Sigv Frag 2III
Diana Whaley (ed.) 2017, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Fragments 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 349.
Brýnd ‘whetted’
(not checked:)
brýna (verb; °-nd-): sharpen, whet
vôru ‘were’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
dǫrr ‘Spears’
(not checked:)
dǫrr (noun m.): spear
boga ‘the bow’
(not checked:)
bogi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): bow
fylgði ‘went with’
(not checked:)
2. fylgja (verb): follow, accompany
hǫrr ‘the bowstring’
(not checked:)
hǫrr (noun m.): linen
notes
[2] hǫrr ‘the bowstring’: For hǫrr m., usually ‘flax, linen’, in the sense ‘bow-string’, cf. ÞjóðA Magnfl 10/2II.
sparn ‘pounded’
(not checked:)
sperna (verb): kick
rastar ‘of the league’
(not checked:)
1. rǫst (noun f.; °rastar; rastir): (a measure of distance)
kennings
knǫrr rastar‘the ship of the league ’
= HORSE
the ship of the league → HORSE
notes
[3] knǫrr rastar ‘the ship of the league [HORSE]’: This is a seemingly unique pattern of kenning (cf. Meissner 111), though it has skaldic logic on its side since it simply inverts the common metaphor of ‘horse of the sea’ for ‘ship’. Rǫst f. presumably has its common meaning ‘league, measurement of distance on land’ here (cf. LP: 1. rǫst), but it also means ‘sea-current’ (LP: 2. rǫst); and it occurs among ship-heiti in Þul Skipa 2/5. It therefore seems that the skald has given a further twist to the kenning, allowing possible maritime associations to linger in the determinant as well as the base-word. This might appear to be chance or even incompetence, except that the same happens with the land-kenning that follows.
knǫrr ‘the ship’
(not checked:)
knǫrr (noun m.; °knarrar, dat. knerri; knerrir, acc. knǫrru/knerri): (a kind of) ship
kennings
knǫrr rastar‘the ship of the league ’
= HORSE
the ship of the league → HORSE
notes
[3] knǫrr rastar ‘the ship of the league [HORSE]’: This is a seemingly unique pattern of kenning (cf. Meissner 111), though it has skaldic logic on its side since it simply inverts the common metaphor of ‘horse of the sea’ for ‘ship’. Rǫst f. presumably has its common meaning ‘league, measurement of distance on land’ here (cf. LP: 1. rǫst), but it also means ‘sea-current’ (LP: 2. rǫst); and it occurs among ship-heiti in Þul Skipa 2/5. It therefore seems that the skald has given a further twist to the kenning, allowing possible maritime associations to linger in the determinant as well as the base-word. This might appear to be chance or even incompetence, except that the same happens with the land-kenning that follows.
rádýris ‘of the roe-deer’
(not checked:)
rádýri (noun n.): [roe-deer]
kennings
vǫrr rádýris.‘the wake of the roe-deer. ’
= LAND
the wake of the roe-deer. → LAND
notes
[4] vǫrr rádýris ‘the wake of the roe-deer [LAND]’: Vǫrr m. is ‘oar-stroke, wake’, hence ‘sea’ (LP: 2. vǫrr). Here it forms a land-kenning belonging to a rare but recognised pattern (see Meissner 87) in which the base-word refers to sea and the determinant to a land-animal, inverting the more common conceit of the sea as the land of sea-creatures. As a further complication, the determinant rá, taken as normalised rô f., could be the word for ‘sailyard’ and hence rôdýri ‘sailyard-animal’ could be a kenning for ‘ship’. Thus the underlying image is comparable with knǫrr rastar ‘ship of the league [HORSE]’ (l. 3), and the two kennings form a harmonised metaphorical scheme, but both with a slight twist back in a maritime direction. For a similar kenning, see Eil Þdr 6/4 ver gaupu ‘sea of the lynx [MOUNTAINS]’.
vǫrr ‘the wake’
(not checked:)
1. vǫrr (noun m.; °dat. verri; acc. vǫrru): oar-stroke
kennings
vǫrr rádýris.‘the wake of the roe-deer. ’
= LAND
the wake of the roe-deer. → LAND
notes
[4] vǫrr rádýris ‘the wake of the roe-deer [LAND]’: Vǫrr m. is ‘oar-stroke, wake’, hence ‘sea’ (LP: 2. vǫrr). Here it forms a land-kenning belonging to a rare but recognised pattern (see Meissner 87) in which the base-word refers to sea and the determinant to a land-animal, inverting the more common conceit of the sea as the land of sea-creatures. As a further complication, the determinant rá, taken as normalised rô f., could be the word for ‘sailyard’ and hence rôdýri ‘sailyard-animal’ could be a kenning for ‘ship’. Thus the underlying image is comparable with knǫrr rastar ‘ship of the league [HORSE]’ (l. 3), and the two kennings form a harmonised metaphorical scheme, but both with a slight twist back in a maritime direction. For a similar kenning, see Eil Þdr 6/4 ver gaupu ‘sea of the lynx [MOUNTAINS]’.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The citation is prefaced by a statement (papp10ˣ version), Kiender eru yxn, dyr eða hestar skipa heitum, eða hvala ‘Oxen, deer and horses are referred to by kennings using terms for ships or whales’. It is followed by Hier er hestur kallaður kno᷎r jarðarinnar ‘Here a horse is called a ship of the earth’.
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