Ásb Ævkv 8VIII (OStór 11)/5 — pálmar ‘palms’
Annat var, þá er inni.
Alllítt vér spörðumz
at samtogi sverða;
sjaldan ek latta,
at brynpálmar brýndir
biti hvassliga seggi;
þó var Ormr at ímun
æ oddviti þeira.
Annat var, þá er inni. Vér spörðumz alllítt at samtogi sverða; ek latta sjaldan at brýndir brynpálmar biti seggi hvassliga; Ormr var þó æ oddviti þeira at ímun.
It used to be different, when inside. We held back very little at the drawing together of swords [BATTLE]; seldom did I hinder that the sharpened mailcoat-palms [SWORDS] should sharply bite warriors; even so, Ormr was always their leader in battle.
readings
[5] brynpálmar brýndir: rómu, hjálm ok branda 554h βˣ
notes
[5] brynpálmar ‘the mailcoat-palms [SWORDS]’: The cpd is a hap. leg. The kenning belongs to a common type in which swords are referred to by a base-word denoting a long, sharp object (e.g. icicle, stick) and a determinant denoting a piece of armour or a defensive weapon, such as a mailcoat or shield (cf. Meissner 152-3). In skaldic poetry the noun palmr, later pálmr, is used as a simplex and in the literal sense of a palm tree or palm branch, the first recorded examples being in the C12th poems Leið 30/8VII and Rv Lv 29/4II, both in Christian contexts. Here, however, and in Anon Krm 15/10 pálmr strenglágar ‘the palm of the bowstring-groove’, an arrow-kenning, pálmr is used in a metaphorical not a literal sense.
kennings
- brýndir brynpálmar — the sharpened mailcoat-palms [SWORDS]
grammar
case: nom.
number: pl.