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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Krm 18VIII/8 — ófár ‘not a few’

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Haldorða sá ek brytja
ekki smátt fyr úlfa
Endils niðja bröndum.
Varat á Víkarskeiði,
sem vín konur bæri;
roðinn var Ægis asni
ófár í dyn geira.
Skorin var Sköglar kápa
at skjöldunga hjaldri.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Ek sá haldorða niðja Endils brytja ekki smátt fyr úlfa bröndum. Varat á Víkarskeiði, sem konur bæri vín; ófár asni Ægis var roðinn í dyn geira. Kápa Sköglar var skorin at hjaldri skjöldunga.

We hewed with the sword. I saw the trusty kinsmen of Endill <sea-king> [SEAFARERS] chop up [helpings] of no small size for wolves with swords. On Víkarskeið it was not as if women were serving wine; not a few asses of Ægir <sea-giant> [SHIPS] were emptied in the din of spears [BATTLE]. The cloak of Skögul <valkyrie> [MAIL-COAT] was cut in the conflict of shield-bearers [BATTLE].

readings

[8] ófár í dyn geira: so , R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘ofar j dyn ge[...]a’ 1824b, ‘ofar […] g(eí)ra’(?) 147

notes

[7-8] ófár asni Ægis ‘not a few asses of Ægir <sea-giant> [SHIPS]’: Lit. ‘un-few ass’ (sg.). The kenning is unusual in substituting an exotic reference to an ass as base-word, instead of the much more common ‘horse’ (cf. Meissner 208). The noun asni ‘ass’ occurs only in one other place in skaldic poetry, in GunnLeif Merl I 87/2. Olsen (1933a) (see Introduction) has argued that the poet’s use of asni here alludes, in combination with messa ‘mass, divine service’ in st. 11/7 and pálmr ‘palm-tree’ in st. 15/10, to Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, claiming that the battle mentioned in st. 11/5-7 took place on a Sunday. Such a concatenation of supposed allusions, in the absence of any internal textual support, is very dubious. On the sea-giant Ægir as a personification of the ocean, see Note to st. 2/9.

kennings

grammar

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