Þjóð Yt 4I/2 — vilja ‘of the will’
Ok Vísburs
vilja byrði
sævar niðr
svelgja knátti,
þás meinþjóf
markar ǫttu
setrs verjendr
á sinn fǫður.
Ok allvald
í arinkjóli
glóða garmr
glymjandi beit.
Ok niðr sævar knátti svelgja byrði vilja Vísburs, þás verjendr setrs ǫttu meinþjóf markar á fǫður sinn. Ok glymjandi garmr glóða beit allvald í arinkjóli.
And the kinsman of the sea [FIRE] swallowed the ship of the will [BREAST] of Vísburr when the defenders of the seat [RULERS] incited the harmful thief of the forest [FIRE] against their father. And the roaring dog of embers [fire] bit the sovereign within the hearth-ship [HOUSE].
notes
[2] byrði vilja ‘the ship of the will [BREAST]’: This kenning is based on the idea that feelings and will-power reside in the breast, cf. Meissner 134-8. Both the ms. variants, (a) byrði ‘ship’ (Kringla group) and (b) byrgi ‘rampart’ (Jöfraskinna group), allow for satisfactory breast-kennings. (a) Byrði vilja ‘the ship of the will’: Byrði is listed among the ship-heiti (Þul Skipa 9/1III and Note) and in a Norwegian legal text (Fritzner: byrði). It derives from borð ‘planking’ and likely refers to the side of a ship (LP, Fritzner: byrði). Terms for ‘ship’ are attested several times as the base-word of a breast-kenning (Meissner 137). (b) Byrgi vilja ‘rampart of the will’: Also well attested as a base-word in kennings is ON borg ‘fortress’ (Meissner 137), including borg vilja ‘fortress of the will’ (SnSt Ht 51/5III). Byrgi, however, is not synonymous with borg. The word is rare, and it appears from the examples given in Fritzner: byrgi that it might have meant ‘rampart’; it appears in skaldic poetry only here and in Eskál Vell 4/3 byrgi bǫðvar ‘rampart of battle [SHIELD]’. Byrði ‘ship’ is preferred in this edn since it is the reading of the main ms. and since the kenning pattern ‘ship of the will’ is attested as early as the C10th and normally refers to the physical breast, whereas borg ‘fortress’ is not attested in such kennings until the C13th-14th and refers predominantly to the breast in the metaphorical sense of ‘soul’ or ‘inner self’.
kennings
- byrði vilja — the ship of the will [BREAST]