Mark Lv 2III/4 — regin ‘gods’
Sœgs munk síðr an eigi
— sás illr, es brag spillir —
sólar sverri málan,
slíðráls regin, níða.
Munk síðr an eigi níða málan sverri sólar sœgs, regin slíðráls; sá, es spillir brag, [e]s illr.
I shall by no means deride the prattling flinger of the sun of the sea [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN], gods of the scabbard-eel [SWORD > WARRIORS]; the one who spoils a praise poem is wicked.
readings
[4] regin níða: ‘[…]n […]iða’ B, ‘regín vida’ 744ˣ, regin niðja C
notes
[4] regin ‘gods’: All mss have regin n. pl. ‘gods’, which has been retained in the present edn. Earlier eds emend silently to reginn m. nom. sg., but it is not quite clear to whom or what this base-word refers. Reginn is the name of a legendary smith and a dwarf (see Note to Þul Dverga 6/4). Finnur Jónsson (LP: reginn) also gives reginn as a common noun meaning ‘wielder’, but Meissner argues that the m. sg. common noun may have been derived from the n. pl. regin ‘gods’ and that reginn means ‘god’ (see Meissner 264, SnE 1998, II, 374 and Notes to Þjóð Haustl 12/6 and Glúmr Gráf 4/6I). — [4] regin slíðráls ‘gods of the scabbard-eel [SWORD > WARRIORS]’: Taken here as a form of address in keeping with Skj B and Skald (although both eds emend to sg. reginn; see the next Note). Faulkes (SnE 1998) construes the kenning as the subject of the intercalary clause in l. 2, which is possible only if the m. nom. sg. reginn is adopted as the base-word.
kennings
- regin slíðráls; — gods of the scabbard-eel; [WARRIORS]
grammar
case: nom.
number: pl.