FriðÞ Lv 7VIII (Frið 7)/6 — svan ‘swan’
Eigi um sér til Alda;
erum vestr í haf komnir;
allr þykki mér ægir,
sem ei*myrju hræri.
Hrynja hávar bárur,
haug verpa svanflaugar;
nú er Elliði orpinn
ákafligri báru.
Eigi um sér til Alda; erum komnir vestr í haf; allr ægir þykki mér, sem hræri ei*myrju. Hávar bárur hrynja, svanflaugar verpa haug; Elliði er nú orpinn ákafligri báru.
Alden cannot be seen; we have come westwards into the ocean; the whole sea seems to me as if it were alive with glowing coals. Towering waves topple down, swan-flights [WAVES] build up a mound; now Elliði is tossed in a furious roller.
notes
[6] svanflaugar ‘swan-flights [WAVES]’: This cpd is a hap. leg. of uncertain meaning and status. It is not certain that it is a kenning, but cf. Frið 8/4 í brekku svana ‘in the hillside of swans [WAVE]’, whose status as a kenning is clear. With Larsson (Frið 1901, 19 n.) the cpd is understood here to mean ‘waves’, comparing the white crests of the towering waves to the wings of flying swans. The use of the abstract noun flaug ‘flight’ is unusual, however; Larsson (Frið 1901, loc. cit.) suggests the cpd may have an adjectival sense. Kock (NN §1473) proposes that flaug might have the sense ‘place from where something flies’, pointing to periphrases for the sea like OE swanrād ‘swan-path’, but there is no evidence to support this hypothesis. Edith Marold (pers. comm.) has suggested a minor emendation to svan*laugar ‘swan-baths [SEA]’, which would still produce an unusual kenning, but one that is less unusual than svanflaugar. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends to svanteigar ‘swan-fields [SEA]’.
kennings
- svanflaugar — swan-flights [WAVES]