Arn Hryn 10II/7 — él ‘of the storm’
Ljótu dreif á lypting útan
lauðri — bifðisk goll it rauða —
— fastligr hneigði fúru geystri
fýris garmr — ok skeiðar stýri.
Stirðum helzt umb Stafangr norðan
stôlum — bifðusk fyrir álar —
— uppi glóðu élmars typpi
eldi glík — í Danaveldi.
Ljótu lauðri dreif útan á lypting ok stýri skeiðar; it rauða goll bifðisk; fastligr garmr fýris hneigði geystri fúru. Helzt stirðum stôlum norðan umb Stafangr í Danaveldi; álar bifðusk fyrir; typpi élmars glóðu uppi glík eldi.
Foul surf surged in against the after-deck and the helm of the warship; the red gold shuddered; the powerful hound of the fir-tree [WIND] pitched the rushing ship of fir. You steered sturdy prows from the north past Stavanger to the realm of the Danes; currents shuddered in front; the mast-heads of the storm-steed [SHIP] glowed aloft like fire.
notes
[7-8] typpi élmars glóðu uppi glík eldi ‘the mast-heads of the storm-steed [SHIP] glowed aloft like fire’: Like its cognate toppr, typpi probably means both ‘mast-heads’ and ‘forelocks’ and therefore resonates with both levels of imagery: the actual ship and the metaphorical ship-as-steed. The simile of mast-heads glowing like fire may be inspired by the similar image in Sigv ErfÓl 16I. Reinskou (1922, 34-5) pointed out that both skalds are referring to the ship Visundr, and suggested that gilding on the mast-head, since not mentioned in earlier poetry, may have been an innovation in Óláfr helgi’s time. Hougen (1974, 18-19) doubted whether the skalds’ references to gold and gilded prows on ships out at sea are more than a poetic hyperbole, but cf. Encomium Emmae Reginae (ed. Campbell 1998, 12-13) for another C11th example.
kennings
- élmars — of the storm-steed [SHIP]