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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Arn Hryn 1II/2 — við ‘with’

Kljúfa létk í kaupfǫr dúfu
knarra minn við borð in stinnu.

Létk knarra minn kljúfa dúfu við in stinnu borð í kaupfǫr.

I made my vessel cleave the billow with its firm strakes on a trading voyage.

notes

[2] við in stinnu borð ‘with its firm strakes’: (a) Við could be oppositional ‘against’ or instr. ‘by (means of)’. In either case the phrase would be adverbial, modifying kljúfa ‘cleave’ (l. 1), hence ‘cleave the billow with/against its firm strakes’. Analysed thus, the couplet gives a fine picture of the ship’s motion through the waves. (b) Finnur Jónsson in Skj B took the við-phrase to qualify knarra, hence ‘vessel with firm strakes’.

grammar

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