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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Eil Þdr 1III/1 — Flug ‘of precipice’

Flugstalla réð felli*
fjǫrnets goða at hvetja
— drjúgr vas Loptr at ljúga —
lǫgseims faðir heiman.
Geðreynir kvað grœnar
Gauts herþrumu brautir
vilgi tryggr til veggjar
viggs Geirrøðar liggja.

Faðir lǫgseims réð at hvetja felli* fjǫrnets goða flugstalla heiman; Loptr vas drjúgr at ljúga. Vilgi tryggr geðreynir Gauts herþrumu kvað grœnar brautir liggja til viggs veggjar Geirrøðar.

The father of the sea-thread [= Miðgarðsormr > = Loki] decided to goad the preparer of the life-net [KILLER] of the gods of precipice-altars [MOUNTAINS > GIANTS > = Þórr] to leave home; Loptr <= Loki> was assidious at lying. The by no means trustworthy mind-tester of the Gautr <= Óðinn> of host-thunder [BATTLE > WARRIOR = Þórr > = Loki] said that green paths lay towards the steed of the wall [HOUSE] of Geirrøðr <giant>.

notes

[1] flugstalla ‘of precipice-altars [MOUNTAINS]’: According to Fritzner: flug 2, flug means ‘steep mountain-side’ (cf. ModIcel. flug, ModNorw. and Faroese flog ‘steep bluff’) and stallr means ‘altar’ (Fritzner: stallr 1). This kenning is formed according to the pattern ‘place where something is’. ‘Place’ can be replaced by any location; here stallr ‘altar’. Hence flugstallr ‘precipice-altar’ is a kenning for ‘mountain’, the place where precipices are (see also Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 376). Genzmer (1934, 67) weighs various ways to interpret flugstallr and finally opts for ‘the high load-bearer, roof beam’, which he goes on to explain as an ofljóst construction for áss ‘one of the Æsir’ in light of its homonymy with áss ‘beam’. This is not very convincing (cf. also Reichardt 1948, 331). — [1, 2] goða flugstalla ‘of the gods of precipice-altars [MOUNTAINS > GIANTS]’: Genzmer (1934, 65 n.) objects to goða ‘of the gods’ as the base-word of a giant-kenning, but see Meissner 258; see also Reichardt (1948, 331) and NN §2756C.

kennings

grammar

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