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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þul Hvala 2III/6 — sandlægja ‘sei whale’

Norðhvalr, búrhvalr,         náhvalr ok leiptr,
skeljungr, fiskreki         ok skútuhvalr,
sléttibaka, skjaldhvalr         ok sandlægja,
hrosshvalr, andhvalr,         hrafnreyðr ok vǫgn.

Norðhvalr, búrhvalr, náhvalr ok leiptr, skeljungr, fiskreki ok skútuhvalr, sléttibaka, skjaldhvalr ok sandlægja, hrosshvalr, andhvalr, hrafnreyðr ok vǫgn.

Greenland whale, sperm whale, narwhal and white-sided dolphin, humpback, fin whale and boat-whale, nordcaper, killer whale and sei whale, horse-whale, bottlenose, lesser rorqual and orca.

notes

[6] sandlægja (f.) ‘sei whale’: Lit. ‘sand-sinking one’. In Modern Icelandic, this is the term for ‘grey whale’ (Eschrichtius glaucus), but in Old Norse it is possibly another word for sandreyðr ‘sei whale’ (Balaenoptera borealis) (cf. SnE 1998, II, 382 and hrafnreyðr ‘lesser rorqual’ in l. 8 below). Sandlægja is one of the few species of whales that are not mentioned in Kgs, but it is described in Halldór Hermansson (1924, 9).

grammar

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