ÞSjár Frag 4III
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Fragments 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. 480.
Svát ‘So that’
(not checked:)
svát (conj.): so that, so as
fitjar ‘of the meadow’
(not checked:)
1. fit (noun f.; °; -jar): meadow
kennings
fjǫtri fitjar,‘the fetter of the meadow, ’
= SEA
the fetter of the meadow, → SEA
fjǫtri ‘the fetter’
(not checked:)
fjǫturr (noun m.): fetter
kennings
fjǫtri fitjar,‘the fetter of the meadow, ’
= SEA
the fetter of the meadow, → SEA
flóðs ‘of the sea’
(not checked:)
2. flóð (noun n.): flood
kennings
ásynja flóðs‘the goddess of the sea ’
= Rán
the goddess of the sea → Rán
notes
[2] ásynja flóðs ‘the goddess of the sea [= Rán]’: Ásynjum f. dat. pl. ‘goddesses’ (so all mss) makes no sense syntactically and has been emended to ásynja f. nom. sg. to provide a subject for the verb rýtr 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. ‘wails’ (l. 3). Rán, wife of the sea-giant Ægir in Old Norse myth, is a personification of the ocean (see Note to Þul Ásynja 2/7).
kennings
ásynja flóðs‘the goddess of the sea ’
= Rán
the goddess of the sea → Rán
notes
[2] ásynja flóðs ‘the goddess of the sea [= Rán]’: Ásynjum f. dat. pl. ‘goddesses’ (so all mss) makes no sense syntactically and has been emended to ásynja f. nom. sg. to provide a subject for the verb rýtr 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. ‘wails’ (l. 3). Rán, wife of the sea-giant Ægir in Old Norse myth, is a personification of the ocean (see Note to Þul Ásynja 2/7).
kennings
blóði systra;‘the sisters’ blood; ’
= WATER
the sisters’ blood; → WATER
notes
[2, 3] blóði systra ‘the sisters’ blood [WATER]’: These sisters are the waves, the daughters of Rán and Ægir, and their blood is ‘water’ (see SnE 1998, I, 36, 95, ESk Frag 17 and Þul Waves).
raust ‘voice’
(not checked:)
1. raust (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): [voice]
notes
[3] raust ‘voice’: The mss read ‘raust’ which can be normalised as either raust ‘voice’ (so Skj B, Skald and the present edn) or rǫst ‘current’ (so Bugge 1886, 336-7). Both readings are possible (see Note below).
bifask ‘trembles’
(not checked:)
2. bifa (verb; °-að-): shudder, tremble
[3] bifask: ‘byriast’ 742ˣ, ‘byriar’ 1116ˣ, ‘biriast’ 1496ˣ
notes
[3] bifask (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘trembles’: As it stands in the mss (normalised byrjask ‘begins’ 742ˣ, 1496ˣ or byrjar ‘begins’ 1116ˣ), the line is unmetrical (heptasyllabic), and all previous eds delete en ‘and, but’. However, this conj. cannot be omitted without creating a line that is otherwise unattested in dróttkvætt poetry. One can only arrive at a metrically correct construction by replacing the long-stemmed disyllabic verb byrjask (or byrjar) ‘begins’ with a short-stemmed verb that is neutralised in the first dip. Bifask ‘trembles’ may have been misread as byrjask, i.e. <yr> for <if> with insular <f>. The clause rǫmm raust bifask ‘the strong voice trembles’ is taken here to refer to the voice of Rán, who is described elsewhere as ‘the loud-voiced one’ (háraust, SnSt Ht 19/6), while her daughters, the waves, are called raustljótar ‘ugly-voiced’ (RvHbreiðm Hl 54/6). Alternatively, if normalised rǫst ‘current’ is adopted, the clause reads ‘the strong current trembles’, which is also possible. The connection between rǫst ‘current’ and bifask ‘trembles’ is also made in other skaldic stanzas, e.g. vestr bifask rengr í rǫstum ‘in the west, ship-frames tremble in the currents’ (Kali Lv 1/3II).
rǫmm ‘the strong’
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rammr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): mighty
en ‘and’
(not checked:)
2. en (conj.): but, and
systra ‘the sisters’’
(not checked:)
systir (noun f.; °systur; systur): sister
kennings
blóði systra;‘the sisters’ blood; ’
= WATER
the sisters’ blood; → WATER
notes
[2, 3] blóði systra ‘the sisters’ blood [WATER]’: These sisters are the waves, the daughters of Rán and Ægir, and their blood is ‘water’ (see SnE 1998, I, 36, 95, ESk Frag 17 and Þul Waves).
rýtr ‘wails’
(not checked:)
rýta (verb): [wails]
notes
[4] rýtr (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘wails’: This strong verb is a hap. leg. which is cognate with OE rēotan ‘weep, lament, wail’, OHG riozan ‘weep’, MLG rēten ‘make noise, cry’ and OSwed. riuta ‘bellow’ (see AEW: rjóta).
ey ‘the island’
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1. ey (noun f.; °-jar, dat. -ju/-; -jar): island < eymylvir (noun m.): [island-grinder]
[4] eymylvir: ‘Eÿmilrir’ 742ˣ, ‘eymilrir’ 1116ˣ, ‘og mylrer’ 1496ˣ
kennings
eymylvir‘the island-grinder ’
= MAELSTROM
the island-grinder → MAELSTROM
notes
[4] eymylvir ‘the island-grinder [MAELSTROM]’: This cpd, which is not attested elsewhere, is formed from ey f. ‘island’ and mylvir m. ‘grinder’, an agent noun from a weak verb *mylva (Gmc *mulwjan) ‘grind’ (AEW: mylvir).
mylvir ‘grinder’
(not checked:)
-mylvir (noun m.) < eymylvir (noun m.): [island-grinder]
[4] eymylvir: ‘Eÿmilrir’ 742ˣ, ‘eymilrir’ 1116ˣ, ‘og mylrer’ 1496ˣ
kennings
eymylvir‘the island-grinder ’
= MAELSTROM
the island-grinder → MAELSTROM
notes
[4] eymylvir ‘the island-grinder [MAELSTROM]’: This cpd, which is not attested elsewhere, is formed from ey f. ‘island’ and mylvir m. ‘grinder’, an agent noun from a weak verb *mylva (Gmc *mulwjan) ‘grind’ (AEW: mylvir).
spýtir ‘spits out’
(not checked:)
2. spýta (verb): spit
[4] spýtir: ‘snijtir’ 742ˣ, ‘snýtir’ 1116ˣ, ‘hnyter’ 1496ˣ
notes
[4] spýtir ‘spits out’: This emendation follows most earlier eds (Bugge 1886, 336 retains the reading of 742ˣ, 1116ˣ). Although the expression snýta blóði ‘snort blood’ (i.e. ‘get a bloody nose’) is common, it hardly makes sense in the present context, and spýtr ‘spits out’ could at some point have been confused graphemically with snýtr ‘snorts’. The reading of 1496ˣ, ‘hnyter’, cannot be construed as an Old Norse word and must be a scribal error.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The helmingr illustrates kennings for ‘ocean’: hier er hafid kallað mylrir ‑ eÿía og fitiar fiǫtur ‘here the ocean is called mylrir of islands and the meadow’s fetter’ (742ˣ).
The first, subordinate clause cannot be syntactically dependent on the following main clause (as in Skj B); rather, it must refer to something described in the preceding, now lost helmingr (see NN §1132).
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