Ótt Hfl 4I/6 — varpaði ‘thrower’
Ǫttuð ôrum skreyttum
austr í salt með flaustum;
bôruð lind af landi,
landvǫrðr, á skip randir.
Neyttuð segls, ok sættuð
sundvarpaði stundum;
sleit mjǫk róin mikla
mǫrg ôr und þér bôru.
Ǫttuð skreyttum ôrum með flaustum austr í salt; landvǫrðr, bôruð lind af landi, randir á skip. Neyttuð segls, ok sættuð stundum sundvarpaði; mǫrg mjǫk róin ôr sleit mikla bôru und þér.
You urged decorated oars alongside the ships east on the salt sea; land-guardian [RULER], you carried the linden-shield from the land, shields onto the ships. You made use of the sail and sometimes deployed the sea-thrower [OAR]; many a much-rowed oar cut the great swell beneath you.
readings
[6] ‑varpaði: ‘‑uarpaðar’ Tóm
notes
[6] sundvarpaði ‘for the sea-thrower [OAR]’: This hap. leg. appears to be an agent noun (nom. sundvǫrpuðr), and it is taken here as an oar-kenning similar to Anon (ÓT) 3/6 sveipr ǫldu ‘sweeper of the wave’ (so also Meissner 103). It is dat., and provides an object to sættuð ‘you deployed’ (see Note to l. 5). Other eds have taken it as an expression for ‘wind’ or ‘storm’ and construed it as indirect object of setja ‘set’, hence ‘you set [the sail] for the sea-thrower’; see ÍF 27, and also Jesch (2001a, 162-3), who suggests the translation ‘strait-disturber’. However, if a wind-kenning, it does not belong to a known pattern, and it takes the focus away from parts of the ship, which otherwise dominate the stanza.
kennings
- sundvarpaði; — the sea-thrower; [OAR]
grammar
case: dat.