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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Hfr ErfÓl 24I/4 — meyjar ‘of the maiden’

Harðgǫrvan lét hjǫrvi
holms verða Týr sverða
vind á víðu sundi
vígþey Heðins meyjar,
áðr an Ormi næði
Eirekr eða hlut meira;
mǫrg óð bitr í blóði
benkneif fyr Ôleifi.

Týr sverða lét vind meyjar Heðins, vígþey, verða harðgǫrvan hjǫrvi á víðu sundi holms, áðr an Eirekr næði Ormi eða meira hlut; mǫrg bitr benkneif óð í blóði fyr Ôleifi.

The Týr <god> of swords [WARRIOR] made the wind of the maiden of Heðinn <legendary hero> [= Hildr > BATTLE], war-breeze [BATTLE], become hard-fought with the sword on the wide sound of the islet, before Eiríkr got Ormr (‘Serpent’) and the better lot; many a biting wound-hook [SWORD] waded in blood before Óláfr.

notes

[3, 4] vind meyjar Heðins ‘the wind of the maiden of Heðinn <legendary hero> [= Hildr > BATTLE]’: ‘The maiden of Heðinn’ is clearly Hildr, the valkyrie taken as war-trophy and wife by Heðinn Hjarrandason, hero of the Hjaðningavíg (‘battle of Heðinn’s men’, SnE 1998, I, 72). Like other terms such as gunnr (see LP: Gunnr), Hildr has a twofold function: as a proper name for a valkyrie and as a common noun meaning ‘battle’. The present edn assumes a reference to a valkyrie here; Hildr’s ‘wind’ is then ‘battle’. The Skj B interpretation of ll. 1-4 (see Note above) prefers the common noun hildr, arrived at by ofljóst, as also in st. 17/3-4 above. See further LP: 2. Heðinn, 1. hildr; Meissner 201-2, 273.

kennings

grammar

case: gen.

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