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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Herv Lv 5VIII (Heiðr 19)/4 — eyjar ‘island’

Munkat ek ganga         gistingar til,
því at ek engan kann         eyjarskeggja.
Segðu hraðliga,         áðr heðan líðir:
hvar eru Hjörvarði         haugar kendir?

Ek munkat ganga til gistingar, því at ek kann engan eyjarskeggja. Segðu hraðliga, áðr líðir heðan: hvar eru haugar kendir Hjörvarði?

I will not go to lodging, because I know no island-beard. Say quickly, before you pass from here: where are the mounds named after Hjǫrvarðr?

notes

[4] engan eyjarskeggja ‘no island-beard’: The circumlocution eyjarskeggi presumably arises from a tendency, factual or stereotypical, for islanders to let their hair and beards grow rather unkempt (LP: eyjarskeggi). There are only two other instances of the word in poetry, both from fornaldarsögur: Frið 23/4 and Ǫrv 106/6; see further Note to Frið 23/4.

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