ÞjóðA Sex 15II/7 — fannings ‘of †fanning’s†’
ÞjóðA Sex 15IIAlm dró upplenzkr hilmir
alla nôtt inn snjalli;
hremsur lét á hvítar
hlífr landreki drífa.
Brynmǫnnum smó benjar
blóðugr oddr, þars stóðu
— flugr óx †fannings† vigra —
Finna gjǫld í skjǫldum.
Inn snjalli upplenzkr hilmir dró alm alla nôtt; landreki lét hremsur drífa á hvítar hlífr. Blóðugr oddr smó benjar brynmǫnnum, þars gjǫld Finna stóðu í skjǫldum; flugr †fannings† vigra óx.
The valiant Oppland king drew his elm-bow all night long; the land-ruler made shafts pelt onto white shields. The bloody point pierced wounds on the byrnie-men, where the tribute of the Saami [ARROWS] penetrated shields; the flight of †fanning’s† spears increased.
readings
[7] fannings: so 39, F, J2ˣ, Hr, ‘famnings’ Kˣ, ‘fafnis’ E, ‘fannigs’ H
notes
[7] †fannings†: This is a major difficulty, though probably a localised one, and the word is left untranslated above. The ms. evidence, the metre and the context point to a m. or n. gen. sg. word or phrase of this form, perhaps with the sense ‘prince’; but no such word is recorded. (a) The root fann- could point to a derivative of fǫnn f. ‘snow(drift)’, but this scarcely helps in this context. (b) Kock adopted the E reading fáfnis, at first taking this as a term for ‘spear’, though without fully accounting for its function in l. 7 (§2031), then as a term for ‘(dragon-)ship’, hence vigra fáfnis ‘the ship’s spears’ (NN §3230, comparing dreki in st. 13/2 and naðr in st. 14/8). This latter solution is adopted in ÍF 28 and Hkr 1991. (c) Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901 and Skj B) emends to fylkis ‘prince’s’, as well as unnecessarily splitting l. 7 by taking fylkis with gjǫld Finna ‘the tribute of the Saami’s prince [ARROWS]’ rather than with vigra ‘spears’.