SnSt Ht 60III/6 — stinnmens ‘of the stiff necklace’
Álmdrósar skylr ísa
ár flest meginbára sára;
kœnn lætr hræs á hrǫnnum
hjálmsvell jǫfurr gella fella.
Styrjǫkla kná stiklir
stinnmens legi venja benja;
lætr stillir frør fylla
fólksund hjarar lunda unda.
Flest ár skylr meginbára sára ísa álmdrósar; kœnn jǫfurr lætr hjálmsvell gella á hrǫnnum fella hræs. Stiklir stinnmens kná venja styrjǫkla legi benja; stillir lætr frør unda fylla fólksund lunda hjarar.
Most years a mighty wave of wounds [BLOOD] rinses icicles of the elm-bow-woman [VALKYRIE > SWORDS]; the wise prince makes the helmet’s ice-sheet [SWORD] scream in waves of the fellers of carrion [SWORDS > BLOOD]. The dispenser of the stiff necklace [GENEROUS MAN] accustoms battle-glaciers [SWORDS] to the ocean of wounds [BLOOD]; the leader makes the frost of wounds [SWORD] replenish the battle-sea [BLOOD] of the trees of the sword [WARRIORS].
notes
[6] stinnmens (m. gen. sg.) ‘of the stiff necklace’: Most earlier eds emend to stinnr (m. nom. sg.) ‘stiff’ and take it as an adj. qualifying stiklir mens ‘dispenser of the necklace’, hence stinnr stiklir mens ‘the unbending/unyielding dispenser of the necklace’. However, stinnr is never used as an adj. to qualify a person, but it can be used in connection with objects of metal (see NN §2184; LP: stinnr). Faulkes (SnE 2007) retains the ms. form stinn, which he construes with fólk (n. acc. pl.) taken in the meaning ‘warriors’, although he does not dismiss the possibility that the adj. could qualify stiklir mens (SnE 2007, 151).
kennings
- Stiklir stinnmens — The dispenser of the stiff necklace [GENEROUS MAN]