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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Glúmr Gráf 14I/3 — stafr ‘stave’

Kunni tolf, sás, tanna,
tíðum, Hallinskíða
ógnarstafr, of jǫfra,
íþróttir, framm sótti.

Ógnarstafr tanna Hallinskíða, sás tíðum sótti framm of jǫfra, kunni tolf íþróttir.

The terror-stave of the teeth of Hallinskíði <= Heimdallr> [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN], who often launched attacks on princes, had twelve skills.

readings

[3] ‑stafr: starfr J1ˣ

notes

[3] ógnarstafr ‘the terror-stave’: Ógn ‘terror’ has the secondary meaning ‘battle’, and stafr ógnar occurs as a kenning for ‘warrior’ in Ótt Knútdr 11/7. Here, though, the primary sense ‘terror’ is required to complete the kenning: the generous man frightens gold away, i.e. dispenses it liberally. This is another example of a rare kenning type in which the base-word is compounded with an element denoting an action of which the determinant is the object; cf. sœkialfr ‘attacking elf’ in st. 13/3 and Note to st. 13/3, 4.

kennings

grammar

case: nom.

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