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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Hfr ErfÓl 13I/4 — jaðri ‘the borderland’

Hverr vas hræddr við ǫrvan
hugdyggvan son Tryggva
— óðusk malmþings meiðar —
maðr und sólar jaðri.

Hverr maðr und jaðri sólar vas hræddr við ǫrvan, hugdyggvan son Tryggva; meiðar malmþings óðusk.

Every man under the borderland of the sun [SKY] was afraid of the swift, steadfast son of Tryggvi [= Óláfr]; poles of the metal meeting [BATTLE > WARRIORS] felt dread.

notes

[4] jaðri sólar ‘the borderland of the sun [SKY]’: An unusual sky-kenning. Among the many involving a determinant meaning ‘sun’ combined with a base-word meaning ‘ground’, ‘road’, ‘hall’, or ‘seat’, there are no parallels for jaðarr ‘border, rim’ in the latter role. However, the existence of Jaðarr (Jæren) as the name of a coastal district in south-west Norway would encourage taking jaðarr here as equivalent to ‘land’ (as LP: jaðarr 1 and Meissner 106 do) and translating ‘borderland’ (more strictly ‘territory at the edge’). Ohlmarks (1958, 450) suggests the kenning refers to the time of day when the sun is just above the horizon.

kennings

grammar

case: dat.

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