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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Liðs 7I

Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 7’ 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. 1024.

Anonymous PoemsLiðsmannaflokkr
678

Knútr ‘Knútr’

(not checked:)
Knútr (noun m.): Knútr

Close

réð ‘decided’

(not checked:)
ráða (verb): advise, rule, interpret, decide

Close

ok ‘and’

(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also

Close

baug ‘of the ring’

(not checked:)
baugr (noun m.; °dat. -i/-; -ar): ring < baugstallr (noun m.): [ring-support]

kennings

ríkr lundr baugstalls
‘the mighty tree of the ring-support ’
   = WARRIOR = Knútr

the ring-support → SHIELD
the mighty tree of the SHIELD → WARRIOR = Knútr
Close

baug ‘of the ring’

(not checked:)
baugr (noun m.; °dat. -i/-; -ar): ring < baugstallr (noun m.): [ring-support]

kennings

ríkr lundr baugstalls
‘the mighty tree of the ring-support ’
   = WARRIOR = Knútr

the ring-support → SHIELD
the mighty tree of the SHIELD → WARRIOR = Knútr
Close

stalls ‘support’

(not checked:)
stallr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): seat, stall, support < baugstallr (noun m.): [ring-support]

kennings

ríkr lundr baugstalls
‘the mighty tree of the ring-support ’
   = WARRIOR = Knútr

the ring-support → SHIELD
the mighty tree of the SHIELD → WARRIOR = Knútr
Close

stalls ‘support’

(not checked:)
stallr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): seat, stall, support < baugstallr (noun m.): [ring-support]

kennings

ríkr lundr baugstalls
‘the mighty tree of the ring-support ’
   = WARRIOR = Knútr

the ring-support → SHIELD
the mighty tree of the SHIELD → WARRIOR = Knútr
Close

Dani ‘the Danes’

(not checked:)
Danr (noun m.; °dat. -; -ir): Dane

Close

alla ‘all’

(not checked:)
allr (adj.): all

Close

lundr ‘tree’

(not checked:)
1. lundr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -i/-; -ar): grove, tree

kennings

ríkr lundr baugstalls
‘the mighty tree of the ring-support ’
   = WARRIOR = Knútr

the ring-support → SHIELD
the mighty tree of the SHIELD → WARRIOR = Knútr
Close

rǫskr ‘brave’

(not checked:)
rǫskr (adj.): brave

Close

und ‘under’

(not checked:)
3. und (prep.): under, underneath

Close

ríkr ‘the mighty’

(not checked:)
ríkr (adj.): mighty, powerful, rich

kennings

ríkr lundr baugstalls
‘the mighty tree of the ring-support ’
   = WARRIOR = Knútr

the ring-support → SHIELD
the mighty tree of the SHIELD → WARRIOR = Knútr

notes

[4] ríkr ‘mighty’: This adj. could alternatively qualify herr ‘army’ (l. 4) or Knútr (l. 1; so Skj B; ÓHLeg 1982); cf. Note to st. 5/1, 2.

Close

‘fought’

(not checked:)
1. vega (verb): strike, slay

Close

við ‘by’

(not checked:)
2. við (prep.): with, against

Close

díki ‘the moat’

(not checked:)
díki (noun n.; °; -): ditch

notes

[4] díki ‘the moat’: Circumvallation of London played a prominent part in the viking offensive in 1016 (Campbell 1998, 77 n. 4).

Close

Nær ‘nearly’

(not checked:)
nær (adv.): near, almost; when

Close

sveit ‘the army’

(not checked:)
sveit (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): host, company

Close

þars ‘where’

(not checked:)
þars (conj.): where

Close

sóttum ‘we attacked’

(not checked:)
sótt (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): illness

Close

Syn ‘Syn [lady]’

(not checked:)
Syn (noun f.; °; -jar): [Syn [lady], Syn]

notes

[6] Syn ‘Syn [lady]’: Syn is a goddess-heiti of the sort normally occurring in kennings on the pattern ‘goddess of treasure [WOMAN]’. In the absence of a determinant here it appears to be used as a half-kenning for ‘woman’, parallel to Ilmr in st. 10/4. Kock (Skald and NN §906) reads Syn elds ‘Syn <goddess> of fire’ as a woman-kenning. See Note to ll. 7-8 below.

Close

með ‘with’

(not checked:)
með (prep.): with

notes

[6] með hjalm ok brynju ‘with helmet and mail-shirt’: Mail-shirts could connote superior status (Brooks 1978, 83, 90, 93), and this indicates the resources available to Knútr and suggests that, despite the sentiments in st. 2, some of the men at least are equipped with them. Thietmar of Merseburg (Kurze 1889, 217) states that vast numbers of loricae ‘coats of mail’ were stockpiled in London during this siege.

Close

hjalm ‘helmet’

(not checked:)
1. hjalmr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): helmet

notes

[6] með hjalm ok brynju ‘with helmet and mail-shirt’: Mail-shirts could connote superior status (Brooks 1978, 83, 90, 93), and this indicates the resources available to Knútr and suggests that, despite the sentiments in st. 2, some of the men at least are equipped with them. Thietmar of Merseburg (Kurze 1889, 217) states that vast numbers of loricae ‘coats of mail’ were stockpiled in London during this siege.

Close

ok ‘and’

(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also

notes

[6] með hjalm ok brynju ‘with helmet and mail-shirt’: Mail-shirts could connote superior status (Brooks 1978, 83, 90, 93), and this indicates the resources available to Knútr and suggests that, despite the sentiments in st. 2, some of the men at least are equipped with them. Thietmar of Merseburg (Kurze 1889, 217) states that vast numbers of loricae ‘coats of mail’ were stockpiled in London during this siege.

Close

brynju ‘mail-shirt’

(not checked:)
1. brynja (noun f.; °-u (dat. brynnoni Gibb 38⁹); -ur): mailcoat

notes

[6] með hjalm ok brynju ‘with helmet and mail-shirt’: Mail-shirts could connote superior status (Brooks 1978, 83, 90, 93), and this indicates the resources available to Knútr and suggests that, despite the sentiments in st. 2, some of the men at least are equipped with them. Thietmar of Merseburg (Kurze 1889, 217) states that vast numbers of loricae ‘coats of mail’ were stockpiled in London during this siege.

Close

elds ‘of the fire’

(not checked:)
eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹‰(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire

kennings

kennir elds Rennandi
‘the master of the fire of Rennandi ’
   = MAN

the fire of Rennandi → GOLD
the master of the GOLD → MAN

notes

[7-8]: (a) The interpretation adopted here yields a standard man-kenning (cf. Meissner 297). The fierce fighting around the circumvallation is being compared with a tussle between an elk and its would-be captor. Elk-hunting was a time-honoured pursuit in medieval Norway and Sweden and the prey was sometimes driven into steep-sided pits or trenches (Nedkvitne 1993, 307-8), whose resemblance to a moat may have triggered this comparison. A related simile occurs in Grettis saga (ÍF 7, 44) when Grettir protests that there is no need to hold on to him as though he were a wild dog (sem ólmum hundi). (b) Alternatively, elg Rennandi ‘elk of Rennandi / the river’ would form a natural ship-kenning. This is adopted in Skj B, leaving kennir syn elds as a man-kenning which is put in quotation marks to indicate a problem, but kennir elds would form a warrior-kenning ‘master of the sword’, with eldr as a sword-heiti (LP: eldr 7, and see Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/4), and syn/Syn could be explained as above. (c) Kock (NN §906) reads Syn elds together (see Note to l. 6 Syn), leaving elg Rennandi ‘ship’ as both object to heldi ‘were holding’ and implied determinant of a man-kenning, with kennir ‘master, knower’ as its base-word, but this double construction is highly dubious.

Close

elds ‘of the fire’

(not checked:)
eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹‰(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire

kennings

kennir elds Rennandi
‘the master of the fire of Rennandi ’
   = MAN

the fire of Rennandi → GOLD
the master of the GOLD → MAN

notes

[7-8]: (a) The interpretation adopted here yields a standard man-kenning (cf. Meissner 297). The fierce fighting around the circumvallation is being compared with a tussle between an elk and its would-be captor. Elk-hunting was a time-honoured pursuit in medieval Norway and Sweden and the prey was sometimes driven into steep-sided pits or trenches (Nedkvitne 1993, 307-8), whose resemblance to a moat may have triggered this comparison. A related simile occurs in Grettis saga (ÍF 7, 44) when Grettir protests that there is no need to hold on to him as though he were a wild dog (sem ólmum hundi). (b) Alternatively, elg Rennandi ‘elk of Rennandi / the river’ would form a natural ship-kenning. This is adopted in Skj B, leaving kennir syn elds as a man-kenning which is put in quotation marks to indicate a problem, but kennir elds would form a warrior-kenning ‘master of the sword’, with eldr as a sword-heiti (LP: eldr 7, and see Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/4), and syn/Syn could be explained as above. (c) Kock (NN §906) reads Syn elds together (see Note to l. 6 Syn), leaving elg Rennandi ‘ship’ as both object to heldi ‘were holding’ and implied determinant of a man-kenning, with kennir ‘master, knower’ as its base-word, but this double construction is highly dubious.

Close

sem ‘as if’

(not checked:)
sem (conj.): as, which

notes

[7-8]: (a) The interpretation adopted here yields a standard man-kenning (cf. Meissner 297). The fierce fighting around the circumvallation is being compared with a tussle between an elk and its would-be captor. Elk-hunting was a time-honoured pursuit in medieval Norway and Sweden and the prey was sometimes driven into steep-sided pits or trenches (Nedkvitne 1993, 307-8), whose resemblance to a moat may have triggered this comparison. A related simile occurs in Grettis saga (ÍF 7, 44) when Grettir protests that there is no need to hold on to him as though he were a wild dog (sem ólmum hundi). (b) Alternatively, elg Rennandi ‘elk of Rennandi / the river’ would form a natural ship-kenning. This is adopted in Skj B, leaving kennir syn elds as a man-kenning which is put in quotation marks to indicate a problem, but kennir elds would form a warrior-kenning ‘master of the sword’, with eldr as a sword-heiti (LP: eldr 7, and see Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/4), and syn/Syn could be explained as above. (c) Kock (NN §906) reads Syn elds together (see Note to l. 6 Syn), leaving elg Rennandi ‘ship’ as both object to heldi ‘were holding’ and implied determinant of a man-kenning, with kennir ‘master, knower’ as its base-word, but this double construction is highly dubious.

Close

olmum ‘a maddened’

(not checked:)
olmr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): fierce, furious

notes

[7-8]: (a) The interpretation adopted here yields a standard man-kenning (cf. Meissner 297). The fierce fighting around the circumvallation is being compared with a tussle between an elk and its would-be captor. Elk-hunting was a time-honoured pursuit in medieval Norway and Sweden and the prey was sometimes driven into steep-sided pits or trenches (Nedkvitne 1993, 307-8), whose resemblance to a moat may have triggered this comparison. A related simile occurs in Grettis saga (ÍF 7, 44) when Grettir protests that there is no need to hold on to him as though he were a wild dog (sem ólmum hundi). (b) Alternatively, elg Rennandi ‘elk of Rennandi / the river’ would form a natural ship-kenning. This is adopted in Skj B, leaving kennir syn elds as a man-kenning which is put in quotation marks to indicate a problem, but kennir elds would form a warrior-kenning ‘master of the sword’, with eldr as a sword-heiti (LP: eldr 7, and see Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/4), and syn/Syn could be explained as above. (c) Kock (NN §906) reads Syn elds together (see Note to l. 6 Syn), leaving elg Rennandi ‘ship’ as both object to heldi ‘were holding’ and implied determinant of a man-kenning, with kennir ‘master, knower’ as its base-word, but this double construction is highly dubious.

Close

heldi ‘were holding’

(not checked:)
halda (verb): hold, keep

notes

[7-8]: (a) The interpretation adopted here yields a standard man-kenning (cf. Meissner 297). The fierce fighting around the circumvallation is being compared with a tussle between an elk and its would-be captor. Elk-hunting was a time-honoured pursuit in medieval Norway and Sweden and the prey was sometimes driven into steep-sided pits or trenches (Nedkvitne 1993, 307-8), whose resemblance to a moat may have triggered this comparison. A related simile occurs in Grettis saga (ÍF 7, 44) when Grettir protests that there is no need to hold on to him as though he were a wild dog (sem ólmum hundi). (b) Alternatively, elg Rennandi ‘elk of Rennandi / the river’ would form a natural ship-kenning. This is adopted in Skj B, leaving kennir syn elds as a man-kenning which is put in quotation marks to indicate a problem, but kennir elds would form a warrior-kenning ‘master of the sword’, with eldr as a sword-heiti (LP: eldr 7, and see Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/4), and syn/Syn could be explained as above. (c) Kock (NN §906) reads Syn elds together (see Note to l. 6 Syn), leaving elg Rennandi ‘ship’ as both object to heldi ‘were holding’ and implied determinant of a man-kenning, with kennir ‘master, knower’ as its base-word, but this double construction is highly dubious.

Close

elg ‘elk’

(not checked:)
elgr (noun m.; °-s; -ir/-ar): elk

[8] elg Rennandi: so DG8, ‘elgr ennanda’ Flat

notes

[7-8]: (a) The interpretation adopted here yields a standard man-kenning (cf. Meissner 297). The fierce fighting around the circumvallation is being compared with a tussle between an elk and its would-be captor. Elk-hunting was a time-honoured pursuit in medieval Norway and Sweden and the prey was sometimes driven into steep-sided pits or trenches (Nedkvitne 1993, 307-8), whose resemblance to a moat may have triggered this comparison. A related simile occurs in Grettis saga (ÍF 7, 44) when Grettir protests that there is no need to hold on to him as though he were a wild dog (sem ólmum hundi). (b) Alternatively, elg Rennandi ‘elk of Rennandi / the river’ would form a natural ship-kenning. This is adopted in Skj B, leaving kennir syn elds as a man-kenning which is put in quotation marks to indicate a problem, but kennir elds would form a warrior-kenning ‘master of the sword’, with eldr as a sword-heiti (LP: eldr 7, and see Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/4), and syn/Syn could be explained as above. (c) Kock (NN §906) reads Syn elds together (see Note to l. 6 Syn), leaving elg Rennandi ‘ship’ as both object to heldi ‘were holding’ and implied determinant of a man-kenning, with kennir ‘master, knower’ as its base-word, but this double construction is highly dubious.

Close

Rennandi ‘of Rennandi’

(not checked:)
Rennandi (noun f.): Rennandi

[8] elg Rennandi: so DG8, ‘elgr ennanda’ Flat

kennings

kennir elds Rennandi
‘the master of the fire of Rennandi ’
   = MAN

the fire of Rennandi → GOLD
the master of the GOLD → MAN

notes

[7-8]: (a) The interpretation adopted here yields a standard man-kenning (cf. Meissner 297). The fierce fighting around the circumvallation is being compared with a tussle between an elk and its would-be captor. Elk-hunting was a time-honoured pursuit in medieval Norway and Sweden and the prey was sometimes driven into steep-sided pits or trenches (Nedkvitne 1993, 307-8), whose resemblance to a moat may have triggered this comparison. A related simile occurs in Grettis saga (ÍF 7, 44) when Grettir protests that there is no need to hold on to him as though he were a wild dog (sem ólmum hundi). (b) Alternatively, elg Rennandi ‘elk of Rennandi / the river’ would form a natural ship-kenning. This is adopted in Skj B, leaving kennir syn elds as a man-kenning which is put in quotation marks to indicate a problem, but kennir elds would form a warrior-kenning ‘master of the sword’, with eldr as a sword-heiti (LP: eldr 7, and see Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/4), and syn/Syn could be explained as above. (c) Kock (NN §906) reads Syn elds together (see Note to l. 6 Syn), leaving elg Rennandi ‘ship’ as both object to heldi ‘were holding’ and implied determinant of a man-kenning, with kennir ‘master, knower’ as its base-word, but this double construction is highly dubious.

Close

Rennandi ‘of Rennandi’

(not checked:)
Rennandi (noun f.): Rennandi

[8] elg Rennandi: so DG8, ‘elgr ennanda’ Flat

kennings

kennir elds Rennandi
‘the master of the fire of Rennandi ’
   = MAN

the fire of Rennandi → GOLD
the master of the GOLD → MAN

notes

[7-8]: (a) The interpretation adopted here yields a standard man-kenning (cf. Meissner 297). The fierce fighting around the circumvallation is being compared with a tussle between an elk and its would-be captor. Elk-hunting was a time-honoured pursuit in medieval Norway and Sweden and the prey was sometimes driven into steep-sided pits or trenches (Nedkvitne 1993, 307-8), whose resemblance to a moat may have triggered this comparison. A related simile occurs in Grettis saga (ÍF 7, 44) when Grettir protests that there is no need to hold on to him as though he were a wild dog (sem ólmum hundi). (b) Alternatively, elg Rennandi ‘elk of Rennandi / the river’ would form a natural ship-kenning. This is adopted in Skj B, leaving kennir syn elds as a man-kenning which is put in quotation marks to indicate a problem, but kennir elds would form a warrior-kenning ‘master of the sword’, with eldr as a sword-heiti (LP: eldr 7, and see Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/4), and syn/Syn could be explained as above. (c) Kock (NN §906) reads Syn elds together (see Note to l. 6 Syn), leaving elg Rennandi ‘ship’ as both object to heldi ‘were holding’ and implied determinant of a man-kenning, with kennir ‘master, knower’ as its base-word, but this double construction is highly dubious.

Close

kennir ‘the master’

(not checked:)
kennir (noun m.): teacher

kennings

kennir elds Rennandi
‘the master of the fire of Rennandi ’
   = MAN

the fire of Rennandi → GOLD
the master of the GOLD → MAN

notes

[7-8]: (a) The interpretation adopted here yields a standard man-kenning (cf. Meissner 297). The fierce fighting around the circumvallation is being compared with a tussle between an elk and its would-be captor. Elk-hunting was a time-honoured pursuit in medieval Norway and Sweden and the prey was sometimes driven into steep-sided pits or trenches (Nedkvitne 1993, 307-8), whose resemblance to a moat may have triggered this comparison. A related simile occurs in Grettis saga (ÍF 7, 44) when Grettir protests that there is no need to hold on to him as though he were a wild dog (sem ólmum hundi). (b) Alternatively, elg Rennandi ‘elk of Rennandi / the river’ would form a natural ship-kenning. This is adopted in Skj B, leaving kennir syn elds as a man-kenning which is put in quotation marks to indicate a problem, but kennir elds would form a warrior-kenning ‘master of the sword’, with eldr as a sword-heiti (LP: eldr 7, and see Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/4), and syn/Syn could be explained as above. (c) Kock (NN §906) reads Syn elds together (see Note to l. 6 Syn), leaving elg Rennandi ‘ship’ as both object to heldi ‘were holding’ and implied determinant of a man-kenning, with kennir ‘master, knower’ as its base-word, but this double construction is highly dubious.

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