Auðunn Lv 2I/5 — fjǫturs ‘fetter’
Stóðu vér und víðum
vindar tjǫlgu linda,
herkir hyrjar serkja;
hvé of vélti þat belti?
Þat hykk hrammfjǫturs hvǫttu
Hlǫkk; fannkat mey rakka
í barrskelfis bjalfa
bjúgs þá raman smjúga.
Stóðu vér und víðum linda tjǫlgu vindar, herkir hyrjar serkja; hvé of vélti belti þat? Hykk Hlǫkk hrammfjǫturs hvǫttu þat; fannkat rakka mey þá smjúga í raman bjalfa bjúgs barrskelfis.
We [I] stood beneath the broad girdle of the branch of the wind, giant of the fire of mail-shirts [SWORD > WARRIOR]; how did the ‘belt’ trick me? I think the Hlǫkk <valkyrie> of the arm-fetter [ARM-RING > WOMAN] encouraged that; I did not find the spirited woman creeping then into the strong hide of the bent pine needle shaker.
readings
[5] hrammfjǫturs: hrafnfjǫturs all others, ‘hraf[…] fiot[…]s’ Hb
notes
[5] hrammfjǫturs ‘of the arm-fetter [ARM-RING]’: The first element of this cpd is almost certainly hrafn- in Hb. Assuming, however, that this forms part of a woman-kenning with Hlǫkk (l. 6), the cpd ‘raven-fetter’ would not be appropriate, so some eds (SnE 1848-87, III; Skald) have adopted the rare spelling variant hramm for hrafn (cf. Anon Leið 16/2VII and GSvert Hrafndr 7/3IV), understanding that the scribe has confused it here with the noun hramm- ‘arm’, and that has been followed here; cf. leggfjǫtrs ‘of the limb-fetter [ARM-RING]’ Hár Lv 1/5. — [5-6] hykk Hlǫkk hrammfjǫturs þat hvǫttu ‘I think the Hlǫkk <valkyrie> of the arm-fetter [ARM-RING > WOMAN] encouraged that’: Hvǫttu is past inf. of the verb hvetja ‘to whet, encourage’, hence lit. ‘to have encouraged’. The construction hykk ‘I think’ followed by an acc. with past inf. construction is uncommon, but not unprecedented; cf. NS §217b on the construction with verbs of thinking and NS §§220 and 221b on the use of the past. inf. generally.
kennings
- hrammfjǫturs — of the arm-fetter [ARM-RING]
- Hlǫkk hrammfjǫturs — the Hlǫkk <valkyrie> of the arm-fetter [WOMAN]
grammar
case: gen.