Glúmr Gráf 7I/2 — rifjunga ‘of swords’
Braut við brynju njóta
bág rifjunga Sôgu
— naddskúrar vas nœrir —
Nóregs konungr stóra.
Valgaltar lét velta
vargfœðandi marga
— ofvægjum réð jǫfri —
jafnborna sér þorna.
Konungr Nóregs braut bág Sôgu rifjunga við stóra njóta brynju; vas nœrir naddskúrar. Vargfœðandi lét marga þorna valgaltar, jafnborna sér, velta; réð ofvægjum jǫfri.
The king of Norway [= Haraldr] waged the strife of the Sága <goddess> of swords [VALKYRIE > BATTLE] against mighty users of the mail-shirt [WARRIORS]; he was a nourisher of the point-shower [BATTLE > WARRIOR]. The wolf-feeder [WARRIOR] made many thorn-trees of the slaughter-boar [HELMET > WARRIORS], as well-born as he, topple; he overwhelmed the very powerful prince.
readings
[2] rifjunga: so FskAˣ, ‘rifunga’ FskBˣ
notes
[2] rifjunga ‘of swords’: On this heiti, which may mean ‘tearer’, see Note to Þul Sverða 7/4III. — [2] bág Sôgu rifjunga ‘the strife of the Sága <goddess> of swords [VALKYRIE > BATTLE]’: Brjóta bág við e-n in itself means ‘to raise hostility against, fight sby’, and kennings for ‘valkyrie’ (here Sôgu rifjunga) can refer to ‘battle’ (cf. Meissner 201-2). The extended kenning assumed here is therefore slightly tautologous, and comes close to breaching the convention that the base-word of a kenning should not contain the same concept as the overall referent (Meissner 28). (b) Kock (NN §1060) addresses the problem by taking Sôgu rifjunga as a determinant of nadd- ‘nail, point, spear, arrow’ in the intercalary clause, serving to identify a battle-spear as distinct from a hunting-spear.
kennings
- Sôgu rifjunga — of the Sága <goddess> of swords [VALKYRIE]
- bág Sôgu rifjunga — the strife of the Sága <goddess> of swords [BATTLE]