Glúmr Eir 1^III

Brandr fær logs ok landa
lands Eireki banda.

Brandr fær Eireki {logs {banda lands}} ok landa.

The sword gains for Eiríkr {the flame {of the bonds of the land}} [SEA > GOLD] and lands.

Mss: A(6r), W(106) (TGT)

Readings: [2] lands: so W, land A

Editions: Skj AI, 75, Skj BI, 65, Skald I, 40; SnE 1848-87, II, 144-5, III, 146, TGT 1884, 24, 94, 205-6, TGT 1927, 67, 102.

Context: The couplet is cited to illustrate a variety of the rhetorical figure of silemsis or syllepsis in which one item represents several of the same kind. In this case brandr ‘sword’ represents many swords.

Notes: [All]: For a similar statement that the sword has won territory for a ruler (in this case Sigurðr jarl), see KormǪ Sigdr 2/3-4. — [2] Eireki ‘Eiríkr’: Eiríkr blóðøx; see Introduction. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, II, 145 n. 6) suspected a reference to Eiríkr jarl Hákonarson (r. c. 1000-c. 1014), but this is rejected by Finnur Jónsson (ibid., III, 444). Eirekr is an early form of the name Eiríkr; it is secured by a rhyme on snekk- in Gsind Hákdr 7/8^I. — [2] banda lands ‘of the bonds of the land [SEA]’: A typical sea-kenning (cf. ÞSjár Þórdr 1/2^I band landa ‘chain of lands [SEA]’), though the pl. base-word banda is unusual (cf. Meissner 94) and could have been caused by metrical demands (a disyllabic word needed in the cadence). Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 205-6) obtains the same sense by adopting the A reading land (l. 2) and assuming a cpd landband ‘land-bond’ with tmesis (so also Finnur Jónsson, TGT 1927, 102).

References

1. Bibliography
2. TGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
3. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. TGT 1927 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1927b. Óláfr Þórðarson: Málhljóða- og málskrúðsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling. Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13, 2. Copenhagen: Høst.
7. Internal references
8. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Guthormr sindri, Hákonardrápa 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. 166.
9. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Sigurðardrápa 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. 277.
10. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Þórálfs drápa Skólmssonar 1’ 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. 237.