Ásb Ævkv 5VIII (OStór 8)/3 — hvassri ‘the sharp’
Annat var, þá er inni.
Ek veitta ferð sveittri
högg með hvassri tuggu
Herjans suðr í skerjum
Elfar. Opt nam kólfi
Ormr hagliga at forma
mest, þá er Miðjungs traustir
mágar eptir lágu.
Annat var, þá er inni. Ek veitta högg með hvassri tuggu Herjans sveittri ferð suðr í skerjum Elfar. Ormr nam opt at forma kólfi hagliga mest, þá er traustir mágar Miðjungs lágu eptir.
It used to be different, when inside. I dealt blows with the sharp mouthful of Herjan <= Fenrir(?)> [SWORD] to the bloody host down south among the skerries of the Götaälv. Ormr often aimed with the arrow skilfully mostly when the trusted kinsmen of Miðjungr <giant> [GIANTS] were left lying.
notes
[3-4] með hvassri tuggu Herjans ‘with the sharp mouthful of Herjan <= Fenrir(?)> [SWORD]’: What makes this kenning problematical is the use of Herjan, normally a name for the god Óðinn (cf. LP: Herjan(n)), within a kenning whose other elements suggest a reference to the wolf Fenrir, and the myth, recounted in Gylf (SnE 2005, 27-9), of how the gods wedged a sword between Fenrir’s open jaws when they were binding him. It seems that the poet either thought Herjan was an alternative name for Fenrir or had forgotten the myth to which sword-kennings of the type ‘mouthful, mouth-prop of the wolf’ conventionally refer. Cf. Meissner 150, who suggests hergarmr, ‘war-Garmr <monstrous dog>’. Kock (NN §2495B) understands the kenning to mean ‘Óðinn’s biter’, i.e. ‘Óðinn’s sword’.
kennings
- hvassri tuggu Herjans — the sharp mouthful of Herjan <= Fenrir(?)> [SWORD]