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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ESk Øxfl 2III/2 — Róða ‘of Róði’s’

Eigi þverr fyr augna
Óðs beðvinu Róða
ræfrs (eignisk sá) regni
ramsvell (konungr elli).

Ramsvell ræfrs Róða þverr eigi fyr regni augna beðvinu Óðs; eignisk sá konungr elli.

The strong ice-sheet of Róði’s <sea-king’s> roof [SHIELD > AXE/SWORD] does not diminish because of the rain of the eyes [TEARS] of Óðr’s <mythical person’s> bedmate [= Freyja > GOLD]; may that king reach old age.

readings

[2] Róða: ‘rodrra’ Tˣ(29r)

notes

[2-3, 4] ramsvell ræfrs Róða ‘the strong ice-sheet of Róði’s <sea-king’s> roof [SHIELD > AXE/SWORD]’: Again an ambiguous kenning for a type of weapon (see Note to st. 1/2, 3 above), although the base-word, svell ‘ice-sheet’, usually occurs in kennings for ‘sword’ (LP: svell). Kock (NN §2793) suggests that this kenning denotes ‘silver’ and that þverr ‘diminishes’ (l. 1) means ‘melt’. A silver-kenning with the base-word svell qualified by a determinant ‘shield’ is highly irregular, however. For Róði, see Note to Þul Sea-kings l. 5. The kenning ræfr Róða ‘Róði’s roof’ is a conventional kenning for ‘shield’ in which ræfr ‘roof’ denotes a shield as ‘cover, overhead protection’ (see Meissner 170-1).

kennings

grammar

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