Sigv Frag 2III/3 — rastar ‘of the league’
Brýnd vôru dǫrr;
boga fylgði hǫrr;
sparn rastar knǫrr
rádýris vǫrr.
Dǫrr vôru brýnd; hǫrr fylgði boga; knǫrr rastar sparn vǫrr rádýris.
Spears were whetted; the bowstring went with the bow; the ship of the league [HORSE] pounded the wake of the roe-deer [LAND].
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.
kennings
- knǫrr rastar — the ship of the league [HORSE]