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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (Vǫlsa) 11I/3 — flent ‘with the foreskin pulled back’

Sá ek ei forðum         — þó hefik farit víða —
flent reðr fyrri         fara með bekkjum.
Þiggi Maurnir         þetta blæti!
En þú, Aðalgrímr,         tak enn við Vǫlsa!

Ek sá ei forðum flent reðr fara fyrri með bekkjum; þó hefik farit víða. Þiggi Maurnir þetta blæti! En þú, Aðalgrímr, tak enn við Vǫlsa!

I have never before seen a penis with the foreskin pulled back pass first along the benches; yet I have travelled far and wide. May Maurnir receive this offering! But you, Aðalgrímr (‘Chief Grímr’), take Vǫlsi too!

readings

[3] flent reðr fyrri: ‘flemt edur firne’ 292ˣ

notes

[3] flent reðr ‘penis with the foreskin pulled back’: The expression is a clear indication of the fact that Vǫlsi should be imagined as an erect penis. For flenna in the meaning of ‘pulling up the foreskin’, cf. SnH Lv 10/3-4II: flenna allt leðr reðri Haralds upp af enni ‘to pull all the skin of Haraldr’s prick up from the head’. A hestreðr ‘horse-penis’ is mentioned in a níð stanza by King Magnús góði referring to Sigurður sýr (Mgóð Lv 1/4II).

grammar

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