Þjóð Yt 14I/6 — trjónu ‘its weapon’
Ok lofsæll
ór landi fló
Týs ôttungr
Tunna ríki.
En flæmingr
farra trjónu
jǫtuns eykr
á Agli rauð,
sás of austmǫrk
áðan hafði
brúna hǫrg
of borinn lengi.
En skíðlauss
Skilfinga nið
hœfis hjǫrr
til hjarta stóð.
Ok lofsæll ôttungr Týs fló ór landi ríki Tunna. En flæmingr, eykr jǫtuns, sás áðan hafði of borinn hǫrg brúna lengi of austmǫrk, rauð trjónu farra á Agli. En skíðlauss hjǫrr hœfis stóð til hjarta nið Skilfinga.
And the famous descendant of Týr <god> [= Swedish king] fled the country before the power of Tunni. And the roamer, the draught-animal of the giant [BULL], which before had long borne the cairn of the brows [HEAD] about the eastern forest, reddened its weapon of the bull [HORN] upon Egill. And the sheathless sword of the bull [HORN] stuck in the heart of the descendant of the Skilfingar [= Swedish king].
readings
[6] trjónu: ‘tono’ 521ˣ
notes
[6] trjónu farra ‘its weapon of the bull [HORN]’: This has been the subject of numerous interpretative efforts. (a) In summary, the case for the present interpretation is as follows. Trjóna is etymologically related to ON tré ‘tree, wood’ and can denote a wooden bar or rod (Fritzner: trjóna 2); cf. eintrjánungr ‘log boat (made of one piece of wood)’. The meaning ‘weapon’ is attested in Grott 18/2 (NK 300), hence Hendr scolo hǫndla harðar triónor, vápn valdreyrug ... ‘Hands will handle hard triónor, weapons bloody with battle-slain’ (see S-G II, 461; Kommentar III, 935-6) and possibly in Þjóð Haustl 17/7III trjóna trolls, which refers to the hammer Mjǫllnir and might be rendered as ‘the weapon of the troll’, i.e. weapon for use against the troll (Marold 1983, 173). Farri is only attested in ON prose in the meaning ‘vagabond, vagrant’ (Fritzner: farri), but Sigfús Blöndal (1920-4: farri) gives an obsolete meaning ‘bull’ along with the figurative meaning ‘vagabond’, and the word has Gmc cognates meaning ‘bull’ or ‘cow’ (see AEW: farri 3). The combination of trjóna ‘wooden rod, weapon’ with farri ‘bull’ yields a pattern of kenning Þjóðólfr uses frequently: ‘weapon of the bull’ to denote ‘horn’. (b) Trjóna may alternatively have the sense ‘snout’ (which is given as the first sense in LP, Fritzner: trjóna), either as a figurative extension of ‘rod’ or through confusion with its derivative trýni (on this see AEW: trjóna, trýni). The word occurs in Gsind Hákdr 2/3, where it seems to refer to a promontory, and in StarkSt Vík 33/4VIII (Gautr 41), in a list of ugly body parts. Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; LP: trjóna), partly following Konráð Gíslason (1869, 52-3; 1881, 230), takes trjóna farra as ‘snout of the bull’ and flæmingr as the sword-heiti listed in Þul Sverða 7/2III, hence ‘horn’, but it is questionable whether a bull’s horn could be referred to as the ‘sword of the snout of the bull’. (c) Farri, as the animal that kills Egill, has been interpreted as ‘boar, pig’, e.g. by Schück (1905-10, 105-7, and cf. AEW: farri 4). Schück also notes that in the series of Swedish princes featured in Beowulf, Ongenþēow, the ruler who corresponds to Egill (see Note to l. 14 below), is killed by a man named Eofor, whose name in OE means ‘Boar’ (Beowulf ll. 2486-9, 2961-81; cf. Schück 1905-10, 120; Lindqvist 1936, 301).
kennings
- trjónu farra — its weapon of the bull [HEAD]
grammar
case: acc.