VSt Erf 2III/2 — myrk ‘of the dark’
Mank, þats jǫrð við orða
endr myrk-Danar sendi
grœnnar grǫfnum munni
gein Hlóðynjar beina.
Mank, þats jǫrð gein endr grǫfnum munni við sendi orða myrk-Danar beina grœnnar Hlóðynjar.
I recall when the earth formerly gaped with a dug mouth at the distributor of the words of the dark-Dane of the bones of green Hlóðyn <earth> [ROCKS > GIANT > GOLD > GENEROUS MAN].
readings
[2] myrk‑: mar C
notes
[1, 2-3, 4] sendi orða myrk-Danar beina grœnnar Hlóðynjar ‘the distributor of the words of the dark-Dane of the bones of green Hlóðyn <earth> [MOUNTAINS > GIANT > GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’: This lengthy kenning is based on the still unexplained kenning pattern ‘words of the giant’ for ‘gold’ (cf. Meissner 227), for which Snorri Sturluson in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 3) offers an otherwise unknown story about three sons of a giant who divide up their inheritance and carry away their shares of gold in their mouths (see Note to Anon Bjark 5/8). The kenning’s base-word Danar ‘of the Dane’ conforms to the giant-kenning pattern ‘people (or one of a people) of the stones’ (cf. Marold 1990a, 109-11). Myrk-Danar ‘of the dark-Dane’ is taken as a cpd here, since there is no convincing motivation for tmesis, as Skj B assumes, of myrk- (l. 2) and -beina (l. 4); cf. NN §342. Konráð Gíslason (1874, 28) combines myrk ‘dark’ and jǫrð ‘earth’, which, though itself a fitting collocation, results in a tripartite l. 2.
kennings
- myrk-Danar beina grœnnar Hlóðynjar. — of the dark-Dane of the bones of green Hlóðyn <earth>. [GIANT]
- orða myrk-Danar beina grœnnar Hlóðynjar. — of the words of the dark-Dane of the bones of green Hlóðyn <earth>. [GOLD]
- sendi orða myrk-Danar beina grœnnar Hlóðynjar. — the distributor of the words of the dark-Dane of the bones of green Hlóðyn <earth>. [GENEROUS MAN]