Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Anon Ól 1I/5 — hjöltum ‘the hilt’

Giekk hjörviður Hlakkar
hríðar djarfr með karfa
...
...
hendi alt hjöltum
handsax og benlaxa
— öld lofar öðling mildan
oft — en þrjú * á lofti.

Hjörviður, djarfr hríðar Hlakkar, giekk með karfa ... hendi alt hjöltum, handsax og benlaxa, en þrjú * á lofti; öld lofar oft mildan öðling.

The sword-tree [WARRIOR], valiant in the storm of Hlǫkk <valkyrie> [BATTLE], went along the ship ... caught everything by the hilt, short-sword and wound-salmon [SWORDS], though three [were] aloft; people often praise the generous prince.

notes

[All]: The Text, here and throughout this edn of the poem, is based on that of Ólafur Halldórsson in ÓT 1958-2000, III, xxxiii-xxxiv. Italics indicate poor legibility in the ms., even in Ólafur’s reading assisted by ultra-violet light; see Introduction. — [5] hjöltum ‘by the hilt’: Hjöltum is dat. pl. of hjalt n., either the pommel or knob at the distal end of the hilt, or the cross-guard between hilt and blade. The pl. normally means both parts together, and the part between is called meðalkafli m. ‘middle-piece, hilt’; this is what Óláfr catches the swords by in the prose sources.

grammar

Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close

Word in text

This view shows information about an instance of a word in a text.