Busla Busl 8VIII (Bós 8)/6 — hestar ‘stallions’
Tröll ok álfar ok töfrnornir,
búar, bergrisar brenni þínar hallir.
Hati þik hrímþussar, hestar streði þik,
stráin stangi þik, en stormar æri þik,
ok vei verði þér, nema þú vilja minn gjorir.
Tröll ok álfar ok töfrnornir, búar, bergrisar brenni hallir þínar. Hrímþussar hati þik, hestar streði þik, stráin stangi þik, en stormar æri þik, ok verði þér vei, nema þú gjorir vilja minn.
May trolls and elves and magic-Norns, supernatural inhabitants and mountain giants burn your halls. May frost giants loathe you, stallions violate you, straw prick you and storms bewilder you; and harm will come to you unless you do my bidding.
readings
[6] hestar streði þik: ‘heller þínar’ 577, 361ˣ
notes
[6] hestar streði þik ‘may stallions violate you’: Counted among the gravest insults in Old Norse society is the suggestion of passive homosexuality (cf. Meulengracht Sørensen 1983, 18-20; Almqvist 2002, 141; Price 2005, 254-6). It culminates not infrequently in the accusation of having changed sexes. Thus an anonymous Icelandic mocking verse in Hkr (ÍF 27, 270-1) about the Danish king, Harald Gormsson, and his jarl, Birgir, depicted the two men as stallion and mare (Anon (ÓTHkr) 1I; cf. Almqvist 1965-74, I, 119-85). Although the matter might generally remain at the level of obscene imagery, the line in Busl takes it to excess with the threat of real, repeated rape by stallions. On the verb streða ‘screw’, as a keyword in the context of níð, cf. Meulengracht Sørensen (1983, 17-20) and Price (2005, 253).
grammar
Masculine: gen. sing. -s; nom. pl. -ar/-jar
| nom. pl. -ar | nom. pl. -jar | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sing. | N A G D | hestr hest hests hesti | jǫkull jǫkul jǫkuls jǫkli | jǫtunn jǫtun jǫtuns jǫtni | ketill ketil ketils katli | niðr nið niðs nið |
| pl. | N A G D | hestar hesta hesta hestum | jǫklar jǫkla jǫkla jǫklum | jǫtnar jǫtna jǫtna jǫtnum | katlar katla katla kǫtlum | niðjar niðja niðja niðjum |
| horse | glacier | giant | kettle | kinsman | ||