Arn Þorfdr 21II/6 — kløkkva ‘the pliant’
Hvárntveggja sák hǫggva
hirð á Péttlandsfirði
— ór þrifusk mein at meiri —
mínn auðgjafa sína.
Sær blezk, en dreif dreyri
døkkr á saumfǫr kløkkva;
skaut á skjaldrim sveita;
skokkr vas blóði stokkinn.
Sák hvárntveggja auðgjafa mínn hǫggva hirð sína á Péttlandsfirði; mein ór þrifusk at meiri. Sær blezk, en døkkr dreyri dreif á kløkkva saumfǫr; sveita skaut á skjaldrim; skokkr vas stokkinn blóði.
I watched both my wealth-givers [GENEROUS MEN] hack down their own retainers in the Pentland Firth; our [my] pain grew the more. The sea churned, and dark blood dashed on the pliant nail-row; gore spurted on the shield-rail; decking was spattered with blood.
readings
[6] kløkkva (‘klocka’): ‘klockri’ or ‘klockvi’ R702ˣ
notes
[6] á kløkkva saumfǫr ‘on the pliant nail-row’: (a) Saumfǫr, lit. ‘stitch-row’, the row of nails along each strake, is recorded in ON prose although not elsewhere in poetry, and it occurs in ModIcel. It is kløkkr ‘pliant’ in the sense that it gives with the motion of the ship in heavy seas. Lie (1954, 158-9 and n. 7) took saumfǫr as a pars-pro-toto expression for ‘ship’ here, which may be justified since, as Jesch points out (2001, 140), it is the wood rather than the nails that give pliability. (b) The R702ˣ variant ‘rvmspo᷎r’ is obscure, though rúm n. is a compartment of a ship, the space given to each pair of oars.