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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Eskál Vell 19I/6 — gildandi ‘generous’

Hóf und hyrjar kneyfi
— hraut unda fjǫl — Þundar
— þat sleit víg á vági —
vandar dýr at landi.
Né fjǫlsnerrinn fyrri
gildandi vildi
— vægðit jarl fyr jǫfri —
Yggs niðr friðar biðja.

Hóf dýr vandar at landi und kneyfi hyrjar Þundar; fjǫl unda hraut; þat sleit víg á vági. Fjǫlsnerrinn fégildandi niðr Yggs né vildi biðja friðar fyrri; jarl vægðit fyr jǫfri.

The beast of the mast [SHIP] was carried towards land under the destroyer of the fire of Þundr <= Óðinn> [SWORD > WARRIOR = Hákon jarl]; a multitude of wounds spurted; that broke off the battle on the sea. The war-seasoned generous descendant of Yggr <= Óðinn> [= Hákon jarl] did not want to be the first to ask for peace; the jarl did not yield to the prince.

readings

[6] ‑gildandi: ‑gjaldandi FskBˣ, 51ˣ, 302ˣ, ‑mildr konungr FskAˣ, 52ˣ, 301ˣ

notes

[6] fégildandi ‘generous’: (a) Most eds follow Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, I, 134) and Finnur Jónsson (1891a, 169-70) in choosing fémildr konungr ‘generous king’, the reading of the FskA transcripts, emending konungr to konung. This creates syntactically complicated relationships between l. 6 and l. 8, with fémildr qualifying niðr Yggs ‘descendant of Yggr [= Hákon jarl]’, konung as the object of biðja ‘ask’, and vildi ‘wanted to’ as an auxiliary of biðja. This interpretation also raises the issue of who would be the first to ask the king (who is presumably Ragnfrøðr, see Note to st. 20/2) for peace if it were not the jarl. (b) Selecting fégjaldandi from FskBˣ and 51ˣ, with minor emendation to fégildandi ‘wealth-distributing’, i.e. ‘generous’, solves both of these problems and is adopted by this edn (so Kock, Skald; Ohlmarks 1958, 375). Although gilda normally means ‘appraise, value’, gildir occurs with the sense ‘distributor’ in several kennings (see LP: gildir).

kennings

grammar

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