Þór Lv 1I/5 — mar ‘horse’
Sitr við ôr, en etjum,
allvaldr, á sæ kaldan,
— vel rœr dróttar deilir
dýrr — en hundr við stýri.
Skelfir * gnap*mar Gylfa
gœðings skafit rœði;
jalmar hlumr við hilmis
hendr sem skildi vendir.
Allvaldr sitr við ôr, en hundr við stýri, en etjum á kaldan sæ; dýrr deilir dróttar rœr vel. Skafit rœði gœðings skelfir * gnap*mar Gylfa; hlumr jalmar við hendr hilmis, sem vendir skildi.
The mighty ruler sits at the oar, and a dog at the rudder, and we drive forward on the cold sea; the worthy controller of the retinue [RULER = Óláfr] rows well. The planed oar of the chieftain makes the towering horse of Gylfi <sea-king> [SHIP] shudder; the oar-handle squeals in the hands of the king, like swords on a shield.
readings
[5] * gnap*mar: á gnapi mar 62, Flat
notes
[5-6] rœði ... skelfir * gnap*mar Gylfa ‘the oar ... makes the towering horse of Gylfi <sea-king> [SHIP] shudder’: Line 5 is hypermetric in the mss, necessitating the deletion of two syllables, here á and -i. There are two main possible interpretations, each with rœði ‘oar’ as grammatical subject, but producing different images as to what is shuddering or trembling. (a) The Text above adopts skelfir ‘shakes, makes shudder’, from the verb skelfa, the causative counterpart of skjalfa ‘to tremble’, with gnapmar (acc. sg.) Gylfa ‘towering horse of Gylfi [SHIP]’ as its direct object. (b) Skj B on the other hand reads intransitive skelfr ‘trembles’, 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of skjalfa, and takes (gnap)mari (dat. sg.) Gylfa as equivalent to a prepositional phrase; but this involves emending ms. á mar to mari or assuming that endingless mar is dat., which is possible, though uncommon, in an a-stem m. noun at this date (Konráð Gíslason 1892, 224; Finnur Jónsson 1901, 12; ANG §§358.3, 4).
kennings
- mar Gylfa; — horse of Gylfi <sea-king> [SHIP]
grammar
case: acc.