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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þloft Tøgdr 5I/6 — valar ‘The steeds’

Knôttu súðir
svangs mjǫk langar
byrrǫmm bera
brimdýr fyr Stim.
Svá liðu sunnan
svalheims valar,
at kom norðr í Nið
nýtr herflýtir.

Byrrǫmm brimdýr knôttu bera mjǫk langar súðir svangs fyr Stim. Valar svalheims liðu svá sunnan, at nýtr herflýtir kom norðr í Nið.

The wind-strong surf-animals [SHIPS] brought the very long planks of the hull past Stemmet. The steeds of the cool world [sea] [SEA > SHIPS] travelled in such a way from the south, that the capable army-speeder came north into Nidelven.

readings

[6] valar: valir Bæb, 68, vǫlur 61, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, ‘valurr’ DG8, valur 301ˣmarg

notes

[6] valar ‘the steeds’: Valr, also a noun meaning ‘falcon’, occurs as the name of a legendary steed of one Vésteinn in a þula of horse-names in Anon Kálfv 2/1III; cf. also Þul Hesta 2/2III. It frequently functions as the base-word of ship-kennings on the pattern ‘horse of the sea’ (see LP: 1. valr and 2. Valr). Whether it is to be taken as a proper name or a common noun is often unclear. Meissner 211-2 takes it to be a simplex for ‘horse’, and no longer a proper name, as does ÍF 27, and this seems appropriate in the present context, where the noun is pl. 

kennings

grammar

case: nom.
number: pl.

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