Anon Krm 5VIII/3 — Heflis ‘of Heflir’
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hygg engan þá frýðu,
áðr en á Heflis hestum
Herruðr í styr felli.
Klýfr eigi ægis öndrum
annarr jarl in frægri
lunda völl til lægis
á langskipum síðan.
Sá bar siklingr víða
snart fram í styr hjarta.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Hygg engan þá frýðu, áðr en Herruðr felli í styr á hestum Heflis. Annarr jarl in frægri klýfr eigi síðan völl lunda öndrum ægis, á langskipum, til lægis. Sá siklingr bar víða snart hjarta fram í styr.
We hewed with the sword. No one found fault with us then, I reckon, before Herruðr fell in battle on the horses of Heflir <sea-king> [SHIPS]. No other, more famous jarl will ever again cleave the plain of puffins [SEA] with skis of the sea [SHIPS], on longships, heading into harbour. That leader carried a stout heart far and wide forward into battle.
readings
[3] Heflis: heflis with ‘Hemlis W.’ in margin 6ˣ, hemlis R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ
notes
[3] hestum Heflis ‘the horses of Heflir <sea-king> [SHIPS]’: This makes sense as a ship-kenning, given that Heflir, listed by Björn Sigfússon (1934, 131, cf. 132) as a sea-king name, means ‘he who furls the sail’, cf. hefla ‘furl the sail’. It is apparently found as a kenning determinant only in the present instance, however (see LP: Heflir, hestr), and it is possible, as Björn suggests, that the 1824b reading here is a scribal blunder either for hestum hefils ‘horses of the clew-line [SHIPS]’ (the reading adopted in Wisén 1886-9, I and Finnur Jónsson 1893b) or for hestum Hemlis ‘horses of Hemlir <sea-king> [SHIPS]’, Hemlir being listed as a sea-king name in Þul Sækonunga 2/3III and meaning ‘he who pulls backward’, cf. hamla, ‘pull backwards, stern foremost’, hamla ‘oar-thong’, hömlumaðr ‘oarsman’ (so Björn Sigfússon 1934, 132). The latter reading (hestum Hemlis), which is adopted by Pfeiffer (1860), finds support in R702ˣ and 6ˣ. Hestum Heflis is adopted in all other previous eds, though in CPB heflis (sic) is given a lower case initial.
kennings
- hestum Heflis. — the horses of Heflir <sea-king>. [SHIPS]