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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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GizGrý Lv 2VIII (Heiðr 109)/3 — skjall*anda ‘chinking’

Ek mun þik enskis         eyris krefja,
skjall*anda         skarfs ór gulli.
Þó mun ek ríða         ok rönd bera
Húna þjóðum         gunni at bjóða.

Ek mun krefja þik enskis eyris, né skjall*anda skarfs ór gulli. Þó mun ek ríða ok bera rönd at bjóða þjóðum Húna gunni.

I will demand from you nothing of silver, nor chinking coin of gold. Yet I will ride and bear a shield to offer battle to the people of the Huns.

readings

[3] skjall*anda: ‘skulldanda’ 203ˣ, ‘skiall danda’ R715ˣ

notes

[3] skjall*anda ‘chinking’: Neither ms. gives an acceptable reading and all eds but FSN emend. The significance seems to be that the coin is weighty enough to make a ringing noise when cast against another surface: Heiðr 1873 (366) and, following it, Heiðr 1960 (55 n. 2) refer to an incident related by Saxo (Saxo 2015, I, viii. 16. 7, pp. 626-7) in which only coins which made enough noise to be heard by a tax-collector twelve rooms away would be counted towards the tribute paid by the Frisians. 

grammar

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