Bragi Rdr 8III/1 — æða ‘of veins’
Ok ofþerris æða
ósk-Rôn at þat sínum
til fárhuga fœra
feðr veðr boga hugði,
þás hristi-Sif hringa
hals- in bǫls of fyllda
bar til byrjar drǫsla
-baug ørlygis draugi.
Ok ósk-Rôn ofþerris æða hugði fœra veðr boga til fárhuga feðr sínum at þat, þás hristi-Sif hringa, in bǫls of fyllda, bar halsbaug draugi ørlygis til drǫsla byrjar.
And the desiring-Rán <goddess> of the excessive drying of veins [VALKYRIE = Hildr] planned to bring the storm of bows [BATTLE] with hostile intentions against her father after that, when the shaking-Sif <goddess> of rings [VALKYRIE = Hildr], the one filled with malice, carried a neck-ring for the tree-trunk of battle [WARRIOR = Hǫgni] to the steeds of the fair wind [SHIPS].
readings
[1] æða: so W, ‘ada’ R, ‘adan’ Tˣ
notes
[1-2] ósk-Rôn ofþerris æða ‘the desiring-Rán <goddess> of the excessive drying of veins [VALKYRIE = Hildr]’: Bragi immediately establishes through this kenning Hildr’s destructive and predatory, almost cannibalistic, qualities. Óskmær ‘desire [i.e. ‘desired’ or ‘desiring’] maiden’ occurs as a term for a valkyrie (Oddrgr 16/3; LT: ósk-mær), and the similarity of the cpd ósk-Rôn strongly indicates Hildr’s role as a valkyrie (cf. Marold 1983, 103). Further, it compares Hildr to Rán (lit. ‘plunder’), wife of the sea-deity Ægir and a personification of the sea’s destructive power. The kenning suggests that Hildr wants to destroy all the men in her power by bleeding them dry with wounds. Kock (NN §2205B) makes the suggestion that this kenning alludes to Hildr as a curer, stemming the men’s bleeding wounds, but this seems improbable in the context of Bragi’s generally negative presentation of her.
kennings
- ósk-Rôn ofþerris æða — the desiring-Rán <goddess> of the excessive drying of veins [VALKYRIE = Hildr]
grammar
case: gen.
number: pl.