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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (Vǫlsa) 1I/1 — Karl ‘An old man’

Karl hefir búit         ok kona ǫldruð
á andnesi         einhverju.
Átti son         við seima Bil
drengr ok dóttur         drjúgskýrliga.

Karl ok ǫldruð kona hefir búit á einhverju andnesi. Drengr átti son ok drjúgskýrliga dóttur við Bil seima.

An old man and an aged woman used to live on a certain headland. The capable man had a son and a very sensible daughter with the Bil <goddess> of gold [WOMAN].

notes

[1-2]: A sg. verb, here hefir (búit) ‘used (to live)’, is common with a coordinate subject in poetry (NS §70).  — [1] karl ‘an old man’: All other household members likewise remain nameless: kona ‘woman’, sonr ‘son’ and dóttir ‘daughter’ in this stanza, ambátt ‘female servant, maid’ in st. 2/5, and þræll ‘male servant’ in st. 7/7. Only the household bitch has a (suggestive) proper name, Lærir; on its probable meaning see Note to st. 13/9.

grammar

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