Þul Sverða 6III/5 — biti ‘biti’
Mímungr ok fellir ok málvitnir,
taurarr, hrævarðr, trani, vindþvari,
liðnir, Kvernbiti, ljómi, herðir,
vitnir, yfrir, veggjalestir.
Mímungr ok fellir ok málvitnir, taurarr, hrævarðr, trani, vindþvari, liðnir, Kvernbiti, ljómi, herðir, vitnir, yfrir, veggjalestir.
Mímungr and feller and ornamented wolf, taurar, corpse-wrapped one, crane, wind-borer, one belonging to an army, Kvernbiti, brightness, hardened one, wolf, overcomer, damager of walls.
readings
[5] ‑biti: ‑bítir C, ‑bítr A, ‘‑bit[…]’ B, ‘‑bitr’ 744ˣ
notes
[5] Kvernbiti: This is the name of a sword owned by Hákon inn góði ‘the Good’ Haraldsson, which can be translated as ‘millstone-biter’ (from kvern f. ‘handmill’ and the strong verb bíta ‘bite’). In this form it also occurs in Ágrip (ÍF 29, 10, 11), but Kvernbítr (so mss A, B and the LaufE mss) is the form used in Hkr (ÍF 26, 146, 185, 190); both variants are found in Fsk (ÍF 29, 75, 86, 90). The origin of the name is explained as follows in Hkr (ÍF 26, 146): Aðalsteinn konungr gaf Hákoni sverð þat … þar hjó Hákon með kvernstein til augans. Þat var síðan kallat Kvernbítr ‘King Æthelstan gave Hákon that sword … with it Hákon split a millstone down to the centre. It was later called Millstone-biter’. The heiti does not occur in poetry (but cf. Leggbiti ‘Leg-biter’ or Leggbítr, st. 2/5 above).