Rv Lv 4II/8 — kollóttar ‘bald’
Sextán hefik sénar
senn ok topp í enni
jarðar elli firrðar
ormvangs saman ganga.
Þat bôrum vér vitni,
vestr at hér sé flestar
— sjá liggr út við élum
ey — kollóttar meyjar.
Hefik sénar sextán senn, firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs, ok topp í enni, ganga saman. Vér bôrum þat vitni, at hér vestr sé flestar meyjar kollóttar; sjá ey liggr út við élum.
I have seen sixteen [women] all at once, denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD], and [they had] a fringe on their forehead, walking together. We bore witness to the fact that, here in the west, most maidens are bald; that island lies out in the direction of storms.
notes
[2, 8] topp í enni; kollóttar ‘a fringe on their forehead; bald’: This appears to describe the standard Western coronal tonsure (which leaves the hair in a ring on the head), rather than the insular tonsure, as suggested in ÍF 34. The form of the latter has recently been thoroughly discussed in McCarthy 2003, who argues that it had a triangular shape. The coronal tonsure is similar to male-pattern baldness and is thus the clue that the people being observed are not women after all. The st. plays on various gender ambiguities to explain how a group of men can be both unarmed and bald.