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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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HSt Rst 21I/3 — þrek ‘belonging to the strong’

Ítr jarl einkar snarla
endr fimm skipum renndi
þrekmanns þriðja sinni
þremja storms at Ormi.
Ben lét — bǫrðusk ýtar —
brynskíðs viðum svíða
Hyrningr heiptargjǫrnum.
Hann vas ríkstr konungmanna.

Ítr jarl renndi endr einkar snarla fimm skipum þriðja sinni at Ormi þrekmanns storms þremja. Hyrningr lét ben svíða heiptargjǫrnum viðum brynskíðs; ýtar bǫrðusk. Hann vas ríkstr konungmanna …

The splendid jarl [Eiríkr] long ago extremely swiftly made five ships glide for the third time against the Ormr (‘Serpent’) belonging to the strong man of the storm of swords [BATTLE]. Hyrningr made wounds burn on the vengeful trees of the mail-shirt-ski [SWORD > WARRIORS]; men fought. He was the mightiest of royal men …

readings

[3] þrek‑: so 53, Flat, þess Bb(112ra), 54, Bb(100rb)

notes

[3] þrekmanns ‘belonging to the strong man’: This, the reading of 53 and Flat, is also adopted in previous eds. Þrek- ‘strong’ is strictly the noun þrek n. ‘strength’. Þrekmanns is taken here as part of an informal gen. construction with storms þremja ‘of the storm of swords [BATTLE]’. The phrase could perhaps be read as a warrior-kenning, but it would not match known kenning patterns. The alternative reading, þess manns ‘of that man’, yields less good sense, and þess, being an article, would be a less suitable bearer of metrical stress. 

grammar

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