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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þul Sverða 2III/2 — Skrýmir ‘Skrýmir’

Skolkr, skerkir, stúfr,         Skrýmir, Laufi,
ǫltirr, langbarðr         ok ormþvari,
Leggbiti, kyrr, galmr         ok Leifnisgrand,
herberi, Hneitir         ok hræfrakki.

Skolkr, skerkir, stúfr, Skrýmir, Laufi, ǫltirr, langbarðr ok ormþvari, Leggbiti, kyrr, galmr ok Leifnisgrand, herberi, Hneitir ok hræfrakki.

Frightener, noise-maker, stump, Skrýmir, Laufi, ale-blade, Lombardic [sword] and serpent-borer, Leggbiti, quiet one, clanging one and Leifnir’s injury, war-striker, Hneitir and carrion-spear.

notes

[2] Skrýmir: Lit. ‘one large in appearance’. Steinarr Ǫnundarson’s sword in Kormáks saga (Korm ch. 12, ÍF 8, 250-3; cf. Eg ch. 84, ÍF 2, 292). According to Falk (1914b, 59), the name is derived from a verb *skrýma (cf. New Norw. skrymja, ModSwed. skrymma ‘occupy a large space’), while Kahle (1903, 209) assumes that the stem-vowel was short and traces it to skrum n. ‘swaggering talk’ (hence ‘chatterer’). The long stem-vowel is secured by the metre, however. The word does not occur elsewhere as a heiti for ‘sword’, but it is a heiti for ‘giant’ (Þul Jǫtna I 4/3; see Note there) and another name for the giant Útgarðaloki (see SnE 2005, 38-9).

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