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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Sól 54VII/2 — vánar ‘of expectation’

Vestan sá ek fljúga        vánardreka
        ok fell á Glævalds götu;
vængi þeir skóku,        svát víða þótti mér
        springa hauðr ok himinn.

Vestan sá ek vánardreka fljúga ok fell á götu Glævalds; þeir skóku vængi, svát hauðr ok himinn þótti mér springa víða.

From the west I saw a dragon of expectation flying and it landed on Glævaldr’s road; they shook their wings, so that earth and heaven seemed to me to spring widely apart.

notes

[2] vánardreka ‘dragon of expectation’: The meaning of vánar- is not entirely clear; presumably the dragon expects to prey on souls. Björn M. Ólsen (1915, 50-1) takes Ván as a river-heiti, as in Grí 28/8, and interprets the creature as Leviathan (Job XLI). The number of dragons is also unclear; more than one dragon is suggested by þeir skóku ‘they shook’ in l. 4, but fell ‘fell’ in l. 3 is universally sg. in the mss.

grammar

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