Rv Lv 21II/4 — sval ‘of the cool’
Skalkak hryggr í hreggi,
Hlín, meðan strengr ok lína
svǫrðr fyr snekkju barði,
svalteigar, brestr eigi.
Því réðk hvítri heita
hǫrskorð, es fórk norðan,
— vindr berr snart at sundi
súðmar — konu prúðri.
Skalkak hryggr í hreggi, Hlín svalteigar, meðan strengr ok lína, svǫrðr fyr barði snekkju, brestr eigi. Því réðk heita hvítri hǫrskorð, prúðri konu, es fórk norðan; vindr berr súðmar snart at sundi.
I shall not be upset in the storm, Hlín <goddess> of the cool plot [SEA > WOMAN], as long as the rope and the line, the hawser before the craft’s prow, does not break. That is what I promised to the pale linen-prop [WOMAN], the splendid woman, when I headed from the north; the wind carries the plank-horse [SHIP] briskly towards the strait.
readings
[4] sval‑: sal R702ˣ
notes
[2, 4] Hlín svalteigar ‘Hlín <goddess> of the cool plot [SEA > WOMAN]’: Svalteigr ‘cool plot’ is very clearly a kenning for ‘sea’, albeit an unusual one, since the determinant would normally be a noun referring to an attribute of the sea such as a sea-king, sea-creature or waves (Meissner 92-8). Bibire 1988 links this with hreggi ‘storm’ in l. 1 and leaves the goddess-name Hlín isolated as a heiti for ‘woman’; such half-kennings are uncharacteristic of Rǫgnvaldr. Skj B solves the problem by emending Hlín to a verb hvínn (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of hvína ‘squeak’) and construing the cl. differently (svǫrðr hvínn ‘the hawser squeaks’). The interpretation here follows ÍF 34: while the woman-kenning Hlín svalteigar ‘goddess of the cool plot (of ground)’ is unparalleled, it appears to belong to a type identified by Meissner in which a word for ‘fire, light’ has been omitted and which eventually becomes a recognised type (Meissner 419). It is possible that at some stage in its textual history the st. may have become irretrievably corrupted by association with a woman-kenning such as Hlín valteigar ‘goddess of the falcon-plot (arm)’, which is of a common type (cf. LP: Hlín), but is impossible here since it would not provide the requisite alliteration.
kennings
- svalteigar, — of the cool plot, [SEA]
- Hlín svalteigar, — Hlín <goddess> of the cool plot, [WOMAN]