOR
the leek of wounds → SWORD
That brandisher of the SWORD → WARRIOR
sára ‘of wounds’
(not checked:)
2. sár (noun n.; °-s; -): wound
kennings
Sá sveigir lauks sára‘That brandisher of the leek of wounds ’
= WARRIOR
the leek of wounds → SWORD
That brandisher of the SWORD → WARRIOR
lauks ‘of the leek’
(not checked:)
laukr (noun m.; °-s; -ar): leek, mast
kennings
Sá sveigir lauks sára‘That brandisher of the leek of wounds ’
= WARRIOR
the leek of wounds → SWORD
That brandisher of the SWORD → WARRIOR
lauks ‘of the leek’
(not checked:)
laukr (noun m.; °-s; -ar): leek, mast
kennings
Sá sveigir lauks sára‘That brandisher of the leek of wounds ’
= WARRIOR
the leek of wounds → SWORD
That brandisher of the SWORD → WARRIOR
ári ‘hurry’
(not checked:)
2. ár (noun n.; °-s; -): year, year’s abundance
reiðr ‘enraged’
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4. reiðr (adj.; °superl. -astr): angry
til ‘for’
(not checked:)
til (prep.): to
Rínar ‘of the Rhine’
(not checked:)
Rín (noun f.): [Rhine]
kennings
glóða Rínar.‘the embers of the Rhine.’
= GOLD
the embers of the Rhine. → GOLD
notes
[7] glóða Rínar ‘the embers of the Rhine [GOLD]’: The coward misses out on expeditionary plunder, here stereotypically represented as gold, though in fact the chief means of enrichment for Scandinavian warriors in the English campaigns took the form of the silver pennies paid as ‘Danegeld’.
glóða ‘the embers’
(not checked:)
glóð (noun f.): ember
kennings
glóða Rínar.‘the embers of the Rhine.’
= GOLD
the embers of the Rhine. → GOLD
notes
[7] glóða Rínar ‘the embers of the Rhine [GOLD]’: The coward misses out on expeditionary plunder, here stereotypically represented as gold, though in fact the chief means of enrichment for Scandinavian warriors in the English campaigns took the form of the silver pennies paid as ‘Danegeld’.
rǫnd ‘the shield’
(not checked:)
rǫnd (noun f.; °dat. -/-u; rendr/randir): shield, shield-rim
upp ‘up’
(not checked:)
upp (adv.): up
á ‘into’
(not checked:)
3. á (prep.): on, at
Englandi ‘England’
(not checked:)
England (noun n.): England
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
|
Þollr mun glaums of grímu |
The talkative pine-tree of revelry [MAN] who brings up the maiden will gladly [lit. glad] rush tardily to redden the harm of the shield [SWORD] in darkness. That brandisher of the leek of wounds [SWORD > WARRIOR] does not carry the shield, enraged, up into England in a hurry, for the embers of the Rhine [GOLD].
As for st. 1.
The stanza appears to express contempt for the guardian of Steinvǫr (on whom, see Note to st. 9/7) as a heimdragi ‘stay-at-home’. It does so by ironic litotes: he is not only slow into battle, but is not present at all. — [5-8]: The gallantry of the speaker and his comrades is contrasted with the inaction of the guardian. Such contrasts are characteristic of skaldic poetry (Perkins 1969, 96 n. 7). This helmingr is repeated in part in st. 9/5-8: rýðr eigi sá sveigir | sára lauk i ári ... gunnborðs ‘that brandisher of the battle-plank [SHIELD > WARRIOR] does not redden the leek of wounds [SWORD] in a hurry’. Finnur Jónsson in Skj regarded sts 3/5-8 and 9/5-8 as textual variants and considered st. 9/7-8 the more original version of the second couplet. But the partial repetition can better be explained as representing an informal refrain. The first occurrence stands near the opening of the flokkr and the other near its close, loosely corresponding to the placement of the first and last enunciations of the stef ‘refrain’ in the formal drápa.
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