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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þul Sverða 2III/2 — Laufi ‘Laufi’

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] Laufi: The sword owned by the legendary hero Bǫðvarr bjarki (see Note to st. 1/7 above). Laufi may refer to a birch-sheath decorated with golden staples shaped as leaves (cf. lauf n. ‘leaf, foliage’; Falk 1914b, 54). Alternatively, the term might allude to a pattern-welded blade with markings resembling the veins in a leaf (see Fisher and Davidson 1979-80, II, 45 n. 50). The name does not appear in Hrólfs saga kraka, but it is found in Bjarkarímur (Hrólf 1904, 125, 130, 134, 143, 160-1) and is mentioned in Ldn (ÍF 1, 212-13), Þórðar saga hreðu (ch. 2, ÍS III, 2011) and in Saxo (Løui; Saxo 2005, I, 2, 6, 11, pp. 168-9). In skaldic poetry laufi m. is used as a heiti for ‘sword’ in general.

grammar

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