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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Hbreiðm Lv 1II/7 — grúpans ‘of the sausage [= Icelander]’

Sendak son þinn, Ragna,
— sǫnn koma môl fyr bragna —
— hans vas hôlig iðja —
hirðvistar mér biðja.
Hafa kvezk hodda rýrir,
hinns mestum veg stýrir,
— neitti grúpans granna —
gnótt vígligri manna.

Sendak son þinn, Ragna, biðja mér hirðvistar; sǫnn môl koma fyr bragna; iðja hans vas hôlig. Rýrir hodda, hinns stýrir mestum veg, kvezk hafa gnótt vígligri manna; neitti granna grúpans.

I sent your son, Ragna, to request residence at court for me; true tales come before men; his attempt was noble. The diminisher of hoards [GENEROUS MAN = Rǫgnvaldr], who possesses very great honour, said that he had plenty of men more warlike; he refused the neighbour of the sausage [= Icelander].

readings

[7] grúpans: gildum R702ˣ

notes

[7] granna grúpans ‘the neighbour of the sausage [= Icelander]’: The interpretation of this as a term for ‘Icelander’ was first published in ÍF 34, 183-4, on the basis of a suggestion by Stefán Karlsson. ModIcel. grjúpan does not appear to be recorded in any other medieval texts, but the derogatory association of Icelanders with sausages (ON mǫrbjúga ‘suet sausage’, cf. mǫrlandi ‘suet-lander’, mǫrbyskup ‘suet-bishop’) is well attested in, for instance, an anecdote from the miracles of S. Þorlákr, which takes place in King’s Lynn in Norfolk (ÍF 16, 227).

grammar

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