Eil Þdr 8III/1 — Harð ‘the hard’
Harðvaxnar leit herðar
hallands of sik falla
(gatat maðr) njótr (in neytri)
njarð- (rôð fyr sér) -gjarðar.
Þverrir lét, nema þyrri
Þorns barna sér, Mǫrnar
snerriblóð, til svíra
salþaks megin vaxa.
Njótr njarðgjarðar leit harðvaxnar herðar hallands falla of sik; maðr gatat in neytri rôð fyr sér. Þverrir barna Þorns lét megin vaxa sér til svíra salþaks, nema snerriblóð Mǫrnar þyrri.
The user of the strength-belt [= Þórr] saw the hard-grown shoulders of the sloping-land [MOUNTAIN > ROCKS] fall around him; the man could not find a useful solution for himself. The diminisher of the children of Þorn <giant> [GIANTS > = Þórr] said that his strength would grow to the neck of the roof of the earth [SKY] unless the rushing blood of Mǫrn <female mythical being> [RIVER] receded.
notes
[1-2] harðvaxnar herðar hallands ‘the hard-grown shoulders of the sloping-land [MOUNTAIN > ROCKS]’: This rock-kenning follows the pattern ‘bones of the earth’, i.e. the ‘shoulders’ are shoulder bones. There are two possible interpretations of halland: (a) as a cpd consisting of the adj. hallr ‘sloping’ and land ‘land’ or (b) as a cpd consisting of hallr ‘stone’ and land ‘land’. Both interpretations yield a kenning for ‘mountain’. Since halland is the determinant in a kenning for ‘stone, rocks’, it is preferable to choose option (a) i.e. halland ‘sloping-land’. The interpretation as ‘stone-land’ would duplicate the referent ‘stone’ in the kenning (‘the hard shoulders of the stone-land [MOUNTAIN > ROCKS]’) which ought to be avoided according to the rules of kenning formation (cf. hallvǫllr st. 15/2 and Note there).
kennings
- harðvaxnar herðar hallands — the hard-grown shoulders of the sloping-land [ROCKS]